Not long ago the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute celebrated its 50^th year of searching for “ET.” So far? Nothing but darkness! No sound, no codes, no radio signals, no space ships, and no cosmic colonies of aliens plotting to take over earth and its treasure trove of natural resources.

Does this prove conclusively that there is absolutely no life out there in the infinite abyss of space?

Of course not. In fact, I would venture to say that man will find evidence of “life” somewhere out there at some point in the future. I’m not exactly going out on the limb with this statement and I would further qualify it by defining “life.” As an earth-bound biologist, I define life as bundles of nucleic acids capable of procreation and metabolism. All life here on earth is linked by these common denominators.

But what about extraterrestrial life? Is it possible to have other properties exclusive of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements critical to life here? Just because we can’t conceive of it, does not mean that it cannot be so. As a Christian I can accept discovery of very simple and rudimentary “life” forms existing somewhere out there, but it would be much more difficult to swallow the possibility of advanced and intelligent life forms. I believe the fine-tuning of the universe to facilitate advanced and intelligent humans to flourish here on earth was purposeful, by design and unique. And I believe the evidence for design and special creation is overwhelming.

Dr. Stephen Hawking continues to warn us that “contact” with extraterrestrial life could be extremely dangerous for good ‘ol planet earth and its current inhabitants. He has been quoted as saying, “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

I disagree and firmly believe that if a “life” form is found on an extraterrestrial rock, it will be very simple and probably fall outside our qualifications for life here on earth. I would further contend that it would almost certainly not be advanced or intelligent.

Perhaps I’m guilty of snobbery and crossing the line between faith and science, but given the evidence to date and my belief in an omnipotent God, I have every right to defend this opinion until proven wrong. From my perspective, our extraterrestrial explorers should highlight their quest for extraterrestrial life (SETL) rather than their futile search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).              

Your thoughts?