An appeal to probability is a logical fallacy where a person assumes probability from possibility. For instance, I often hear that because the universe is so vast, there must be extra-terrestrial life somewhere existing in the cosmos. But, the problem is, just because they may possibly exist, does not mean that they probably exist.
I have seen “grey” aliens in media, as I am sure you have as well, since the 80’s and in the 90’s, and when the grey alien face became a fad (often green, with black eyes), nearly every skateboard and Ford Escort bumper had on it a sticker of such. Since then, it seems that the question of the greys’ origin has come up as a question in Christian discussions across the globe. I have heard more than enough that some people believe they are fallen angels, but I am not convinced.
I have listed below some differences between angels and greys, and yes, I realize that a fallen angel is different than an angel, but nowhere do we find in the Bible that the appearance of an angel has changed after falling. Not only that, but spaceships are often associated with greys, signifying something physical, which angels are not, but instead are spiritual beings.
“Grey” Aliens
· Grey
· Big, black eyes
· Naked
· Shrouded in darkness
· Rare communication/fueled by fear
Angels
· White
· No mention of shocking eyeball description
· Clothed
· Shrouded in light
· “Fear not” (See Luke 1:13; 30; 2:10)
Consider the following verses:
Matthew 28:3, “His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow”.
Mark 16:5 “And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.”
Luke 24:4 “While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.”
John 20:12 “And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.”
What I find interesting about this division between spiritual and physical creatures is that it seems that in order for a physical person to see a spiritual creature, it requires an act of God.
“When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.”[1]
Similarly, if people are seeing greys, they are not seeing spiritual creatures because there are no acts of God surrounding the events. We must also consider that “God is not the author of confusion.”[2] If they are not acts of God, in which every case of an angel in the Bible, it was understood as such an act, then what are they? In any event, because greys are often associated with spaceships according to many abduction testimonies, is the spaceship also a spiritual object? This seems absurd. We never see biblically where there are spiritual spaceships in the Bible. Even when Ezekiel mentions the wheels, he is describing a spiritual structure on top of those wheels, namely, a throne that is able to move about freely because of such (See Ezekiel 1:26).
Now, concerning governmental coverups, I think an interesting statement to consider is attributed to the late Stephen Hawking, which is that “If the government is covering up knowledge of aliens, they are doing a better job of it than they do at anything else.” Whether Hawking said this or not, it still makes a great point. Take the Watergate scandal for instance. Chuck Colson has famously said that,
“I know the Resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, and then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned, and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
It was impossible for them to keep a secret of something so minute in comparison to the existence of extraterrestrials. How much faster, how much more explosive, would the actual evidence of such be publicized to the point of exhaustion today?
In the possibility of the existence of the greys themselves, neurologist Steven Novella says that "The probability that an alien race, the product of a completely separate evolutionary history, would look even vaguely humanoid is vanishingly small. The aliens, however, do not just appear as humans, they appear like humans with those traits we psychologically associate with intelligence exaggerated."[3] He seems to think that grey aliens are an invention of human beings, with their big heads, big eyes, unmatched technology… things that people normally equate with intelligence. This is interesting as it leads to the questions regarding the appearance of such.
He continues, “…If, for example, we compare humans to apes we can observe that humans have larger relative craniums, smaller faces with more gracile features, and less hair. If we take a human and then increase the cranium size, make the face smaller and all features more gracile, and take away the hair, you end up with a typical gray alien.”[4]
From the evolutionary perspective, there is something called the Rare Earth hypothesis which maintains that the origin of life and the evolution of biological complexity in life on Earth required an almost impossible combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances. This just acknowledges that the chances of life on earth was extremely low. The chances of life on earth required layers upon layers of combinations of fine tuning in order for life to exist. The thing about this is that the evolutionary tree would look completely different on another planet than what it does for earth if it were true.
I have had conversations with evolutionists who believe that the earth was seeded with life by extraterrestrials. Not only is this reduced to absurdity, since there will always be a question of who seeded that planet, and who seeded that planet where they came from, ad infinitum, which ultimately answers nothing, but we also must deal with what the extraterrestrials look like. The issue, I believe, is legitimate because many supposed sightings are of humanoid creatures, that is, bipedal/upright, sentient beings, create problems regarding the evolutionary model.
If the supposed evolutionary tree brought us to where we are now as human beings, the question is, why would there be another bipedal/upright, intelligent creature on another planet with a different evolutionary tree? If it were the case, then we would see a pattern in such, but what would be the cause of such a pattern? The point is, that if this were the case, then it would point to a common designer. In other words, why would an extraterrestrial resemble a human being in shape? The answer is that God designed it to be that way. This is helpful in helping those evolutionists move from atheistic to theistic, for those who believe that extraterrestrial life must exist.
I find that many evolutionists are attracted to sci-fi, and even though alien life is only possible as opposed to probable, many still believe that alien life is probable. Which is fine. The thing about it is though, if they are set on believing that intelligent life exists and appears in the form of a humanoid being, then not only must the answer to the existence of life itself be answered, but the existence of life with a similar evolutionary tree. Thus, there are two layers of extreme chance that have been accomplished from an evolutionary perspective. The chances of life existing at all from an evolutionary perspective is nearly impossible, but what are the chances that an evolutionary tree from another planet is so similar that at the top of the tree, we find humanoid creatures? The chances are also astronomical. This seems like it requires more faith to believe that an evolutionary model will produce nearly the same results on another than the faith required to believe that God created the universe.
This all means that the existence of humanoid aliens make the belief in God much more reasonable than believing in such unfathomable extremes of improbability. But further, I believe we can make a case for the existence of God through such.
For instance, when we are conversing with naturalists and evolutionists who believe in specifically humanoid aliens, we can use this information to show them that God exists. If we bring them from atheistic evolutionary position to a theistic evolutionary position, is that not a win? I would argue that it is.
So, this would technically be the second step in the classical apologetics method. We begin with the first step by explaining that the truth can be known through the fundamental laws of logic with the idea of self-refuting statements, and then from there, we move to the second step, the idea that if there are multiple evolutionary tree models that end up with humanoid intelligent species, then we can know that this is no random act, but is in fact a pattern set in place by something. According to the principle of causality, if this were the case that there is more than one planet with humanoid species residing on them, then this would mean that there is a cause for the effect of this pattern of evolution.
The logic would appear as follows:
1. If there are humanoid species that evolved to be such on other planets, then the pattern of evolution has a cause.
2. There are (hypothetically) humanoid species that evolved to be such on other planets.
3. Therefore, the pattern of evolution has a cause.
So, we may be able to lead a person who believes in extraterrestrials to theism through the principle of causality, and from here, we continue our barrage of arguments for the existence of God in order to fuel the fire that has been kindled, but doing so in a gentle and respectful manner, and then we lead them to an understanding that the Bible is true.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."
–Psalm 19:1-4
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