There’s a renewed interest in aliens these days, and I’m not just talking about Wemby (the superstar center for the San Antonio Spurs basketball team). In the movie, Project Hail Mary, Ryan Gosling saves the solar system with the help of a lovable alien shaped like a square rock. Seriously. Stephen Spielberg, the guy who brought us “ET phone home,” has now rolled out his latest sci-fi movie, Disclosure Day. Spielberg said that if intelligent beings superior to humans existed elsewhere in the universe, it would shake certain core, fundamental beliefs, including religious faith. Maybe. I’ll address that later.

The SETI project – Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence – has been going on since 1984. When my friend and Christian apologist Dr. Frank Turek was asked if intelligent life existed outside of earth, he responded, “I’m not so sure intelligent life even exists on earth!”

There isn’t enough space in this article to elaborate on the many theories about aliens, so I will do my best to address some key issues.

1) To date, we have seen no scientific evidence of aliens that have come to earth. [Earlier this year, President Trump directed his administration to provide more transparency on questions about UFOs, UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) and alien life. We’ll see if the revelation of long-kept government secrets about possible visitors from outer space provides any real evidence.]

2) The Bible says nothing about the existence of life beyond our planet in the other two trillion galaxies astronomers say exist in the universe. In theory, God could have placed intelligent life elsewhere, but the Bible focuses specifically on earth as the central location for His divine plan.

3) The Bible also emphasizes the uniqueness of humans in that we are “made in the image of God.” The stars and planets aren’t made in God’s image, neither are animals, angels or any other being. Only people are. That’s a pretty special distinction to have in our vast universe.

4) Earth is indeed a privileged planet. There are at least a dozen important factors necessary to support advanced life on any planet, and the chances of that happening anywhere in space is astronomically improbable. A planet must have these finely tuned factors existing at the same time:

• Precise orbit around a small star (sun) just the right distance from the planet
• Correct tilt of planet at 23.5 degrees
• Enough water to regulate temperatures
• Large moon at the right distance to affect tides
• Plate tectonic crust that recycles carbon
• Magnetic field to protect us from radiation
• Right sized atmosphere with sufficient oxygen
• Enough continents for biosphere to support complex organisms like us
• Right rotation speed of 1,000 MPH at equator
• Correct location in the galaxy
• Giant planets like Jupiter that act as magnet to keep large objects from hitting us
• Safe location in the outside spiral arm of our galaxy

(To learn more, check out the books and movies of The Story of Everything and The Privileged Planet.)

5) If aliens do exist, it’s important to understand that they are not eternal, because God alone is eternal, meaning God created aliens. Consequently, there are two options about their nature: a) aliens are immortal and cannot die (which would mean they had a beginning and are perfect or sinless creatures not subject to decay); or b) they have inherited the same curse that began when humans in the Garden of Eden rebelled against God. Just as human choices also caused animals and plants to die, so it is likely that aliens would experience the same sad fate (i.e. death) because the consequences of the Fall would extend universally to all living beings, not just to those living on planet earth, but everywhere in the universe (and, by the way, if the government does happen to produce a dead alien body, that would prove this assumption). That also means that, in a spiritual sense, if aliens have a spiritual nature as humans do (which I doubt), they are destined to eternal separation from God unless they put their faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who, as the “image of the invisible God” created all things in heaven and earth and “holds all things together” and who “reconciled to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:15-20).

6) Now, to dig a little deeper about the theological aspects of it, the Bible tells us that Jesus, the eternal son of God, left heaven to take the form of a human on earth (the “Incarnation”) with the sole mission of reversing the curse and restoring all creation to its original perfect state. That would mean that the death of Jesus on the cross on planet earth would not only serve as a sufficient payment for the moral failures of all mankind, making it possible for people who place their trust in Him to live forever in a perfect world (heaven), but that His once-for-all-time sacrifice would fix the entire flawed universe. Therefore, it follows that Jesus wouldn’t have to visit other planets and die repeatedly for its occupants. The Book of Hebrews tells us that the death of Jesus was a “once for all time” payment to satisfy the wrath of God (Hebrews 10:10). In short, with Earth as the centerpiece of human history, Jesus came to redeem fallen man and woman in this world and restore the rest of creation. That is why in Revelation 21 and 22 we see that God, in His infinite grace and love, will one day create a new heaven and earth with no more pain, suffering, evil, loneliness, fear, doubt, sin, injustice, disease, death, politics, etc.

Oddly, most books and movies assume that grotesque aliens with bulging eyes and shark-like teeth want to destroy or take over earth and its citizens. Logically speaking, however, if God really did create aliens, and if earth really is a “privileged planet” and human beings really do have a special place in God’s heart, and if God is ushering everything towards a restored “new heaven and new earth,” then you can be sure that He would protect us from anything to interfere with His ultimate purposes for those of us who live on planet earth. An all-powerful and sovereign God has absolute control over everything in this universe He made, and nothing can ever thwart His good plan. Period.

Knowing that, while extraterrestrial life is not scientifically impossible, it appears highly unlikely.

So, as the creative artist and non-theologian/non-scientist Stephen Spielberg (as a mere human with very limited knowledge) suggests, if aliens really do exist, should that shake the faith of believers in a God with unlimited knowledge, power, and creativity? On the contrary. Any new revelation of sentient life forms in the universe would only give us a wider vision of God’s astonishing creativity as the “Maker of heaven and earth” and “of all things visible and invisible.” If anything, the existence of intelligent creatures beyond earth would be one more reason to worship the awesome creator God who made the universe and everything in it – including aliens.

Hopefully, you’ll be able to sleep better at night knowing that. God’s got this.

# # #

A version of this article appeared in the September 2026 issue of STROLL The Canyons at Scenic Loop.