Watchtower's Bizarre take on Aliens

Hi guys, this is Phil Evangelinos and this is another episode from my series "New Light" where I consider major teachings of the Watchtower and test their validity against sound Bible interpretation. Whether you are a jw or not I invite you to critically examine these teachings and draw YOUR own conclusions.

The question whether we are alone in the universe or not has troubled the minds of men since the begining of recorded history and in most recent years especially after the end of the second World War the sightings of UFO's all around the world has catapulted thiquestion to the front of most

massmedia, newspapers, films,documentaries and endless books written on this subject.So what has the Watchtower have to say about Aliens and the possibility of Alien Life in outer space? The Watchtower has dealt only a few times with this issue and the last time they did was over 30 years in 1990. There has only been a deafening silence since then which I can only put down to the current governing body's inability to deal with modern issues that trouble religious minds. Their ability to write articles has disintegrated over the years and it is obvious for everyone to notice in 2022

The following article comes from the Awake! Magazine of the 8th of April 1990 with the title "Extraterrestrials finding the answer",under the subtitle the "Bible Answers" we read :

According to the Bible, extraterrestrial life not only exists but exists in abundance. It is more complex, more interesting, and more believable than anything that evolutionists, science-fiction writers, and moviemakers have dreamed up. After all, an extraterrestrial is simply a being who originates outside this earth and its atmosphere.

So the Watchtower doesn't refute life outside of planet earth but as you will see its not the extraterrestrial life in the form of aliens that we have been used by blockbuster films.Lets see what they have to say next

Scientists wonder if there might be life-​forms beyond our ability to detect. The Bible assures us that such beings do indeed exist. But they are not the products of evolution. Like all life in the universe, in whatever form, they came from the Source of life, Jehovah God. He is a spirit Being, and he has created myriads of other spirit beings of different types: angels, cherubs, and seraphs. They perform different work and functions in his intricate heavenly organization.​—Psalm 104:4; Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 19:14.

So they first admit that they believe in aliens but the type of aliens they believe in are the angelic type. Which guys this is what most Christians believed for over 15 centuries.This belief of alien life in other planets only came about after people in the Western World stoped believing in the concept that earth as a planet is the center of the Universe Once this concept was abandoned then the idea that earth is unique as a planet was abandoned too, so life in other planets now was possible. In fact this article earlier on refers to this historical development, we read in there:

ON February 17, 1600, a man named Giordano Bruno was burned alive in a public square of Rome, Italy. Why? His writings had offended the church. Among other things, he taught that there were many inhabited worlds in the universe. Back in the 11th century, the church had declared that doctrine, the plurality of worlds, a heresy. To teach it was to die. Bruno died.

Until the 19th century, the debate over whether life exists on other worlds was carried on in the arena of religion. For centuries, religious leaders and scientists under their influence insisted that the earth was at the center of the universe;

So the only aliens they believe in are the angels but what about life on other planets?

Under the subtitle What About Life on Other Planets? on the same article they make a strange theological argument, let's read:

Some influential religious figures have insisted that God would not create any world without purpose and that all habitable worlds must therefore be inhabited. Is that what the Bible says? No. The Bible indicates that it is very unlikely that God at this point has created intelligent physical creatures on any planets other than our own.

This is important because this has been their official position since 1990 since when this article was written. So for the past 30 years the Watchtower's official position on aliens is that there are no intelligent physical creatures on other planets. The article will now make the case why they don't believe that,lets read:

If God did create such beings, he did so before he created Adam and Eve. (=why do they say this? because they dont believe that God created anything after Adam and Eve.This is not necessarily true this is their assumption because there is verse in the Bible that says that God never rests in Psalms and he only rested on the 7th day after he created man. Aparently we are still living on this 7th day of rest but this rest only applies to planet earth not necessarily any other planet) Such beings either remained faithful to their Creator, or like Adam and Eve, they sinned and fell into imperfection. (=it's this either or logical fallacy where an argument is reduced down to 2 options,either these beings were faithful ot they disobeyed)

But if they became imperfect, they needed a redeemer. As one essayist put it: “One has this dreadful thought that on Friday [the day Jesus Christ was executed], every Friday, somewhere in the universe Jesus is being hanged high for someone’s sins.” But that is not Scriptural. The Bible tells us that Jesus “died with reference to sin once for all time.”​—Romans 6:10.

And this is where they hung their whole alien theology this verse Romans 6:10 , that Jesus died for sin ONCE FOR ALL TIME.It was a one time sacrifice that won't be repeated again whether here on earth or any other planet.

What if these beings had remained perfect? Well, when Adam and Eve sinned, they were, in effect, questioning God’s right to rule over a world of intelligent physical beings. If another planet existed at that time, a world full of intelligent physical beings who were living harmoniously and loyally under God’s rule, would they not have been called in as witnesses to testify that God’s rule does indeed work? This conclusion seems inescapable, since he has already used even imperfect humans as witnesses in his behalf on that very issue.​—Isaiah 43:10.

So they quote Isaiah 43:10 where it says "You are my witnesses,” declares Jehovah, “Yes, my servant whom I have chosen" so in other words when there is a divine court a witness is called to testify and in this case it would have been an alien intelligent species created by God would have been invited to testify on behalf of God if Adam had failed.

Does that mean, then, that God created all those countless millions of suns (and planets if they exist) for no purpose? Not at all. While we know, considering the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, that the earth is the only inhabited planet in the universe right now, and while we know, too, that it will forever stand unique as the planet where the Creator vindicated the rightfulness of his rulership, what the future holds we do not know.

And that's where this article ends so this Christological argument for the existence of alien life on other planets which is based on the uniqueness of Christ's sacrifice and the vindication of God's name once and for all times here on earth is where the Watchtower hungs their whole theology on aliens.

EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL SINNERS

Now the Watchtower didnt just come up with this idea on their own they usually borrow ideas, this article was written back in 1990 when the Internet was literally at its infancy and I don't think Internet browsers became a thing until the mid 90's so what I'm trying to say is that they probably consulted other literature they purchased or borrowed from their local library on this subject. Apparently, C.S.Lewis the famous writer was one of the first to explore this idea of life on other planets in his famous Space Trilogy in the 40's from a Christian point of view His hero, Ransom, visits Mars where the Fall never happened, so the inhabitants don’t understand what evil is or even have a word for it. He is then sent to Venus to prevent a fellow human introducing evil to that planet, where the first pair of intelligent beings have just started life. Lewis skirts round the question of whether Christ would need to die on alien planets by suggesting that earth is sadly unique. .

So does the fact that Christ “died to sin once and for all times” (Romans 6:10) mean that there can not be sinners on other planets? Are other worlds either empty or full of good people? Or does it mean that Jesus died once as a human for all humans? I personally think that this verse offers the base for a good theological argument about extraterrestrial life from the Bible's viewpoint but nothing more than that we should avoid looking for a hidden code or message on this verse because this is not part of the message God intended to communicate with this verse.

Now most Christian deniminations including Jehovah's Witnesses think nothing of the ramifications of the existence of extraterrestrial life and the effect that would have on people's faiths around the world if there was contact with such beings in the future BUT there is one religion that has been preparing for contact for at least over a hundred years and that is the oldest religious order that is still in place and has been for about 2000 years and this is the Catholic Church.If that is surprising to you it was to me too when I got to find out in detail what are they up to and why would they be preparing for alien encounters of the third kind.But this is the subject for another video that I will be considering in the near future because I firmly believe that aliens and ufos are an integral part of the end times and the way the world will come to an end.But this is the subject for another video and I will be returning on this subject soon so stayed tuned.

That brings me to the end of this video, you will find the link to this article below including the link to the Watchtower article.

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Bye for now!

LINKS:

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101990244