Should Christians celebrate New Year?

New Year is probably the most celebrated public holiday around the globe. On the first day of January every year, practically the whole world welcomes the beginning of a new year. Every New Year’s Eve, many families traditionally gather and have dinner together.

When the clock strikes 12:00 midnight, fireworks are lighted. The custom began after the invention of gunpowder in China in the 10th century. The Chinese were the very first to ring in the new year with fireworks – to drive away evil spirits and attract good luck. The rest of the world then followed what seemed to be a spectacular and exciting festive activity. People happily hug each other and exchange gifts and good wishes for the New Year, as well as sing traditional songs, such as Auld Lang Syne ("old long since” or “days gone by").

 

New Year in March.

Festivals and celebrations marking the beginning of a new year have been around for thousands of years. However, most new year festivities in many countries were held not in January, which is a winter month, but in the spring, linked to renewed agricultural activity. It was also the time when armies began actively preparing for war.

The first new year observances are believed to have been made in Mesopotamia around 2000 B.C. and were celebrated around the time of the spring equinox (when day and night are of equal lengths) in late March (the month later named for Mars, the Roman god of war).

Babylon. The earliest new year observances and celebrations were deeply intertwined with religion and mythology. For the Babylonians in Mesopotamia, the first new moon after the spring equinox heralded the rebirth of nature and the start of a new year. They marked the occasion with a religious festival of several days called Akitu (Sumerian term for “barley cut in spring”).

 From the first day of Akitu, statues of gods were paraded through the city streets, and rituals were enacted to symbolize victory over the forces of chaos. By these the Babylonians believed that the world was symbolically cleansed and recreated by the gods in preparation for the new year and the return of spring.

Persia. The Persians likewise began their new year in the spring, at equinox, which usually falls on or around March 21. They called it Nowruz, which literally means “New Day” in Farsi, marking the first day of spring and the beginning of a new year. Ancient observances of Nowruz focused on the rebirth that accompanied the return of spring.

The celebrations are thought to date back to the reign of Cyrus the Great in the 6th century B.C. Unlike many bygone ancient Persian festivals, Nowruz persisted as an important holiday even after Persia’s conquest by Alexander the Great in 333 B.C. and the rise of Islamic rule in the 7th century A.D. Many of the festive traditions have roots in Zoroastrianism, an ancient monotheistic faith still practiced by some 25,000 people in Iran.

Today, a 13-day Nowruz festival is widely celebrated across the Middle East and Central Asia by around 300 million people.

 

Roman calendar.

The first Roman calendar, introduced in 753 B.C. by Romulus, the first king of Rome, designated March 1 as the first day of the year.

Only ten months. The calendar had only 10 months. That the Roman year used to begin in the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months in the modern-day Gregorian calendar. September to December, today the 9th to 12th months, were originally positioned as the 7th to 10th months (septem is Latin for “seven”; octo, “eight”; novem, “nine”; and decem, “ten”.) The period of two months which transpired during the cold and dreary winter season had no name.

January and February added. The two winter months practically did not exist until 713 B.C., when the second king of Rome, Numa Ponpilius, named them January and February as the 11th and 12th months, respectively, of the Roman year.

January was named for Janus, the Roman god of gateways and beginnings. He had two faces – one symbolically looking back on the past and the other gazing ahead to the future. Janus illustrated the idea of transition from one year to the next.

The name February came from februum (purification) and februa (the rites or instruments used for purification). These formed part of preparations for the coming of spring – cleaning houses, leaves worn by the priests, and strips of goatskin used in the festival of Lupercalia held in mid-February. 

Intercalary month. A thirteenth month, called Intercalarius (or intercalary month), was later added at the end of the year so that the lunar calendar could catch up with the solar year.

 

New Year moved to January.

In 450 B.C., January and February were formally made the first and second months of the Roman year. 

The first time the New Year was celebrated on January 1 was in Rome in 153 B.C. The new year was moved from March in spring to January in winter because it began the Roman civil year, when the two newly elected consuls – then the highest officials in the Roman republic – started their joint one-year tenure.

Some 100 years later, in 45 B.C., Julius Caesar introduced a new, solar calendar that was an improvement on the ancient Roman lunar calendar, which had become inaccurate over the years. His Julian calendar also had the beginning of the year on January 1.

However, the number of days of some months kept changing. In 8 B.C., Augustus Caesar renamed the 8th month Sextilis (previously the 6th month) after himself (August, the month he became a consul) and gave it 31 days to put it on the same level as the month named for Julius Caesar (July).

The table below shows how the ancient Roman calendar changed and developed over the centuries (753-8 B.C.).

 

Un-Christian holiday abolished. Hundreds of years afterwards, in medieval Europe, the celebrations accompanying the New Year were considered pagan and un-Christian. In 567 A.D., the Council of Tours abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year.

Thereafter, in different places throughout Europe, the New Year was variously celebrated on December 25 (erroneously presumed to be the birth day of Christ); March 1 (following the old Roman tradition); March 25 (Feast of the Annunciation); and Easter Sunday (resurrection day of Christ).

Modern Gregorian Calendar. In the year 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar widely used today, replacing the old Julian calendar and changing the formula for calculating leap years. The celebration of New Year was removed from March 1 or 25 and the other dates, and again fixed on January 1.

 

Pagan practices forbidden.

God had commanded: “When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods” (Deut 12:29-31).

God’s people should not imitate the ways pagans worship their gods. These are detestable and disgusting to the LORD.

"Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless…” (Jer 10:2-3a, NIV). Following any of the various superstitious practices of other people who do things against the will of God is just a waste of time.

 

Only for Israel?

Some may argue that God’s commandments are only for Israel. Yes and no. The Scriptures explain: “One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you” (Num 15:15-16).

To paraphrase, if a foreigner lives with or joins the Israelites in the worship of the one true God (“YHWH”), he or she is duty-bound to observe the same commandments God has given to His chosen people – the Hebrew nation or Israel.

“Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isa 56:6-7).

The foreigners who will faithfully keep God’s laws will be numbered among His people and taken to the kingdom of heaven. Needless to say, excluded are those who imitate pagans in worshipping their gods – celebrating what we can call unholy holidays.

 

 

Was Adam the first man?

Short answer:

Man was created at least twice based on the first two chapters of the Bible. Genesis 1:27 tells of the first creation of man in general, while Genesis 2:7 talks about the second creation of man as Adam. In the first chapter, the Creator was “God”; but in the second chapter He was called “the LORD God.”

In Genesis ch. 1, “God” created man last; however, in Genesis ch. 2, the “LORD God” formed Adam first. In the first chapter, plants were the first living things God created. In the second chapter, though, the LORD God grew plants only after first creating Adam.

Medieval Jewish sages and the ancient Talmud mentioned pre-Adamic animals with human forms but without the neshamah (“breath of life”) or spirit from God. According to them it is the God-given spirit which uniquely sets us apart as moral beings from amoral animals.

So what happened to the earlier men? They must have died off in mass extinctions. Paleontologists have identified at least 17 mass extinctions since life began on Earth. More than 99% of all organisms that have ever lived are now extinct. During the last ice age, which ended 10,000 years ago, many other species went extinct. Then, about 4,000 years later, or some 6,000 years ago, God created Adam.

Man was created in the “image” and “likeness” of God. Where do the various sub-humans before Adam come in the Creation story? The Bible account tends to skip over some details to simplify the narrative. For example, on Day 6 amphibians, reptiles, and insects are all lumped together under just one term: “creeping things.” Likewise birds, the bat (a mammal), and flying insects are bunched in just one label, “fowl.” Similarly grouped together in one word – “man” – are the different species of sub-humans or hominids, various versions and “likenesses” of the same creature which eventually culminated in Adam, the ultimate perfection of God’s Creation.

After many thousands of years of sub-humans on earth, it was only after God created Adam around 6,000 years ago (4004 B.C.) that major inventions and discoveries were made, ushering in great advances in human civilization. The wheel was invented around 5,500 years ago (3500 B.C.). Writing, in the form of pictographs, first appeared also about 3500 B.C., followed by hieroglyphics around 3300-3200 B.C. The Bronze Age began some 5,000 years ago (3000 B.C.) with the discovery of metals. The Iron Age flourished around 3,500-3,000 years ago (1500-1000 B.C.).

 

Detailed explanation:

If Adam was the first man, how can the fossils of much earlier “men” being found today be harmonized with the Bible’s account of man’s creation?

Two creations of “man”?

There is a little-known theory that the first two chapters of Genesis tell the creation of man twice.

First:“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen 1:27);

Second:“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen 2:7).

David T. Tsumura, a professor of the Old Testament at the Japan Bible Seminary, Tokyo, mentions two incisive studies (Kikawada 1983, and Kikawada and Quinn 1985), which conclude that Genesis 1:27 refers to "the first creation of man" in general; while Genesis 2:7 talks about "the second creation of man," namely, Adam.

Two terms for the Creator. In Genesis ch. 1, the Creator was referred to as “God” (Elohim). Starting Genesis 2:4, however, He is called differently as “the LORD God” (YHWH Elohim). This seems to point to two distinct stories, not one.

The angels are likewise called elohim (plural, “gods”; el or eloah, singular) – “Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods (elohim)” (Ps 97:7). (The ancient Hebrew alphabet did not have upper-case or capital letters. English translators capitalized elohim as “God” or “the LORD” as a title of magnitude and respect for the Creator.)

Was “God” (elohim) in Genesis ch. 1 the angels? Note that “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Gen 1:26a).  And was “the LORD God” (YHWH Elohim) in Genesis ch. 2 the Creator Himself, who stepped forward to do a second, presumably better, creation of man?

Pre-Adamic man-like animals. Ancient Jewish commentaries mention pre-Adamic animals with human forms but without the neshamah (“breath of life”) or God-given spirit.

Author Gerald Schroeder (The Science of God, 1997) wrote: “Nahmanides, seven hundred years ago, Maimonides over eight hundred years ago, and the Talmud, dating back some sixteen hundred years, discuss the existence of beings living before and alongside (sic) Adam. They were described as human in shape and intelligence but lacking the soul, the neshama, to make them human.” Schroeder explains: “It is our neshama, the spirit of the Eternal placed within us, not our physical attributes, that uniquely sets us apart from all other life, making us moral beings rather than amoral animals.” 

Maimonides said that the pre-Adamic man-like creatures “were not human in the true sense of the word. They had not the spirit of God… It is acknowledged that a being who does not possess this spirit is not human but a mere animal in human shape and form… For those gifts of intelligence and judgment with which he has been endowed for the purpose of acquiring perfection… are used by him for wicked and mischievous ends.”

Rick Aharon Chaimberlin, editor-publisher of Petah Tikvah (“Door of Hope”) magazine, notes that “according to many rabbis, there was more than one earlier creation (of human beings), and that the current Creation is actually the 6^th or 7^th creation” (April-June 2010, p. 45). 

Reversed order of creation. In Genesis ch. 1, “God” created man last; but in Genesis ch. 2, the “LORD God” formed man first.

Plants. In the first chapter, plants were the first living things created. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so” (Gen 1:11-12).

In the second chapter, the LORD God grew plants after forming man. “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…” (Gen 2:8-9a).

Animals. In the first chapter, God created man last, almost like an afterthought. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God (elohim) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen 1:24-26).

Man. In the second chapter, the LORD God created man first. “And the LORD God (YHWH Elohim) formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath (neshamah) of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). The LORD God formed the land animals later: “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof” (Gen 2:18-19). It becomes clear that Adam, who was created by the LORD God in the second chapter of Genesis, was a special, latter creation.

That raises a question. What happened to the earlier men and animals so that new ones had to be created again?

Mass extinctions? They must have died off in mass extinctions. Paleontologists have identified at least 17 mass extinctions since life began on Earth. Eight are major, all of which took place in the last 500 million years. According to the National Geographic, “More than 99 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct.”

In an article titled “Extinction Over Time,” the Smithsonian Institution explains that after “the last ice age ended 10,000 years ago, many… animals went extinct, including mammoths, mastodons, and glyptodonts.” (About 4,000 years later, Adam was created in 4004 B.C. – approximately 6,000 years ago.)

Anthropologists call man-like creatures mistakenly thought to be the ancestors of man “hominids.” They call living apes “hominoids,” because they are only similar to humans, but neither are they man’s purported ancestors.

 

Image of God.

Man was created in God’s image. “And God (elohim) said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Gen 1:26a). However, “No man hath seen God at any time” (1 John 4:12a; cf. John 1:18). “Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape” (John 5:37b).

Form of angels? God and the angels are spirits, for what reason did God create the physical universe? “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev 4:11).

Did God create the material world for His own and the angels’ enjoyment? If that is the case, the Spirit of God, and the spirits of His angels, needed physical bodies to experience and enjoy the delights of the physical universe. God planted a garden in Eden, but it was not for Adam, whom He made only to be its gardener. “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Gen 2:15). Indeed, we read about “the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Gen 3:8). 

Physical bodies. The Bible hints angels can assume and change forms. In Psalm 68:17 (“The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels [shin’an]…”), the Hebrew word used for angels is shin’an, the root meaning of which is “to change or alter.” This strongly suggests angels can change or alter their forms at will. 

Some angels (“sons of God”) even came down from heaven to earth and cohabited with mortal women: “…the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose” (Gen 6:2).

Hence, God and the angels at times come down to earth in human form. Of all organic structures, the human figure appears to be the most suitable and most efficient design for the terrestrial setting.

One kind, several forms. If man was created in the “image” and “likeness” of God (Elohim), where do the appearance of various sub-humans or man-like creatures come in the Scriptures?

The Bible account tends to skip over some details to simplify the narrative. For example, on Day 6 amphibians, reptiles, and insects are lumped together under just one term: “creeping things” (Gen 1:24-25). Likewise, in Leviticus 11:13-23, birds, the bat, and flying insects are all bunched in just one label, “fowl.”

Similarly, it looks like Genesis 1:26 has grouped together in one word – “man” – all the different species of sub-humans, different versions and “likenesses” of the same type of creature which eventually culminated in Adam, the ultimate perfection of God’s Creation.

Man-like creatures. Around the time that dinosaurs became extinct, primates – animals that resemble modern lemurs, monkeys, and apes – came onto the scene some 65 million years ago. These were later followed by man-like mammals. Anthropologists call man-like creatures that came before man “hominids”; living apes are called “hominoids” because they are similar to humans. Adam, the first true man, was created by the LORD God.

Below is a short list of a dozen best-known hominid fossils unearthed and classified by scientists before the appearance of Adam.

Ramapithecus, 14-8 million years ago? Found in northern India (now part of Pakistan); named after Rama, a mythical prince of India, and pithekos, Greek for “ape” (“Rama's ape”); more complete fossils in China and Pakistan affirm it was not a hominid, but a true ape.

Sahelanthropus tchadensis, 7-6 million years ago? Unearthed in the African nation of Chad; dubbed “Sahel man” for the semi-arid region and Greek anthropos (“human”); has an apelike skull.

Orrorin tugenensis, circa 6 million years ago? Dug up in the Tugen Hills of central Kenya; received name which means “original man in the Tugen region”; the skeleton has simian features.

Ardipithecus, about 4.4-million years ago? Discovered in Ethiopia: named from words in the Afar and Greek languages meaning “ground ape”; has apelike teeth and skeleton.

Australopithecus, 4-2 million years ago? Found in Taung, South Africa; name means “southern ape”; thought to be man’s ancestor; 3½ to 5 feet tall; brain (390-550 cc) about 1/3 of modern humans’; inner ear bones for maintaining balance similar to chimpanzees’ and gorillas’ but different from humans’; resembles monkeys and apes.

(As their family name pithecus [“ape”] denotes, these prehistoric pithecoid creatures were just apes.)

Kenyanthropus platyops, around 3.5 million years ago? Excavated in northern Kenya; Greek anthropos means “human being”; platyops, “flat look or appearance” – thus, “flat-faced human from Kenya”.

Homo habilis, about 2.6 million years ago? Name means “handy man”, from Latin words meaning “human” (homo) and “able or skillful” (habilis), for primitive stone tools found with fossils; first to be classified under the genus Homo; has a bigger braincase about 600 cc; taller, but had apelike proportions.

Homo rudolfensis, around 1.9 million years ago? Discovered in eastern Kenya; named after Lake Rudolf (now Turkana); may have been close to the ‘knuckle-walker’ condition, not unlike African apes.

Homo erectus, circa 1.5 million years ago? Found in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia); name means “erect man”; dubbed “Java man”; had a larger brain (about 850 cc). In China, at Chou K’ou Tien (Dragon-Bone Hill), 25 miles from Peking, similar fossils were called Sinanthropus pekinensis (“Peking Man”). Finder of “Java man” later said: “not a man, but a gigantic genus allied to the Gibbons.”

(The World Book states: “Modern humans could not have evolved from these late populations of H. erectus, a much more primitive type of human.”)

Homo heidelbergensis, 600-300 thousand years ago? Discovered southeast of Heidelberg, Germany; brain nearly as large as that of modern humans; other specimens found in Africa (Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania), Europe (Greece, France), and Asia (China).

Homo Neanderthalensis, circa 300 thousand years ago? Found in a cave in the Neander valley (thal) near Dusseldorf, Germany, thus “Neanderthal man”; braincase about 1,600 cc; stood about 5’5”; more robust build than modern humans, but shorter limbs; in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago before going extinct.

Homo sapiens, 200-100 thousand years ago? Name from Latin homo (“human being”) and sapiens (“wise, sensible, judicious”), thus “wise human being”; first discovered in the Cro-Magnon cave in southwestern France; hence also called “Cro-Magnon man”; robustly built; about 5’6” tall; forehead straight; first human with a prominent chin; brain capacity about 1,600 cc, slightly larger than average for modern humans; scientifically the only extant human species, all of whose members belong to the subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens;  

Homo sapiens sapiens, 40-10 thousand years ago? Found all over Europe; slightly smaller than Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, but proportional with a less massive muscular build; braincase ranges at about 1,000-2,000 cc, averaging around 1,350 cc.

Adam, circa 6,000 years ago (4004 B.C.). Recorded  in the Bible: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7); first specimen of subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens; with neshamah (“breath of life”). “And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living” (Gen 3:20). All people in the world today are descendants of the first true man and woman.

(Astrophysicist Hugh Ross commented on the Internet: “Starting about 2-4 million years ago, God began creating man-like mammals or ‘hominids.’ These creatures stood on two feet, had large brains, and used tools. Some even buried their dead and painted on cave walls… God replaced them with Adam and Eve.”)

No relation. Cro-Magnons and the older Neanderthals overlap in the fossil record, showing the two species lived alongside each other for no less than 70,000 years. This excludes any notion that Cro-Magnons evolved from Neanderthals. Neither did modern man.

Researchers have extracted DNA samples from a 40,000-year-old human skeleton (from the Cro-Magnon era) found at Lake Mungo in Australia. The DNA differs from that of living people.

The World Book reports that, after scientifically comparing DNA samples of modern men with those of Neanderthals and other extinct hominids, many scientists conclude that the results indicate all people today form a separate species distinct from prehistoric humans.

The findings reinforce the belief that the earlier species were not ancestors of modern humans.

Inventions and discoveries. Further proof that Adam was God’s first true “man”: After many thousands of years of hominids on earth, it was only after God created Adam around 6,000 years ago that major inventions and discoveries were made, ushering in great advances in human civilization. 

Wheel. This invention was first used around 5,500 years ago (3500 B.C.) in  Sumer, Mesopotamia, considered the “cradle of civilization” (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009).

Writing. An early system in the form of pictographs appeared at also about 3500 B.C., followed by Egyptian hieroglyphics around 3300-3200 B.C. (Encarta Encyclopedia 2004).

Bronze Age. This era began some 5,000 years ago (3000 B.C.) in Greece and China, with the discovery of metals such as copper, tin, and zinc (Encyclopaedia Britannica 2009).

Iron Age. This historical period flourished around 3,500-3,000 years ago (1500-1000 B.C.), characterized by the widespread use of iron for tools and weaponry (World Book 2005).

 

Excerpted from the book The Deep Things of God and the booklets Cryptic Creatures and More Bible Secrets by M.M. Tauson. Printed copies available at Amazon.com – For free pdf copies of our e-booklets, click the Booklets and/or Google Drive tabs on the menu bar.

 

Bible quotations are from the King James Version (KJV) unless otherwise indicated.

  

Is there life outside Earth?

Short answer: 

The existence of life outside our world has been a mystery since ancient times. In 1971, eighty-four of the world’s leading authorities in various fields of science converged in Armenia for a conference jointly sponsored by the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Objective: Solve an equation formulated to determine if certain radio signals came from extraterrestrial beings. Result: The world’s top scientists arrived at the consensus that there was only one technical civilization in the Milky Way Galaxy – the one on planet Earth.

What about UFOs? Biblically, there is nothing about alien conveyances. The closest things to flying saucers in the Scriptures are the flaming wheels that the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel saw beneath the throne of God. Regarding man’s dream of journeying to the stars, the Bible says God has fixed “the bounds of their habitation” and has “appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.”

Many reports describe strange lights in the sky. Angels are lights. Satan can manifest as “an angel of light.” UFOs are said to execute improbable aerial maneuvers at fantastic speeds. According to the Bible, Satan is “the prince of the power of the air.” He can thus perform incredible feats in the atmosphere: “the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.”

 

Detailed explanation:

Are there humans, humanoids, or even other forms of extraterrestrial intelligent life out there in the vastness of outer space? Servants of pharaohs and soldiers of Alexander the Great told of “shields” in the sky. Medieval monks reported flying vessels. In modern times, H.G. Wells’ book, The War of the Worlds, sparked public interest in 1898; its radio dramatization caused panic in 1938 when many Americans thought Martians had actually invaded New Jersey. Since then, alien life has become de rigueur in science fiction books, comics, TV series, movies, video games.

UFOs and ETs. 

Countless news reports, articles, and books about close encounters -- sightings, communication, even abductions – with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and extraterrestrials (ETs) have been written since the mid-20^th century. The first widely publicized UFO sighting took place in 1947, when American businessman Kenneth Arnold, flying a small plane near Mount Rainier in Washington, claimed seeing nine crescent-shaped objects flying at the incredible speed of several thousand mph. In the newspaper report, Arnold said they moved “like saucers skipping on water,” giving birth to the term “flying saucer.”

Over 90% of reported UFO's have been dismissed as bright planets, stars, meteors, aircraft, missiles, satellites, weather balloons, auroras, peculiar clouds, searchlights, aerial flares, kites, birds, insect swarms. Radar sightings are more reliable, but they do not distinguish between artificial objects and meteor trails, ionized gas, rain, or thermal discontinuities in the atmosphere. Recollections of abductions are highly doubtful, because of the use of hypnosis to obtain forgotten, or probably imaginary, information. Many psychologists suggest that the temporary immobility and sensation of being watched experienced by “abductees” could be the effects of a common occurrence called “sleep paralysis.”

Close encounter of the dead kind. The most celebrated close encounter with UFOs and ETs is the alleged crash of an alien spacecraft in New Mexico and the retrieval of the vessel and its dead crew.

The crash supposedly took place on July 3, 1947. Rancher Mac Brazel found the wreckage a few days later and notified Sheriff Geo. Wilcox. Irrigation water surveyor Grady Barnett, as well as a group of archeologists and their students, also saw the debris field. A detail from the nearby Roswell Army Air Field, led by intelligence officer Major Jesse A. Marcel, was said to have recovered the partially-crushed saucer-shaped vehicle and four lifeless non-human bodies in and around it. The July 8, 1947, issue of the Roswell Daily Record blared: “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region.” However, the newspaper made an abrupt about-face the following day: “Gen. Ramey Empties Roswell Saucer.” The news read: “An examination by the army revealed last night that the mysterious object found on a lonely New Mexico ranch was a harmless high altitude weather balloon – not a grounded flying disk.”

Case closed? UFO researchers later pieced together an incredible picture: The creatures, with large hairless heads, huge slanted eyes, and long arms with hands of just four fingers, were wearing skin-tight suits with no visible fasteners. At the airfield, dozens of witnesses allegedly saw the actions taken to examine the aliens’ bodies. Dr. Jesse Johnson, Roswell base pathologist, purportedly revealed the bodies weighed about 40 pounds each. They had heavy brow ridges; almond-shaped eyes without pupils; mere slits for ears, mouths, and noses unconnected to internal organs. They had no teeth, gastrointestinal tracts and alimentary canals, showing they did not eat to stay alive. Their skin, pinkish-gray with a mesh-like appearance, was tough and leathery. In lieu of blood, there was only a clear liquid. The bodies were reportedly packed in ice and flown to Fort Worth, Texas; later, to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio.

 Project Blue Book. As sightings increased, in 1948 the U.S. Air Force initiated an investigation called “Project Sign.” “Project Grudge” followed within a year. In 1952, “Project Blue Book” began at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, to determine if UFOs posed a threat to national security. Out of 12,618 UFO cases, 701 (5.6%) were classified as “unexplained.” The USAF also commissioned a study at the University of Colorado from 1966 to 1968. Scientists later concluded that further study of UFOs would not produce any useful information about a security threat, and Project Blue Book ended in 1969.

In 1997 the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) admitted hiding information about high-altitude spy planes -- the U-2A and SR-71. These had accounted for over 50% of the UFO sightings in the late 1950s and 1960s.

 

From CETI to SETI.

In September 1971, eighty-four of the world’s leading authorities in various fields of science converged at the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory in Yerevan, Armenia, for a conference jointly sponsored by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Soviet Union’s Akademiia nauk SSSR. The forum, called “Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence” (CETI), aimed to solve the Green Bank equation formulated by Dr. Frank Drake of Project Ozma, which attempted to detect radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations in 1960.

Green Bank equation. The formula was N = R_*f_pn_ef_lf_if_cL, where:

N is the product showing the number of extant civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy at or beyond our level of technological development;

R_* is the rate of star formation, averaged over the lifetime of the galaxy, in units of number of stars per year (astrophysics);

f_p is the fraction of stars which have planetary systems (astrophysics);

n_e is the mean number of planets within such planetary systems which are ecologically suited for life (astronomy and biology);

f_l is the fraction of such planets on which origin of life actually occurs (organic chemistry and biochemistry);

f_i is the fraction of such planets on which, after life arises, intelligence in some form develops (neurophysiology and evolution of advanced organisms);

f_c is the fraction of such planets on which the intelligent beings advance to a communicative stage (anthropology, archaeology, and history); and

L is the mean lifetime of such technical civilizations (psychology, psychopathology, history, politics, sociology, etc.).

Result? The world’s brightest minds in their respective fields arrived at the consensus that there was only one technical civilization in the Milky Way Galaxy – the one on planet Earth. As astronomer Carl Sagan once said, life on Earth is unique, “a miracle rather than a statistic.”

Despite the conclusion reached by CETI, a project called Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) at Palo Alto, California, continued. Clearly, however, the once highly hopeful “communication” plan (CETI) had been downgraded to “search” mode (SETI). Undeterred, astronomers at the Harvard/Smithsonian observatory began using the Million-channel Extra-Terrestrial Assay (META), a 26-meter, steerable Cassegrainian radio telescope, in 1985.

Exercise in futility? What are the prospects of SETI? The nearest star system is Alpha Centauri, some 4.3 light years away. In the remote event that radio signals transmitted by intelligent beings are actually received from that sector of outer space, communication between them and us would require patience. An exchange of a “hi” and “hello” by radio signals traveling at the speed of light would take 8.6 years, assuming both parties respond promptly. Fair enough. However, farther out from the Earth the conversation could bore the parties to death, literally, since introductions alone would take hundreds or even thousands of earth years. Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus, is 130 light years away. Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, 150 light years. Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, more than 500 light years. Pleiades, nearly 800 light years. Orion, 3,000 light years. The Crab Nebula, 12,000 light years. And these handful are the nearest.

Space travel beyond our solar system may simply be no more than a pipe dream. Intergalactic journeys would have to be made at the speed of light, which is physically impossible. Light travels at the speed of, well, light, because photons have no mass. Hence, no physical object with mass, such as a spacecraft, can travel at the speed of light.

Referring to men, the Bible says God has fixed " the bounds of their habitation" (Acts 17:26b) and has “appointed his bounds that he cannot pass” (Job 14:5b). Luke, in the first verse, speaks of space limitations; while Job, in the second verse, talks about time limits. In Einstein’s theory of relativity, time and space are interchangeable. So, the message is clear: there are space-time boundaries that man cannot transcend or go beyond.

Invaders or saviors? The ETs reportedly belong to two categories. One group consists of invaders who want to take over Earth and even the bodies of its inhabitants. The second group is made up of do-gooders with a mission to save mankind from destroying itself in a nuclear holocaust, ecological devastation, or some other global calamity. Thus, if or when they eventually reveal themselves, they would be hailed as saviors! They would pre-empt the anticipated return of the Messiah. “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect” (Mark 13:22).

Some New Age cults nurture the idea that every inhabited planet in the cosmos has its own avatar or incarnated savior. Christ’s mission of redemption therefore is only for planet Earth. The Scriptures, though, declare that salvation through Christ is universal: “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col 1:20). The phrase “things in heaven” evidently means all matters pertaining to the universe.

Extraterrestrial creators? Others, including some prominent scientists like Nobel Prize laureate Francis Crick, theorize that the seed of life came to Earth through ancient alien astronauts. ETs are thus man’s alleged creators, just visiting the planet occasionally to check on the condition of their creation. In 1968, writer Erich Von Daniken (Chariots of the Gods, Gods from Outer Space) started broaching the idea that aliens must be the God of the Old Testament and man the product of an intergalactic experiment.

One self-declared contactee, Frenchman Claude Vorilhon (Space Aliens Took Me to Their Planet, 1975), purportedly renamed “Rael” (“light of the Elohim” or “Ambassador of the Elohiim”?), claims to have been told: “There is no God and no soul.” With a claimed following of 55,000 in 84 countries, he established an “embassy” in Israel in preparation for the return of his “creators” from outer space.

What does the Bible say? “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Ps 14:1). “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4:3).

Demonic deception.

There is no hint about UFOs in Scriptures. The closest things to flying disks from outer space in the Bible are the flaming wheels that the prophets Daniel (Dan 7:9) and Ezekiel (Ezek 10:1-17) saw beneath the throne of God. If ancient and medieval men saw ETs, what would they have called them? They probably did and called them elves, gnomes, trolls, fairies, etc.

Many reports describe UF0s as strange lights racing across the sky. Angels are lights (James 1:17, Heb 1:17). Satan can manifest as “an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14). UFOs reportedly execute improbable aerial maneuvers, such as blinding acceleration to vanishing point and right-angle turns at fantastic speeds. According to the Bible, Satan is “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2), able to perform seemingly miraculous feats: “the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess 2:9b).

Alien anatomy. Although humanoid, the Roswell ETs were said to differ anatomically from humans -- with mere slits for ears, mouths, and noses unconnected to internal organs; and without respiratory, digestive, and excretory systems. How could any living organism live without breathing and eating? Alleged victims of abductions say ETs act like droids without minds of their own. Could they have a connection to the cases of mysterious cattle mutilations in the American West, where body parts of cows appear surgically removed with some kind of laser? Are those little gray aliens simply organically made up dummies or droids put together with animal parts?

Occasionally reported directing the little ETs are reptilian or tall, blond, Nordic-looking masters of seemingly great intelligence and beauty. This brings to mind the various forms of Satan, “the dragon, that old serpent” (Rev 20:2), who was also an angel whose “heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor” (Ezek 28:17, NIV).

The image of God. Christ, on the other hand, “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” (Col 1:15; cf. 2 Cor 4:4, Heb 1:3). Man has also been created in the “image” and “likeness” of God (Gen 1:26-27). That image has countless examples of the golden ratio or divine proportion (1:618). ETs, from the way they are said to look, do not have the divine proportion. This is of utmost importance, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29).

God made Christ and man look alike, because the spiritually saved will become the brothers and sisters of His firstborn Son! Obviously, the strange looking ETs are unlikely candidates to become the brethren of Christ. Besides, without blood in their systems, the aliens cannot possibly be among the sinners for whom Christ substituted His own blood on the cross as a ransom or payment for sin.

HalleluYah! Amen.

Excerpted from the book The Deep Things of God and the booklet Cryptic Creatures by M.M. Tauson. Printed copies available at Amazon.com – For free pdf copies of our e-booklets, click the Booklets and/or Google Drive tabs on the menu bar.

Bible quotations are from the King James Version (KJV) unless otherwise indicated.

What happens to Jews who reject Christ?

Short answer:

 

Christ illustrated what happens to the spirits of men after death. Lazarus the beggar and a rich man, whose falling crumbs he ate, went to separate destinations. The rich man found himself in a place of torment, but he saw Lazarus on Abraham’s bosom.

 

The two places are in Hades, the underground region of the dead. The “bosom of Abraham” (Paradise) and the “place of torment” (Gehenna) are temporary dwellings for the spirits of the dead, whether Jews or Gentiles, while they await the Last Judgment.

 

Full of remorse, the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his brothers. Abraham replied that following the teachings of Moses and the prophets was enough for them to get into Paradise.

 

Christ preached to spirits of the dead after His crucifixion. Jews, because they do not accept Christ as the Savior, are considered enemies of the gospel; but because of their faithful forefathers, who have made them God’s chosen people, they are beloved.

 

In the kingdom of heaven, disharmony cannot exist – with one group acknowledging Christ as the Son of God and Savior of mankind, and another group rejecting Him as such. “For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6).

All those in the kingdom of heaven must be of one mind, in accord with the whole will of God.

 

 

Detailed explanation:

 

Christ illustrated to His disciples what happens to the spirits of men after death. “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

“And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom” (Luke 16:19-23).

Lazarus the beggar and the rich man went to two separate destinations after death. The rich man had a rude surprise; he found himself in a place of torment. (“Hell” in the passage is the English translation of the Greek Hades [Sheol in Hebrew], which refers to the underground region of the dead, not the “lake of fire”.)

 

Two regions in Hades.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia explains: “Hades is here the comprehensive designation of the locality where the dead reside, and is divided into two regions, ‘the bosom of Abraham’ and the place of torment…” The New Unger's Bible Dictionary similarly concludes that “it seems clear that Hades was in two compartments, the residence respectively of saved and unsaved spirits.”

Bosom of Abraham. According to Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, “The Jews expressed the happiness of the righteous at death three ways: they go to the garden of Eden: they go to be under the throne of glory; and they go to the bosom of Abraham…” The three places are probably one and the same: Abraham is in the Garden of Eden (Gan Eden in Hebrew), also known as Paradise, which is presumably under God’s throne.

All saved spirits, whether Jews or Gentile Christians, go to the “bosom of Abraham”. After all, “if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Gehenna. The “place of torment” is Gehenna, Greek for Ge-Hinnom (Valley of Hinnom), an actual deep, narrow valley below the southern slope of Jerusalem. It had an area called Topeth, where pagan worshippers sacrificed children (Jeremiah 7:31) to Moloch, god of the Ammonites and Phoenicians. It was turned into a garbage dump where the city’s waste and dead animals were burned continuously. Flies abounded and their maggots covered the remains of carcasses. It became an image of the place of punishment because of its ever-burning fires.

 

Temporary dwelling places.

Both the bosom of Abraham and Gehenna are only temporary dwelling places for the spirits of the dead while awaiting the Last Judgment. Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote that the saved will be in the Bosom of Abraham “while they wait for that rest and eternal new life in heaven, which is to succeed this region.” The New Unger's Bible Dictionary similarly states, “The rich man, who is evidently still in Hades, is a representative case and describes the unjudged condition in the intermediate state of the wicked.”

 

The rich man’s plea.

The rich man was desperate from great thirst in the unbearable heat. “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:24).

The Greek word translated “flame” is phlox, which is the gaseous part of fire, not the fire itself (pyros), showing that Gehenna is not the lake of fire, but is simply adjacent and so close to it that the heat and flames make it a place of torment.

Separated by a canyon. The rich man’s plea cannot be granted. Abraham said, “between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence” (Luke 16:26).

Josephus (ca. 37-100) echoes Luke’s Gospel account (ca. 56-58) – “a chaos deep and large is fixed between them; insomuch that a just man that hath compassion upon them cannot be admitted, nor can one that is unjust, if he were bold enough to attempt it, pass over it.”

A Jewish tradition has it that at the bottom of the impassable canyon separating Gan Eden and Gehenna is a river flowing with cool, refreshing waters. However, whenever anyone from Gehenna goes down and tries to scoop some water from the river, the water draws back! This is repeated at every attempt endlessly. That was why the rich man begged Abraham to send down Lazarus to dip his finger in the water for him. He was in front of the water, and yet was unable to refresh himself!

 

Moses and the prophets sufficient.

As Lazarus reclined contentedly on Abraham’s bosom in Paradise, the rich man, full of remorse, was inconsolable in excruciatingly hot Gehenna. He told Abraham: “’I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

“Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them’” (Luke 16:27-29, NIV). Abraham said that following the teachings of Moses and the prophets was enough for them to get into Paradise. (That was before Christ sacrificed His life on the cross for the sins of the world.)

Christ preached to spirits of the dead.

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison…” (1 Peter 3:18-19, NIV).

It looks like some of the dead still have some things to learn in the afterlife that they did not know while still living. What could Christ have possibly preached to them? We get a notion from the apostle Paul.

Enemies of the gospel. “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes” (Romans 11:28). For not believing the good news of salvation through Christ, many Jews are considered enemies of the gospel. 

Loved by God. However, although they do not accept Christ as the much awaited Jewish Messiah, they are nevertheless much loved because their faithful and law observant forefathers have made them God’s chosen people.

No factions in the kingdom. In the kingdom of heaven, there cannot be disharmony – one group acknowledging Christ as the Son of God and Savior of mankind, and another group rejecting Him as such. Their differences have to be harmonized.

“For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:6). Christ taught the spirits of the dead that all those in the kingdom of heaven must be of one accord with the whole will of God. 

The spiritually saved believers are called “saints”. They observe two things: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12).

Christians baptized for the dead. It was probably this knowledge that led some early Christians to be baptized as proxies for their brethren and loved ones who had died without accepting Christ and being baptized in His name. “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” (1 Corinthians 15:29-30, NIV). 

Excerpted from the booklet MORE Bible Secrets by M.M. Tauson. Printed copies available at Amazon.com - For free pdf copies of our booklets, click the Booklets and/or Google Drive tabs on the menu bar. 

Bible quotations are from the King James Version (KJV) unless otherwise indicated.