Alien Intrusion Page 16
This view provides a marked contrast to the views of UFOlogists, and it avoids many of the difficulties associated with the process of evolution. Even though life appears to be designed, there are at least three intractable problems with the notion that aliens were responsible:
1. The entire universe appears to be specially designed for life on Earth, which is not explained by the cosmic disorder invoked by a big bang. This purposeful design would have occurred before any aliens evolved or came into existence. Therefore, they could not be responsible for the design of the universe.
2. Evolution presumably produces undirected results. A wasteful mechanism, it is assumed to have produced many species that simply died out or did not make it as a result of survival of the fittest. There is no evidence that evolution is a viable method of “creation” anyway. Therefore, evolution could not have given rise to the aliens in the first place, and they must have been created.
3. The complexity of life on Earth, as evidenced by DNA and the fossil record, appears to have burst into existence showing no signs of evolutionary ancestry. Like the universe, it requires an ex nihilo (Latin, meaning “out of nothing”) creation. Aliens could not have created the matter from which they ultimately came.
The study of origins is invaluable in the study of UFOs. Where could they come from? Are they older and more advanced than us? Are they genetically related to us? Whereas operational (observable, repeatable, and testable) science causes us to marvel at the miracle of life itself, “creation” falls outside the realm of operational science. An open-minded person must weigh which version of creation is most believable: could the Almighty God of the Bible be responsible for the instantaneous creation of life, or was it a result of evolution? A marriage of the two — that the aliens’ creation story has been married into the Bible — is not really a viable option because of the difficulties we have discussed with the origin of the universe and biological life.
Why evolution?
At this stage it would be quite reasonable to ask, “If the evidence is so straightforward, why do so many scientists believe in evolution?” A world-famous evolutionist and professor of genetics, Richard Lewontin, gives a clue:
We take the side of [evolutionary] science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs … in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment to materialism [the belief that matter is all there is]… . Moreover, that materialism is absolute for we cannot allow a Divine foot in the door.[28]
He is really saying that the only other alternative is a supernatural Creator, which is clearly an unacceptable notion to him.
A leading evolutionist and professor of physics at the University of Manchester, H.S. Lipson, went even further when he commented:
In fact, evolution became in a sense a scientific religion; almost all scientists have accepted it and many are prepared to “bend” their observations to fit in with it.[29]
Humanism (the belief that we are all just evolved animals, and thus are our own masters) allows us to decide what is truth in our own eyes. On the other hand, if there is a Creator, by definition He owns what He has made and has the right to do what He wants with His creation. If this view is the truth, then it means that we have enormous personal responsibilities to the one who made us. This is an unacceptable position for an atheist who has already declared there is no God or Creator. In reality, this is an emotional decision (not one based on logic or scientific evidence) because mankind wants to believe that we are masters of our own destiny. The big bang and evolution provide man with an easy excuse to evade the idea of the supernatural and the possibility of a divine Creator. Similarly, the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH — aliens visiting us from other planets) is both based on and reinforces belief in evolution — in this case, on other worlds.
The last two chapters have examined the limits of science, as a first step in determining the truth about UFOs. So where do we go from here in our search for answers? Science can only take us so far, and at some point we must invoke the supernatural to explain things that we cannot answer in the natural realm. But this does not mean we are invoking a mere “God of the gaps” for the things we cannot scientifically explain. It is a logical step. In the previous chapter, engineer and design expert Dr. Stuart Burgess was quoted as saying that science was useful in demonstrating when the miraculous has taken place. If the big bang and evolution are unsatisfactory causes, and ETs could not have evolved or used evolution, where do these alien creatures come from?
By realizing the possibility of a supernatural or extra-dimensional realm, it will help widen our field of exploration in trying to understand the UFO phenomenon. If UFOs operate outside of our laws of science, then we must also look outside our natural laws to understand who or what they are. But if you and I have never been to other dimensions or realities, we could use a helping hand in understanding this realm. Given the focus of the religious UFO movement on the Bible, can we glean insight from its texts? Although an ancient book, it is the one most referred to and quoted by many UFOlogists. One biblical character who claimed to have come from an extra-dimensional reality is Jesus Christ. Both Christians and many UFO believers claim Jesus Christ as their own. He claimed to have knowledge pertinent to both worlds. In the Bible, when talking about himself and his own origin, Jesus said in John 3:12–13:
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven — the Son of Man.
Many religious UFO believers interpret this “heaven” to be another planet, galaxy, or extraterrestrial home where technology may have overcome death and sickness.
In the following chapters we shall again use science to help determine the physical evidence and claims for UFOs, but in the spiritual realm, we shall look at the Bible. As already pointed out, this is what many UFO believers do, as they find many parallels for their beliefs in the Bible, particularly in regard to future events. And as we shall see later, mankind is central to the plans of our so-called ET space brothers.
Endnotes
[1]Creation 25(2): 26–31.
[2]Michael Behe, Darwin’s Black Box (New York: The Free Press, 1996), p. 252–253.
[3]Creation Ex Nihilo 17 (4): 10–13.
[4]Crick quoted in “Panspermia,”
[5]Fred Hoyle, “The Big Bang in Astronomy,” New Scientist, vol. 92, no. 1280, November 19, 1981, p. 527.
[6]“Panspermia,”
[7]“Panspermia,”
[8]“Panspermia,”
[9]Crick, cited in “Panspermia,”
[10]“Panspermia,”
[11]F. Hoyle and N. Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1981), cover page.
[12]Denton, cited in “Panspermia,”
[13]“What Is Ockham’s Razor?”
[14]Werner Gitt In the Beginning Was Information, CLV, Bielenfeld, Germany, p. 64–67.
[15]Werner Gitt, In the Beginning Was Information (Bielenfeld, Germany: Christliche Literatur-Verbreitung), p. 64–67.
[16]Ibid., p. 79.
[17]Lee Spetner, Not by Chance (Brooklyn, NY: The Judaica Press Inc., 1997), p. 138.
[18]“Human/Chimp DNA Similarity,”
[19]Spetner, Not by Chance, p. 143.
[20]“Hoyle on Evolution,” Nature, vol. 294, November 12, 1981, cited in The Revised Quote Bo
ok (Brisbane, Australia: Creation Science Foundation, 1990), p. 21.
[21]Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (Bethesda, MD: Adler and Adler, 1986), p. 342.
[22]Stephen Jay Gould, “The Return of Hopeful Monsters,” Natural History, vol. LXXXVI (6), June–July 1977, cited in The Revised Quote Book, p. 8.
[23]Personal letter (April 10, 1979) written to Luther Sunderland, cited in Luther Sunderland, Darwin’s Enigma (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1984), p. 89.
[24]In a speech in October 1983, reported in the Washington Times, “John Lofton’s Journal,” February 8, 1984, cited in The Revised Quote Book, p. 13.
[25]Harrison L. Matthews, Introduction to Darwin’s The Origin of Species (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1971), p. xi, cited in The Revised Quote Book, p. 2.
[26]Michael Behe, Darwin’s Black Box, p. 243.
[27]Jonathan Sarfati, Refuting Evolution (Brisbane, Australia: Creation Book Publishers, 2008), p. 32.
[28]Richard Lewontin, “Billions and Billions of Demons,” New York Review, January 9, 1997, p. 31.
[29]H.S. Lipson, “A Physicist Looks at Evolution,” Physics Bulletin, vol. 31, 1980, p. 138, cited in The Revised Quote Book, p. 2.
5
Lights in the Sky — Where Are They Coming From?
UFOs defined?
One of the more pervasive beliefs about UFOs is that they contain extraterrestrial beings. Ronald Story, noted UFO researcher and editor of The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters (EEE), relates a story about his son, Brian, which demonstrates how much the ETH has saturated popular culture. He says:
This phenomenon was made strikingly clear to me by an experience with my son. He was five years old at the time (in 1979)… . Without having any prior discussions on the matter … I asked my son Brian: “What is a UFO?”
He answered without hesitation, “a flying saucer.”
So, I rephrased the question this way: “What is inside a flying saucer?”
To which he replied, matter of factly: “People from other planets.” Nothing could better illustrate to me that “UFO” had become a living symbol in our culture for the vehicle that carries “humanoids from another planet.”[1]
The origin of the term “UFO” is attributed to Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, a former chief of the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book. Although the term technically refers to an unidentified flying object, in common language it now means “flying saucer containing aliens.”[2] Most modern dictionaries also define the term as a “flying saucer” or some other reference to an extraterrestrial craft. This popularization of the UFO phenomenon makes research extremely difficult. As we previously mentioned, no indisputable empirical evidence (no piece or fragment) of an extraterrestrial craft has ever been recovered. Research relies mainly on eyewitness testimonies, and in the climate of a science fiction–crazed society, we are unlikely to get reports untainted by preconception, even from the average person.
By way of example, let’s presume that 150 years ago a farmer “putting his cows to bed” looks up and sees a group of lights flashing across the night sky at incredible speeds. What will he attribute it to? He has never seen airplanes, satellites, or spaceships, and the science fiction age is still many years in the future. Depending on his world view, he may dismiss it as “just one of those things,” a trick of the starlight, or perhaps think it to be a spiritual manifestation, such as angels, demons, or the like. There is no doubt that past generations were more religious than ours, in the sense that their outlook was attuned to a more traditional or mainstream spiritual view of the world. Shift forward to the present, and today’s farmer is likely to interpret the lights as a UFO (in the common-language sense).
{See A swarm of UFOs — an eyewitness testimony}
Due to the popularization of UFOs, many people are, to an extent, intentionally looking for sightings, expecting them to occur. In this respect, there is a strong psychological element that plays a part — a hope for such sightings. I have personally met many such people over the years who wished for such experiences — in some way being shaped by the desire to come into contact with some force greater than themselves. Many years ago, as a young man searching for meaning, I can recall having similar desires.
Sightings are so numerous that organizations abound that are dedicated to the research of UFOs and associated phenomena. Some, such as FUFOR (Fund for UFO Research), CUFOS (Center for UFO Studies), NUFORC (National UFO Reporting Center), and MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), regard themselves as impartial clearinghouses for UFO reports.
Some of these, such as MUFON and CUFOS, actually engage “field investigators” to determine, where possible, the true nature of reports. It would be fair to say that the majority of these investigations usually conclude that sightings can be explained as natural phenomena or man-made technologies. Figures on this are usually in the vicinity of 90–95 percent. (As we have said previously, residual cases might be explained in such ways if one had access to all of the available information, anyway. The hardened skeptic, true to his faith, would simply say that all UFOs definitely could be explained in this manner.) The most common object mistakenly labeled as a UFO is the planet Venus (27 percent of all sightings). Other mistaken objects include:
• Satellites circling the earth or burning up on re-entry.
• Meteors or meteor showers passing through, or burning up in, our atmosphere.
• Rocket launches or vehicles in the atmosphere, such as the space shuttle.
• High-(and lower-) altitude weather balloons.
• Astronomical phenomena such as the northern and southern lights (Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis).
• Noctilucent (“night light”) clouds. These are high-altitude ice-crystal clouds that glow at night from reflected sunlight.
• Lenticular clouds — lens-shaped clouds that look remarkably like a “flying saucer.”
• Lightning — particularly ball lightning, a very rare phenomenon.
• Flocks of birds.
• Aircraft.
• Reflections of the sun on various objects.
• Car headlights or even streetlights.
• Kites or parachutes.
• Insect swarms, such as moths.
Hypotheses of the heavyweights
These are just some of the widely varying, yet verifiable, objects that have been reported as UFOs. Yet there is always an unexplained residue of sightings. Paranormal investigator and UFO skeptic Joe Nickell comments:
… there remains a residue of unexplained cases which proponents and skeptics interpret quite differently. Proponents treat the residual cases as if — simply by being unsolved — they infer a paranormal cause. But that is, at best, a logical fallacy called “arguing from ignorance” and, at worst, mystery mongering. Skeptics may sometimes be too dismissive, but they correctly observe that incidents may be unexplained for various reasons, including insufficient, erroneous, or even falsified evidence — the same reasons that many crimes remain unsolved.[3]
Saucer-like lenticular clouds Granite Dells, Watson Lake, Prescott, Arizona, 2009
Have many of the eminent and aforementioned organizations commenced operations solely on the basis that a few unexplained sightings represent something mysterious to be investigated? Noted UFOlogist J. Allen Hynek (whom we mentioned in chapter 1) was a scientific consultant for the U.S. Air Force on Project Blue Book for over 20 years. Although Blue Book listed 12,618 UFO reports, of which 701 (c. 5 percent) have remained unidentified and could not be explained, it concluded that UFOs did not pose any threat to national security. The government is effectively “off the hook” with this type of explanation. It doesn’t say what they are, but it provides an answer which they believe serves the public interest. The later Condon Report came to much the same conclusion. Hynek’s role was to study UFO reports and determine whether an astronomical object, such as the moon or planet Venus, for example, may explain them. Initially, he was a UFO skeptic, but he soon be
came convinced that UFOs were worthy of serious study, and in 1973 he founded CUFOS.[4]