Are We Alone?

Are we alone? That’s one of the questions being asked by scientists. It’s been out there for a long time. And it’s back in the news again. This time, it’s because of something spotted in space.

The full details are at: Astronomers to check interstellar body for signs of alien technology, on msn.com, from an article by The Guardian. (sorry, the article has been removed from msn.com) The object is pictured to the right.

The following excerpt from the article is the topic today –

“The chances that we’ll hear something are very small, but if we do, we will report it immediately and then try to interpret it,” Loeb said. “It would be prudent just to check and look for signals. Even if we find an artefact {British variant of artifact} that was left over and there are no signs of life on it, that would be the greatest thrill I can imagine having in my lifetime. It’s really one of the fundamental questions in science, perhaps the most fundamental: are we alone?”

Are We Alone?

While science looks for an answer, the Bible actually provides one. No – we are not alone. The puzzling thing about that answer is that too often we want nothing to do with it. Instead of asking whether findings are evidence of the God of the Bible, He is ignored while we look for someone / something else.

Here’s a bit of a side trip to make this topic even more poignant. BTW, if you don’t know the meaning of poignant, it’s evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret.

Never Alone

As I’m writing about “Are we alone?”, “You’re Never Alone“, by Vince Gill comes up on iTunes on my computer. I’m sure you can find it on YouTube, but I’m going to give you the lyrics. It’s a song from a man to a woman. He loves her. But she is leaving him. But when you’re reading this, think of it as a song from God to you. And you’re either thinking of walking away from God – or you’ve already walked away from God – or maybe you never even considered Him. And yet, God created you, loves you, and wants to care for you. Think of the lyrics in that regard as you read them. And think of others who have rejected God, or never knew God, in the same light. Because God created them too.

You were like a lost kid looking for home
You found what you wanted right in my arms

If you walk out on me
Just leave your memory
Just take my sympathy and go
I love you so you’re never alone

If you find another one turns your head
And you can’t understand why it hurts so bad

If you walk out on me
Just leave your memory
Just take my sympathy and go

If you walk out on me
Just leave your memory
Just take my sympathy and go
I love you so you’re never alone

Now – think about that song – a love song from God to you – from God to all of us – as you read the rest of this.

A lost kid looking for home

Ge 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

We were home, in the beginning.

Ge 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

We were warned about getting lost.

And yet –

Ge 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

another turned our heads –

Ge 2:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Ge 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

and we walked out on God. And now we’re lost and looking for home.

And yet –

Ge 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

God still loved us and tried to take care of us, in spite of what we did.

Leave your memories

Ge 6:5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

We forgot all about God. Except for Noah, who found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Ge 7:1 The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made. ”

Ge 7:5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

But then –

Ge 9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.

Ge 9:20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness.

Ge 9:24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.”

Ge 9:26 He also said,
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.

Ge 9:27 May God extend the territory of Japheth;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be his slave.”

another turned our heads – again.

And you can’t understand why it hurts so bad

Ex 1:6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.

Ex 1:8 Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

Ex 1:11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

Over and over it happens. We turn away from God. We hurt. We wonder why it hurts. Then we remember. And we turn back to God. The pain stops. Until,

Ex 16:1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’S hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Yes – the pain stops, until we forget. Over and over it goes. We remember. Things are good. Our heads are turned. We forget. It hurts.

I love you so you’re never alone

I could go on and on and on …

But I need this one to be short. It’s for a one session class.

The point is, no matter how many times we repeat the cycle – God continues to love us, and to tell us that we’re never alone, because He’s always here for us. When we want Him

Are We Alone?

And yet, something like this object in space comes along and it turns our head. It makes us ask questions like “Are we alone?” Even when we’ve already been told so many times, “You’re never alone”.

It’s like we want to be alone. Well – at least alone from God.

But then, what are we seeking from this thing in space? What are we hoping to find with some other life from outer space?

God? No – here’s already here, and we’ve rejected Him.

Someone to help us solve our problems? No – God has already offered to do that, and we’ve rejected Him. Besides, we’re way too arrogant to accept, or even want, outside help.

Someone to dominate us? Well, to be honest, history might suggest that this is exactly what we want. Our heads get turned. We get turned away from God. We get dominated, because of the absence of the presence of God in our lives. We are in pain. We turn back to God. Things get better. That sure fits the pattern, doesn’t it?

Maybe we want someone to dominate? That could be true as well. Going back to the fall, that’s what Eve and Adam were after. Wanting to be like God – or at least what they thought God was like. We wanted to dominate. And ended up under the ultimate domination.