A number of years ago a mate and I were out and about doing some mountain biking and we were discussing the recent event of NASA landing the Mars rover on Mars. The conversation turned to the topic of other life out there and extra-terrestrials and I asked him the question. “How would it affect your faith if NASA found life on Mars?”
He responded by asking, well what type of life are we talking about? Without much thought I blurted out “What if they find a space cow?” His answer was honest and deeply concerning “To be honest man, it would really rock my faith and I would probably end up questioning everything I was ever taught and read from the bible”.
Questions and no answers?
For as long as humans have been around, the questions of why are we here? What is our purpose and are we alone in the universe have been asked by many. These questions have spurred people on in scientific discovery and caused others to seek God and grow in faith and they are perfectly good and honest questions to ask. For many of us Christians we have studied and been taught from the bible and scripture and in most cases, has set the foundation and strength of our respective faiths.
As I have grown in my faith and experienced more of the world, some of my paradigms and beliefs have been rocked and they have spurred me onto looking deeper to see if there were plausible answers to some of these big questions that have seemingly rocked my faith.
Over the years I have dipped my toes into the waters of Christian Apologetics and in many cases found answers to some big questions that left me satisfied, even though I might still struggle with some big moral and philosophical questions, I have researched enough and experienced enough to be rock solid in my faith. But what happens when something comes up that the bible doesn’t really mention? What are the possible impacts on one’s faith?
What if aliens rocked up on The White House lawn in full view of the worlds media, what then? Do we throw away thousands of years of Judeo-Christian theology? Do we abandon our faith, does this one thing that the bible doesn’t mention affect the rest of Christian Apologetics?
What does the bible say
Before I continue, this is not an article on whether aliens exist or not, rather a comment on whether the bible is all encompassing when it comes to us knowing everything there is to know about our existence.
Scripture for me has always answered the how and why we are here. I feel like there is a specific focus on a particular nation of people and Gods plan to use that nation of people to bring salvation to all mankind through Jesus, so that we can have an eternal relationship with the Father.
I don’t think the bible gives an answer or even insight into absolutely everything, but 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 to 17 states that “All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God maybe be thoroughly equipped for every good work”.
Scripture reveals Gods plan to save mankind and through salvation in Jesus, live lives that is honouring to God and instruction for the flourishing of all humans together on this earth.
I studied as a Science teacher, and spent many years teaching kids Science and Biology. I loved looking into the chemical and genetic make-up of plants and animals, especially how they adapt and reproduce to continue life. I love looking into Astro Physics and scientists working out how the universe works, it absolutely fascinates me, but the bible doesn’t specifically say how these things work?
The bible doesn’t specificaly say how these things are created on a daily basis? So, because these things are not mentioned in the bible, are we to throw away everything we have ever believed? Absolutely not! I believe God created the universe, I believe he spoke it all into existence, I wasn’t there when God created the laws of physics and mathematics, I have no idea what it looked like when he “spoke” things into existence.
For me God has created a universe and a world that is self-sustaining, and He was intimately part of its design. When something new is discovered and there is no specific mention of if in scripture, I praise the Lord for that new discovery! Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 says to “Trust in the Lord will with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”.
Balance
I find people fall into a couple of categories when it comes to their faith. People take what they read in scripture absolutely literally and any experience, or information not mentioned there is from the devil. These people can struggle with their faith in the event of space cows being discovered.
People don’t read their bible and their faith is built on experiences (particularly spiritual ones). This opens them up to being deceived by the world and in particular by the devil and their foundations can easily be cracked and broken.
Then there are those who know their Word and balance their experiences and new information discovered by reading scripture. They know we have been given enough from the Lord to give us knowledge and hope that helps us to keep our faith in this life, but also know that “No eye has seen and no ear has heard what the Lord has in store for those who love him”.
We aren’t meant to know everything, otherwise we would be God. We will face many things in this life which will challenge our faith, sometimes this will cause us to dig deeper and sometimes there will be no answer at all, but God has given us enough, in the revelation of Jesus and his blueprint is on all of creation for us to fight the good fight and run the race to its completion.