Why do no religions mention other planet's?

Freiheit

If they are all part of God's creation, and possibly containing other people, why are they no mentioned in the Holy Books of the world? have they no relevance to us?. Do they have to follow the same rules? Is there one heaven for us and a separate one for them? just curious.

Gokei

Freiheit wrote: »

If they are all part of God's creation, and possibly containing other people, why are they no mentioned in the Holy Books of the world? have they no relevance to us?. Do they have to follow the same rules? Is there one heaven for us and a separate one for them? just curious.

I don't think the lads who wrote the holy books knew about the other m class planets at the time of writing.

Dubl07

The Church of Scientology believes humans are extraterrestrials. :rolleyes:

[-0-]

Because their texts were written by people who thought the earth was flat, for instance. The bible is the exact kind of thing you would expect from a man made theology written by peasants.

Nodin

Freiheit wrote: »

If they are all part of God's creation, and possibly containing other people, why are they no mentioned in the Holy Books of the world? have they no relevance to us?. Do they have to follow the same rules? Is there one heaven for us and a separate one for them? just curious.

I think the Mormons and Hindus do. And there was some nut in a Christian sect who did...can't remember the name.

Nodin

Ellen G White was the one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_G._White

wretcheddomain

It's sort of a silly question OP, I can only assume you're being facetious...

Dubl07

Nodin wrote: »

I think the Mormons and Hindus do. And there was some nut in a Christian sect who did...can't remember the name.

David Icke

zenno

Freiheit wrote: »

If they are all part of God's creation, and possibly containing other people, why are they no mentioned in the Holy Books of the world? have they no relevance to us?. Do they have to follow the same rules? Is there one heaven for us and a separate one for them? just curious.

The reason for this is because we were all sent here to this planet for being a bold boy/girl of which is a prison planet. The Gods would not allow us to have the information regarding other life on other planets because if we knew this, we would go there eventually and destroy them all as is in human nature. So they thee Gods keep this information from us.

Gokei

wretcheddomain wrote: »

It's sort of a silly question OP, I can only assume you're being facetious...

Don't see why, the books are rammed with off world knowledge. Heaven, hell, purgatory. If the authors knew about these places, they should know about other populated planets.

wretcheddomain

Gokei wrote: »

Don't see why, the books are rammed with off world knowledge. Heaven, hell, purgatory. If the authors knew about these places, they should know about other populated planets.

That's what I mean, the question answers itself.

MrPudding

Does anyone remember a short story about an alien invasion of earth where it turned out the aliens had been sent by their god, who was also our god, to wipe us out? Can't for the life of me remember the name, it was probaly about 25 years ago when I read it.

MrP

Aineoil

Mr Pudding,

The Anunnaki and their god Anu, maybe?

MrPudding

Aineoil wrote: »

Mr Pudding,

The Anunnaki and their god Anu, maybe?

I don't think so...

MrP

Kidchameleon

Dubl07 wrote: »

The Church of Scientology believes humans are extraterrestrials. :rolleyes:

Its quite possible the first life on earth arrived via meteorite so you and I could technically be of extraterestrial origin

HansHolzel

When all the major religions were formulated, they didn't even know America was there.

5uspect

Nodin wrote: »

I think the Mormons and Hindus do. And there was some nut in a Christian sect who did...can't remember the name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolob

wretcheddomain

HansHolzel wrote: »

When all the major religions were formulated, they didn't even know America was there.

6,000 years ago North America was joined to Eurasia in a massive supercontinent called Pangaea, which is mentioned in Genesis 14:

"Thou shalt visit North America while you can"

Kiwi in IE

HansHolzel wrote: »

When all the major religions were formulated, they didn't even know America was there.

Indeed! And we are expected to believe historical documentation about heaven, hell, arks, talking snakes, virgins giving birth, dead people coming back to life, people with special powers who walk on water, water turning to wine (quite like that one, wish I could believe it) etc, etc. And all this from peasants from several thousand years ago who thought the world was flat, weather patterns, outbreaks of disease and pestilence were caused by the anger or pleasure of 'god' and did not know that America, Australia, Antartica etc were there at all. Very reliable source of what is reality I must say! In fairness how can anyone believe in religion?

Aineoil

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

Indeed! And we are expected to believe historical documentation about heaven, hell, arks, talking snakes, virgins giving birth, dead people coming back to life, people with special powers who walk on water, water turning to wine (quite like that one, wish I could believe it) etc, etc. And all this from peasants from several thousand years ago who thought the world was flat, weather patterns, outbreaks of disease and pestilence were caused by the anger or pleasure of 'god' and did not know that America, Australia, Antartica etc were there at all. Very reliable source of what is reality I must say! In fairness how can anyone believe in religion?

Tongue in cheek here, believe me!

You have to have faith.

zenno

Some guy PHD just released a book about this. Humans are not from Earth...

A scientific evaluation of the evidence for and (mostly) against man’s evolution on Planet Earth, by a leading environmentalist and ecologist.

Including:
An evaluation of the thirteen leading hypotheses
Seventeen factors which suggest we are not from Earth
How did we get here?
When did we get here?
What is our home planet like?
The most likely stars that our home planet orbits
If the aliens are out there why can’t we detect them?
Are we the aliens?

http://www.amazon.com/Humans-are-not-Earth-scientific-ebook/dp/B00DKK9IX2

robindch

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

In fairness how can anyone believe in religion?

Because it makes them feel good, or at least, justified.

Sarky

zenno wrote: »

Some guy PHD just released a book about this. Humans are not from Earth...

The sample Amazon provides does not fill me with confidence.

MrPudding

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

In fairness how can anyone believe in religion?

Watch "The Invention of Lying." I know some people have a problem with Ricky Gervais, but you might like it and it might give you a reason why people beleive in it.

MrP

zenno

Sarky wrote: »

The sample Amazon provides does not fill me with confidence.

Neither me, not my cup of tea, who knows though, fact is usually stranger than fiction at times.

Kiwi in IE

Any alien theories out there are more likely to turn out to be reality than any of the worlds organised religions. Not that I find any of them believable either.

zenno

Srila Prabhupada. Even on the sun and moon there are living entities. What is the opinion of the scientists?

Dr. Singh. They say there is no life there.

Srila Prabhupada. That is nonsense. There is life there.

Dr. Singh. They say that there is no life on the moon because they did not find any there.

Srila Prabhupada. Why do they believe that? The moon planet is covered with dust, but within that dust the living entities can live. Every atmosphere is suitable for life—any atmosphere. Therefore the Vedas describe the living entities as sarva-gatah, which means “existing in all circumstances.” The living entity is not material. Although encaged in a material body, he is not material. But when we speak of different atmospheres, we refer to different material conditions.

Karandhara. They say that the moon’s atmosphere is unsuitable for life, but all they can legitimately say is that it is unsuitable for life as they know it.

Srila Prabhupada. The Vedas say that the living entity has no connection with material things. He cannot be burned, cut, dried up or moistened. This is discussed in Bhagavad-gita.

Dr. Singh. Scientists extend their knowledge about life on this planet, thinking that it must apply to life on other planets also.

Srila Prabhupada. Yes. They are thinking foremost of their own selves. They are thinking limitedly, in terms of their own circumstances. This is what we call “Dr. Frog’s philosophy. [Laughter.]
Once there was a frog in a well, and when a friend informed him of the existence of the Atlantic Ocean, he asked the friend, “Oh, what is this Atlantic Ocean?”
“It is a vast body of water,” his friend replied.
“How vast? Is it twice the size of this well?”
“Oh, no-much, much larger,” his friend replied.
“How much larger? Ten times the size?” In this way, the frog went on calculating. But what is the possibility or ever understanding the vastness of the great ocean in this way? Our faculties, our experience, and our powers of speculation are always limited. The speculations of the scientists only give rise to such frog philosophy.

Karandhara. The basis of what they call “scientific integrity” is that they talk only about what they can directly experience.

Srila Prabhupada. You may talk about your experience, and I may talk about my experience. But why should I accept your experience? You may be a fool, so why should I also become a fool? You may be a frog, but suppose I am a whale. Why should I take your well as all in all? You have your method of acquiring scientific knowledge, and I have mine.

Dr. Singh. Because the scientists haven’t detected any water on the surface of the moon, they’ve concluded that no life could survive there.

Srila Prabhupada. They haven’t seen the whole surface of the moon. Suppose someone were to come here from another planet, drop into the Arabian Desert and then return home. Could he come to a complete conclusion about the nature of the whole earth? His knowledge would not be complete.

Karandhara. They have a device that senses water. They say they’ve had it orbit the moon, and they’ve concluded that the moon has no water and therefore no life.

Srila Prabhupada. Even if, as on the sun, there is apparently no water, still there are living entities there. How does a cactus grow in the desert, apparently without water?

Karandhara. It gets water from the atmosphere.

Srila Prabhupada. Yes, because the atmosphere contains all the elements needed to sustain life: earth, water, fire, air and ether. In anything material, all these elements are present. For example, in my body there is water, although you cannot see it. Similarly, you don’t see fire in my body, yet my body is warm. Where does this warmth come from? You don’t see any fire. Do you see any fire burning in my body? Then where does the warmth come from? What is the answer?

The Universe in the Atom

Srila Prabhupada. All matter is a combination of five gross elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether) and three subtle elements (mind, intelligence and false ego).

Karandhara. According to the Vedic science, material energy begins with the false ego and then develops into the intelligence, then the mind and then the gross elements—ether, air, fire and so on. So the same basic ingredients are present in all matter. Is this right?

Srila Prabhupada. Yes. The creation of the material universe is like the growth of a great banyan tree from a tiny seed. No one can see the tree within the seed, but all the necessary ingredients for the tree are there, including the required intelligence. Actually, everyone’s body is simply a sample universe. Your body and my body are different universes, small universes. Therefore, all eight material elements are present within our bodies, just as they are within the whole universe. Similarly, an insect’s body is another universe.

Karandhara. How about the atom?

Srila Prabhupada. The same formula applies: all these constituents are within the atom. Anor aniyan mahato mahiyan (Katha Upanisad 1.2.20). This means that whether something is extremely large or infinitesimal, it is still made of the same basic elements. This is true everywhere in the material world. Just as a woman’s small watch has all the requisite machinery for its smooth functioning, so an ant has all the necessary brain substance to manage its affairs nicely. How is this possible? To answer this properly, you must minutely examine the brain tissues in the ant. But this you cannot do. Moreover, there are innumerable insects smaller than the ant. So there must be a mechanical arrangement for all this detailed activity, but scientists cannot discover it.

Relativity and Knowledge

Srila Prabhupada. All living entities possess the required intelligence to execute four principles: eating, sleeping, sexual intercourse and defense. These four principles exist even in the atom. The only difference in the human being is that he has the extra intelligence with which to understand God. This is the difference. Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca samanam etat pasubhir naranam. Eating, sleeping, sex life and defense are to be found everywhere. You have seen trees growing. Wherever there is a knot, the bark does not go this way; it goes that way. [Srila Prabhupada gestures to show that a tree's bark grows not over a knot, but around it.] The tree has intelligence: “If I go this way, I will be blocked, so I will go that way.” But where are its eyes? How can it see? It has intelligence. That intelligence may not be as good as yours, but it is intelligence. Similarly, a child also has intelligence, though not as developed as his father’s. In due course of time, when the child gets a body like that of his father, the child’s intelligence will be fully developed and exhibited.

Dr. Singh. Then intelligence is relative.

Srila Prabhupada. Yes. Everything is relative. You have your body, your duration of life, and your intelligence, and the ant has his. Both we and the ant live for one hundred years, but the length of our hundred—year life—span is relative to our bodies. Even Brahma, the longest—living entity in this universe, lives for one hundred years. To us the ant’s life-span may seem only a few days. In the same way, on other planets with atmospheres different from the earth’s, there are life-forms suited to those conditions. But the scientists try to view everything according to the relative conditions of planet earth. This is nonsense. Why are they doing that? If the whole cosmic manifestation follows the law of relativity, how can the scientist say that the conditions of this planet must apply to life on other planets? The Vedas instruct us that knowledge must always be considered in terms of desa-kala-patra. Desa means “circumstances,” kala means “time,” and patra means “the object.” We must understand everything by taking these three elements into consideration. For example, a fish is living very comfortably in the water, and we are shivering on the shore of the sea. This is because my desa-kala-patra and the fish’s desa-kala-patra are different. But if we conclude that the sea gulls will also shiver in the water, that is nonsense; their desa-kala-patra is again different. There are 8,400,000 different species of life in the material cosmic manifestation, and each species must adjust to circumstances differently. Even on this planet, you cannot go live comfortably in Alaska, although it is America. Similarly, the living entities enjoying life in Alaska do not come here.

Karandhara. Relativity, then, is based upon our individual situation.

Srila Prabhupada. Yes. Therefore it is said that what is food for one is poison for another.

Brahmananda Swami. Because scientists cannot survive on the moon, they think no one else can.

The 8.6-Billion-Year Day

Dr. Singh. The problem with the world is that practically everyone is thinking only in terms of his own circumstances—and that is nonsense.

Student. Someone who has never gone out of his village thinks that his village is the whole world.

Srila Prabhupada. Yes. The frog is always thinking in terms relative to his well. He has no power to think otherwise. The ocean is great, but he is thinking of the ocean’s greatness in terms relative to his own greatness. Similarly, God is great, but we are thinking of God in terms of relative greatness, greatness relative to our own. There are certain insects that are born at night, and they grow, bear offspring and die—all before daybreak. They never see the morning. So if they conclude that there is no morning, that is nonsense. In the same way, as soon as we hear from the sastras [revealed scriptures] that Brahma’s duration of life is equivalent to millions of our years, we do not believe it. We say, “How can it be?” But Bhagavad-gita (8.17) says, sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmano viduh: “Four billion three hundred million earth years equal Brahma’s twelve hours.” Even a leading Indian politician who was known as a great scholar of the Gita could not accept this information. He said it is mental speculation. Such a rascal! Yet he is passing as an important scholar. This is the problem. Rascals and fools are passing as scholars, scientists and philosophers, and therefore the whole world is being misguided.
The above conversation was recorded on April 18, 1973, in Cheviot Hills Park, Los Angeles.
[An excerpt from “LIFE COMES FROM LIFE” published by The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust]

HansHolzel

In his Plagues and Peoples (1976) McNeill writes about “the heavy micro-parasitism characteristic of a climate as warm and wet as that of the Ganges Valley and of the rest of India’s best agricultural lands” (1976:90) and he connects several leading traits of Indian civilization to the prevalence of disease: the fragility of imperial structures, the caste system and the characteristic transcendentalism in religion (1976:92-94).

Hotblack Desiato

HansHolzel wrote: »

When all the major religions were formulated, they didn't even know America was there.

From the humour thread recently:

iDave

Religion isn't a good resource for understanding the cosmos so don't act surprised if there are glaring omissions from its texts. Don't blame them though, they were primitive and tried to understand the world around them in a way that they could. Its people who still believe today who should know better, they are the problem.

diomed

I used Google to look at the text of Genesis

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.
God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.
He also made the stars.
God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

A reflection isn't a light really I suppose

Other planet's what?

Zillah

Demons. Aliens are demons. Have no doubt, if we got a message from an alien race, declaring their good will in a vast and awesome universe, there will be religious people declaring them to be demons from Hell sent to make us doubt the truth.

Kidchameleon

Zillah wrote: »

Demons. Aliens are demons. Have no doubt, if we got a message from an alien race, declaring their good will in a vast and awesome universe, there will be religious people declaring them to be demons from Hell sent to make us doubt the truth.

In fairness you would get idiots from every walk of life irregardless of religious beleifs talking sh*te about alien contact

Zillah

Yes - but we're talking about religion. Demons is how some religious people will deal with life on other planets.

MikeC101

MrPudding wrote: »

Does anyone remember a short story about an alien invasion of earth where it turned out the aliens had been sent by their god, who was also our god, to wipe us out? Can't for the life of me remember the name, it was probaly about 25 years ago when I read it.

MrP

"For I am a jealous people" by Lester del Rey perhaps?

MrPudding

MikeC101 wrote: »

"For I am a jealous people" by Lester del Rey perhaps?

That's the one. Must try to find it. I hope it is t one of those stories that I will read again and wonder how I thought it was good.

MrP

Kidchameleon

This is interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Observatory

pauldla

Kidchameleon wrote: »

This is interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Observatory

That just put me in mind of a book called The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

From Wiki:

The novel begins in the year 2019, when the SETI program, at the Arecibo Observatory, picks up radio broadcasts of music from the vicinity of Alpha Centauri. The first expedition to Rakhat, the world that is sending the music, is organized by the Jesuit order.

It's an interesting premise for a sci-fi novel, the Catholic Church involved in missions to other planets.

TwoShedsJackson

pauldla wrote: »

That just put me in mind of a book called The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

From Wiki:

The novel begins in the year 2019, when the SETI program, at the Arecibo Observatory, picks up radio broadcasts of music from the vicinity of Alpha Centauri. The first expedition to Rakhat, the world that is sending the music, is organized by the Jesuit order.

It's an interesting premise for a sci-fi novel, the Catholic Church involved in missions to other planets.

This is a fantastic book.