UFOs and the bible

[JuggernautJon]

Alright, so this is like my other post about ghosts...just with ghosts being replaced with UFOs. I do not believe in god, but I do have some pretty strong convictions about extraterrestrials. There's photo and video evidence in favor of UFOs. Whens the last time you talked to a snake? Or lived in a whale....errr "big fish." There's a staggering amount of individuals that have seen UFOs, surely all these people aren't apart of some bizarre conspiracy. And furthermore, I think that a lot of the miraculous things described in the bible (old testament especially) could be uncovered by substituting god with aliens. People in those times weren't accustomed to air crafts, especially not E.T. So they used terms they were familiar with to define the amazing sights that they saw. There simply cannot be science in scripture because the two historical time periods are separated by so much.  But alas, I catch myself rambling and I digress. With that nonsense being said, how many believe like I do? If not, what is your stance on the subject?

I hope I'm not breaking rules in posting this topic in the "laid back lounge." I apologize before hand if I have.

[Byronazriel]

First off most UFOs are just that, flying objects that are unidentified. Secondly extraterrestrial life exists, what we don't know is where and what they are.

There are lots of way we could explain away the bible, aliens wouldn't even be in my top thrity. Time travelers, mental illness, elves, deception and what have you.

My stance on aliens is that they exist, but it is really unlikely that they've visited us. We probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar of a starfaring race, we'd be nothing more than a curiosity at best. What's much more likely is that we'll stumble across them once we start extrasolar colonization/exploration.

[JuggernautJon]

I've read that there are cave drawings and drawings in the tombs of Egyptians depicting ET's and/or UFOs...err flying objects that are unidentified. scattered all across the globe. Surely not everyone of these bands of people had a spontaneous, random idea at or around the same time periods. In being what I am, I've picked up on not believing everything that you read, but as with anything else in life. I have to ask why. With the photos and videos of flying crafts, you would have to intensely investigate before coming up with a "yes or no" conclusion. And deception is a very plausible explanation, seeing as how men are a fucked up species. Or it could be a combination of the two, or multiple things. God damnit I'm rambling again....my apologies

[Byronazriel]

As a people we've always been facinated by the sky, Birds, stars, and astrology hold our fancy. A frisbee at night is a UFO, if you saw an alien space craft it wouldn't be a UFO... it would be an alien space craft.

Vistors from another planet, and strange things in the sky are just two of a number of recurring motifs in human history. Like the god archetypes, reincarnation, the afterlife, sacared hospitality, divination, luck, tricksters, monsters in the dark, monsters in the deep, and the dangers of whistling are all also things that pop up in many cultures and peoples.

[The Magic Pudding]

There's photo and video evidence in favor of UFOs.

Crappy grainy  photos used to be presented as proof, with nearly everyone carrying a phone/camera these days I'd expect a huge increase in photos, if there was something there.  

Whens the last time you talked to a snake?

It's been a few years, it didn't talk back as far as I could tell.

[AreEl]

A most bizarre thread! With the exception of The Magic Pudding, every poster confessed faith in extraterrestrials. This one confession is closest to blind faith:

My stance on aliens is that they exist, but it is really unlikely that they've visited us. We probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar of a starfaring race, we'd be nothing more than a curiosity at best. What's much more likely is that we'll stumble across them once we start extrasolar colonization/exploration.

Atheism shows keeness of spirit and a desire to question received notions, I'll grant you that. But replacing religion with goblins from another planet requires a remarkable lack of discernment.

[Byronazriel]

...The Magic Pudding is the only confirmed atheist on this thread!

Also, probability dictates that life exists outside of our little planet. Even if only one out of every million planets have some form of life, that's still a HUGE amount of life. The universe is a huge place, even if it is finite (which may or may not be the case, but that's a different discussion.) it's still inconceivably huge.

It would be unimaginably arrogant of us to think that we're all there is. That no where in the trillions upon trillions of worlds life other than our own exists.

The building blocks of life arise from chemicle reactions, and become more complex through evolution. Plantets other than our own exist, and the universe is big. These factors, among others, mean that life can and WILL arise elsewehere. Simple as that.

Edit: Check this out, it isn't perfect but it elaborates some of the points I was making. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

[The Magic Pudding]

A most bizarre thread! With the exception of The Magic Pudding, every poster confessed faith in extraterrestrials. This one confession is closest to blind faith:

My stance on aliens is that they exist, but it is really unlikely that they've visited us. We probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar of a starfaring race, we'd be nothing more than a curiosity at best. What's much more likely is that we'll stumble across them once we start extrasolar colonization/exploration.

Atheism shows keeness of spirit and a desire to question received notions, I'll grant you that. But replacing religion with goblins from another planet requires a remarkable lack of discernment.

The universe is big, really big, if I estimate the likelihood of life reaching our degree of technological advancement elsewhere at 95%, I  consider this as an expression of probability, not faith.  It seems unlikely aliens control our governments, harvest people for anal probing, or do unkind things to livestock.  

I don't believe Stargate is based on a real program operated by the US government from a base under Cheyane mountain, but if it is could they please take a bit more care so as to not piss off advanced species.  Oh and pointing machine guns at people isn't a good way to make friends.

[fester30]

I definitely don't think extra-terrestrials have visited this planet.  If you would travel the speed of our spacecraft Voyager, it would take about 17,000 years to get to the nearest star system (4 light years away).  It's possible that if intelligent life exists out there, it may exist on a planet several thousand or hundred thousand light-years away.  If it's just a few hundred light-years away, even, they would not have received our earliest radio transmissions to even know for sure intelligence exists on Earth.  Just like it's probable that life exists elsewhere because of the vastness of the universe, it's also very probable that the vastness of the universe has worked against any other intelligent life visiting here.

[karadan]

A most bizarre thread! With the exception of The Magic Pudding, every poster confessed faith in extraterrestrials. This one confession is closest to blind faith:

My stance on aliens is that they exist, but it is really unlikely that they've visited us. We probably wouldn't even be a blip on the radar of a starfaring race, we'd be nothing more than a curiosity at best. What's much more likely is that we'll stumble across them once we start extrasolar colonization/exploration.

Atheism shows keeness of spirit and a desire to question received notions, I'll grant you that. But replacing religion with goblins from another planet requires a remarkable lack of discernment.

I'd take aliens over god any day. As it stands, i don't believe we've been visited. I don't think we'll ever be visited. There probably is life out there, however.

[JuggernautJon]

"I do not believe in god" therefore I am an atheist. It has been confirmed all I'm saying is there are photographs, videos, sightings from a shit ton of people (a lot of whom are describing the same craft, and also having seen the same thing at the same time), and testimonies from various people stating government cover-ups, etc. Aside from the occasional "I saw jesus in a tortilla shell" I don't think there have been much sightings of angelical beings...that couldn't be explained with DMT, that is.  I look at most everything with a skeptic's eye, as did I with this particular subject. But I've been fascinated with it for a long time, and have seen many sides of the argument.. I haven't seen anything with my own eyes, however, therefore I cannot make a concrete conclusion on whether or not I believe. That's the beauty of language...convictions, in the form that I've used in this thread, means the act of being convinced. I would, however, lean more to the side of ET having something to do with us rather
than divine intervention. Just saying

[fester30]

"I do not believe in god" therefore I am an atheist. It has been confirmed all I'm saying is there are photographs, videos, sightings from a shit ton of people (a lot of whom are describing the same craft, and also having seen the same thing at the same time), and testimonies from various people stating government cover-ups, etc. Aside from the occasional "I saw jesus in a tortilla shell" I don't think there have been much sightings of angelical beings...that couldn't be explained with DMT, that is.  I look at most everything with a skeptic's eye, as did I with this particular subject. But I've been fascinated with it for a long time, and have seen many sides of the argument.. I haven't seen anything with my own eyes, however, therefore I cannot make a concrete conclusion on whether or not I believe. That's the beauty of language...convictions, in the form that I've used in this thread, means the act of being convinced. I would, however, lean more to the side of ET having something to do with us rather
than divine intervention. Just saying

Most videos and pictures can be debunked.  There are ideas about the videos and pictures that have yet to be debunked as to what they really are.  Just because we can't offer a ready explanation for something to say for certain it isn't extra terrestrial does not mean it's evidence in favor of ETs coming to Earth.  

I saw the TV show about how a bunch of people who claimed abductions and had never met each other described the aliens in the same way.  We can see these descriptions now in Spielberg movies.  That description, as it turns out, matches an alien from a comic called Buck Rodgers and the 21st Century that was released back in the 1920s.  That's how details wind up being correlated between many people.  They see what they expect to see.  This is the same as in near death experiences when people see Jesus or whatever.

As for government cover-ups... any time someone with a conspiracy theory has absolutely no proof (JFK conspiracies), the easy answer is that the government must have covered up the evidence.  Why is it that the aliens always abduct Farmer Joe and his toothless Waffle House waitress wife Thelma?  Why do they never abduct Donald Trump or President Obama?  How is it that government cover-ups can involve the number of people this one would have to?  There is no way that would happen.

There is a great website for all of these things.  http://www.skepdic.com/.  Their articles on Roswell, Alien Abductions, and UFOs should help.  We cannot prove that ETs haven't visited this planet or that Farmer Joe and Thelma weren't abducted, but that isn't evidence that these things did happen.

[JuggernautJon]

Nice. Thank you Mr. Fester. Very informative.

[AreEl]

This is tongue-in-cheek and intended to make you think:

Hmmm....

-The Virgin Mary's image has popped up on toast, and in a ketchup stain on a Peruvian farmer's shirt. Do you consider these to be evidence as valid as photos and sightings of UFOs? (Personally, I prefer a good Bloody Mary. A B-52 also makes a fine IFO.)

-You are all right! The universe is so huge that some super-duper-intelligent life has probably evolved on some star-system zillions of light-years from us! The only problem is that we can never know for sure because the universe is so huge. So...why not just assume they exist! We'll be just like the religion folks, only smarter! We know fer shure because our delusion is logical!

Oh! there is a great religion for you guys:  http://www.rael.org    

Rael is atheistic, and they have their own planet and flying saucers. Just perfect for that weekend getaway to Epsilon Eridani 4.

 

[JuggernautJon]

haha! I watch the move Religulous....religiously. In the extra stuff on the DVD, Bill Maher interview the leader of Rael...and it is quite comical and a little disturbing