Did humans come first?

[Aeris]

Most people believe that humans were the first intelligent creation of God or however we came about. Doesn't it seem kind of selfish to believe we were first, in this WHOLE universe (that is still expanding), we were first and our planet may still be the only one with living beings. And even when we do expand on the idea of other life out there, we assume that they have the same features, senses, and needs as us. If they lived on a different planet in a different galaxy, I would think that if there was a resemblance, it would be insignificant. What do you guys think?

[DjCiD]

I don't think it's anywhere in the Bible but I don't know for sure, I heard somewhere that His angels were created before the humans. Then the rebellion of Lucifer, he and his followers where kicked out of Heaven. Then God created humans. Could have been a movie ;D I'm not sure where I heard it.

[Scrinlord]

The angels were created first, and the rebellion of satan and the banishment of his followers.

but I think that he ment living breathing creatures, not angels and demons.

I think that you are right, if there are creatures on other worlds, the most likely do not resemble us at all. we are carbon based, but they could be silicon based or nitrogen based or something like that. they would not need water to live like we do. there is no assurance that we would even be able to recognize them as living beings.

Hell, they may exist in different dimensions then us, so we could only sense(hear, see, feel, whatever) parts of them at a time.

But the problem is, the chance of there being intelligent life outside earth is EXTREMELY small. it depends on if you believe in God/creationism, or evolution. I will explain more later tho, cause my mom is kicking me off the PC right now.

chow

[Terror]

Hah, i'm not human, and i have intelligence.... i think.

so what's your conclusion?

[Acriku]

If there is life on other worlds, this will shake the very foundation of human-centered religions, and will force many to look at their beliefs differently.

[Terror]

well, i think it exists.... there are just so goddamn many stars with planets.... it's almost impossible for me to think that there are no other living things in this universe?

[Miles]

It all just depends on how likely it truly is for life to form and how many variations can exist. If we find life on Europa or past life on mars, then we will have to rethink our ideas of the rarity of life.

[Edric O]

If there is life on other worlds, this will shake the very foundation of human-centered religions, and will force many to look at their beliefs differently.

And what if we find an extra-terrestrial civilization that just happens to believe in a God that shares the exact same attributes of the Judeo-Christian God?

[ken124578]

The only way an extraterrestrial being can belief the exact same as us will only be if they were humans themselves, come on, was jesus a giant octopuss? (as an example) NO.

Was jesus something like a giant spider? (just an example) NO.

Well, another reason why an extraterrestrial being would believe in God would be if he had been receiving, translating and understanding everything we broadcasted and believed it.

[Edric O]

God can take any shape He wants. If He can take human form, He can just as well take the form of a giant octopus/spider/whatever.

I was referring to an omnipotent, omnipresent God of love, compassion and mercy, etc. Omnipresent entities can't exactly have a fixed physical form, you know...

As for why an extraterrestrial being would believe in God... ummm, could it be simply because... HE EXISTS? Did that ever cross your mind? If we find an alien civilization that believes in the same God as we do, than that's the closest you're ever gonna get to absolute proof of that God's existence.

[Miles]

God can take any shape He wants. If He can take human form, He can just as well take the form of a giant octopus/spider/whatever.

I was referring to an omnipotent, omnipresent God of love, compassion and mercy, etc. Omnipresent entities can't exactly have a fixed physical form, you know...

As for why an extraterrestrial being would believe in God... ummm, could it be simply because... HE EXISTS? Did that ever cross your mind? If we find an alien civilization that believes in the same God as we do, than that's the closest you're ever gonna get to absolute proof of that God's existence.

Well, omnipotent, omnipresent, benevolent is not exactly a specific definition. It would be likely that if some intelligent alien race developed religion, then these attributes would be given. It really would only prove that these attributes are a likely conclusion given the concept of God. This would not constitute proof.

Now, if this alien race's God was named Jehova, gave ten commandments to them which were identical to the ones in the old testiment, had exact teachings from another being who claimed to be the son of God as Jesus, then that would definitely make atheists reconsider.

[Cyborg]

God can take any shape He wants. If He can take human form, He can just as well take the form of a giant octopus/spider/whatever.

I was referring to an omnipotent, omnipresent God of love, compassion and mercy, etc. Omnipresent entities can't exactly have a fixed physical form, you know...

As for why an extraterrestrial being would believe in God... ummm, could it be simply because... HE EXISTS? Did that ever cross your mind? If we find an alien civilization that believes in the same God as we do, than that's the closest you're ever gonna get to absolute proof of that God's existence.

Aliens would maybe have other values. Someone's vision of a God depends more or less of that individual's values.

My guess is that aliens wouldn't even know what a God is. :-

[Dude_Doc]

Maybe they just believes in God? Why has there to be anything more? To make an alien race have the same Christian/Judeo religion as us, they would have to have their own Jesus, and their own Roman empire etc, I think. Anyways, maybe they just exist? What if only we were created by God, and every other alien race is just "animals"? What if God created humans all over the universe? On the other side, why must aliens exist? Is it nessesary that other worlds must have intelligent life? If humans believe the universe is one in a millions billion, then why not our existence?

[Acriku]

And what if they don't believe in a god? A totally secular world, that exists peacefully and morally stable, that'd wet some fundies' panties.

[slaphapy]

well, i'm not a religious person, and I don't know the religious side of anything really...

but if there is life on another planet or something, the chances are they will look completely different then us, because the elements on the earth will be a little different, but mostly similar, and depending on the planets size, its' gravity will be different, making any beings on the planet either shorter or taller making their appearance most likely completely different then an average human on earth. But even if there is life somewhere out there, we will most likely never know about it, because by the time a probe or something of ours reaches them, or a probe or something of theirs reaches us, earth probably won't exist anymore.

[Acriku]

Let's not forget that there are elements being discovered every now and then, and on a different planet there might be even stranger or different(maybe more stable) elements to be discovered - all letting intelligent life to flourish, given the amount of time.

[Edric O]

A totally secular world, that exists peacefully and morally stable...

Yeah, and they have flying pigs as pets. :) Remember, religion is among the least of all causes of conflict. Racism, nationalism, and pure greed will continue to spill rivers of blood, with our without religion. As a matter of fact, without the knowledge that they will be punished after death for their crimes, many people could get far more violent.

Of course, these are aliens we're talking about, so maybe they never even imagined racism, nationalism or personal greed. Maybe they never even invented weapons!

And in that case, we would invade their world, steal their land, herd them into concentration camps and exterminate them. We would then pride ourselves with our brutality and genocidal rage. It's the good ol' human way...

Mankind: Slaughtering defenceless lifeforms since 3000 BC.

[Terror]

hmmm, religion both did good and bad things when it comes to war. People have been slaughtered in the name name of god. And on the other hand god has showed others mercy. If there was no religion i don't think it was that much different.

[Acriku]

Religion surely did cause conflict, on a grand scale. And still is. People put their religious beliefs so deep down, that any opposition of faith is an enemy to the faith. It is common sense. If everybody was liberal, then maybe we would have limited conflict, but there many many many orthodox and fundamentalist religious people living and it breeds conflict.

Without a religion, racism nationalism and greed can all be worked out over time. They would be for one cause : their kind. But who knows, anything is possible. For you to say a secular world cannot be peaceful is pretty ignorant, but hey that's my opinion. And conspiring human takeover of this peaceful planet has nothing to do with the discussion.

[Cyborg]

A totally secular world, that exists peacefully and morally stable...

Yeah, and they have flying pigs as pets. :)

It's the religious people who believe there is something up in heaven...

"Non-believers" usually keep it at ground level where the humans exist. ;)

[Dude_Doc]

Of course, these are aliens we're talking about, so maybe they never even imagined racism, nationalism or personal greed. Maybe they never even invented weapons!

Mind that wars do help technology, in one way or another. But I'd be very surprised if there is any living being in this universe that has never killed anyone/anything.

Like they said in "Titan A.E.": they are exterminating us because they are afraid of what we might become. And after all, this could be a possible future (the one where humans slaughter every other alien race and steal their recourses etc). Heck, we are afraid of "Independence Day" (the movie, if it happened for real :) ), but in, say, 1500 years, it is the aliens who will fear us. Pretty ironic if you imagine it this way.

[slaphapy]

Let's not forget that there are elements being discovered every now and then, and on a different planet there might be even stranger or different(maybe more stable) elements to be discovered - all letting intelligent life to flourish, given the amount of time.

well, possibly, but the chances are slim... every element (except for the artificial ones made by scientists, and helium and hydrogen) has come from simple processes inside of stars.. like the proton-proton chain, or the CNO cycle (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen) or things like that.. the sun makes many of these elements, from simple chemistry, certain elements are put through processes that make them another element, except the sun does not make helium or hydrogen.. those elements have been (according to my astronomy book) thought to exist since the begining of time, and were just the original elements, basically. So, any other solar systems, as far as I can guess, would most likely be made up of pretty much the exact same elements we have here on earth ;)

[Caid Ivik]

First was God. After Him angels. After those human. If He ever created any other intelligent being, on Earth or elsewhere, we don't need to know that. We have still much to learn how to tolerate diffenerent humans, so it would be much harder to tolerate or understand different intelligent lifeform. There was no proof ever found we aren't the first intelligent lifeforms inhabiting this planet, but if you want so, then look into first verses of Bible:

"And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Gen 1,2

[Edric O]

Without a religion, racism nationalism and greed can all be worked out over time.

No, they cannot. Racism and nationalism have deep roots in our primitive tribal past. The roots of greed go even deeper.

For you to say a secular world cannot be peaceful is pretty ignorant, but hey that's my opinion.

And for you to say that a religious world cannot be peaceful is equally ignorant. (please correct me if you haven't said that)

And conspiring human takeover of this peaceful planet has nothing to do with the discussion.

No, but I was just pointing out that if there is such a planet, it would be best if we never found it.

[Acriku]

It isn't ignorant to say that, I can just look at the present time. Is there peace? No. As long as there are fundies and orthodox people, there will never be peace. Only liberal religious people can live peacefully, because they don't put opponents of faith as the enemy. They aren't that serious about it.