Searching for ET

Searching for ET:

I enjoy checking in on the progress of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) from time to time. But, I can't get a sense for how many millions of dollars they have already spent in the effort. They are always running out of money and looking for more.

I really liked the movie, “Contact”, with Jodie Foster.

The ironic (and humorous) thing is that if even one of the prophets in the Bible is telling the truth, then we have already been contacted by extraterrestrial intelligence, and that intelligence made contact on their terms, not ours. It's kind of arrogant on our part to assume that any logical extraterrestrial intelligence would park a huge honking space ship in orbit, and then send down a shuttle and land it on Carl Sagan's front lawn; but, that's apparently the way that most of the SETI people expect it to happen.

There is one thing that Carl Sagan and many of the SETI people have gotten right, and that's the fact that if we are ever contacted by an intelligent extraterrestrial alien race, chances are good that the extraterrestrials will be millions or billions of years more technologically advanced than we are and would seem to be gods in comparison to us and our technology. The science fiction writers get it right in that it's highly likely that such an advanced race capable of faster-than-light space travel would most likely be able to park in orbit and land on our doorsteps, while at the same time cloaking or hiding any sign of their actual presence. Another thing they got right is the fact that it's highly likely that these extraterrestrials will have completely different rules of morality and moral values than we do; of course, some of these people assume that the extraterrestrials will have morals and values that are much more degraded than our own, thus giving us universal license to be as bad as we want to be.

The angels (and gods) spoken about in the Bible and apocryphal writings were immortal and indestructible, able to defy gravity or levitate, were able to walk through walls or phase shift, and were able to read our thoughts and hear our prayers (that's some really advanced WiFi). They wanted us to “phone home” when we really needed their help – prayer. They were able to broadcast panoramic visions directly into our minds. They were able to travel faster than light, cure our illnesses and our physical damage instantly, control the weather, raise us from the dead, extend our life spans, ascend into orbit without space suits or space ships, stand in the center of the sun without being crushed or burned, and teleport us wherever they wanted us to be. They were able to make bushes and rocks and bricks burn without being consumed. They were able to travel anywhere at the speed of thought, able to walk on water, able to feed us miraculously with manna from heaven, and able to cloak or hide their presence at will. They had other teleportation capabilities, being able to travel on a beam of light. They were able to contact us on their terms, or completely avoid us altogether. They had advanced computers that appeared to us to be nothing more than small stones or gems – the urim and thummim. They were able to manipulate and control the non-physical, invisible, spiritual, sub-atomic matter and energy at will – matter and energy that we can't even detect with our physical devices, the stuff that we have taken to calling dark matter, because we can't detect it directly or determine what it really is. They seemed as comfortable and competent in the unseen, invisible, intangible, non-physical, spiritual realm as they were in our physical realm.

There's also some indication that these extraterrestrials are able to travel through time as well as space. They are able to do terraforming and colonization of worlds in different parts of the galaxy and different parts of the universe. There are also hints that say that they are able to lift and translate whole cities into Heaven, part great seas, move mountains, cause earthquakes, and import or remove water and physical matter at will. This sounds like an advanced extraterrestrial intelligence to me. Roads? They don't need roads. Space ships? They don't need space ships. That sounds like some heavy duty technology to me – technology that is millions or billions of years more advanced than our own.

We continue to search for extraterrestrial life, but we are doing it on our terms and are not having any success. However, if we are willing to take what's written in the Bible as proof or evidence, then chances are good that we have already been contacted by extraterrestrial intelligences, but they did it on their terms and not the way that Carl Sagan would have wanted it to happen. We are not alone.

The good news is that these extraterrestrials seem to be friendly for the most part and seem to be better people than we are. They seem to be a gendered race, male and female, with billions of years more experience with gender relationships than we have, so maybe they have something they can teach us regarding the subject if we are willing to listen and learn. They seem to have greater restraint and self-control than we do. They seem to have some kind of vested interest in us. They seem to want us to be better people than we really are. I see all these as good things; and, there is reason to hope.