Although I didn't watch X-Files, but I've always been interested in UFO and aliens. It's not because I think I think X-Files is a documentary program, but the reason is because, I know a real life story about UFO encounter.
The story came from my own father...
As far as I can remember, ever since I was a little kid, my father has always been telling me an extra-ordinary story. See, my father claimed he has seen an UFO. He started telling me this story, since I was a kid, even until today. When I was at school, he also told my friends. The result is my school friends thought I came from a strange family. I have to say, his UFO sighting story is so intriguing, that after spending 4 years of my life studying at university as an aeronautical engineer, and after using those knowledge I learnt to analyse his story, I think whatever he saw, has very little chance that it was made by earthly technology.
The story goes like this: My father is born in Taiwan, and he lived in Taipei almost his entire life. When he was a little child in the 1950s, one night, he was playing on the roof of a 2-3 storey house. Now remember, back in 1950s, Taipei was pretty much a 3rd world city which just came out from the rules of Japan after WWII. There were no skyscrapers, a tall building was an extremely rare sight. Most buildings were old, Japanese or Chinese styled houses. Back to the story, both children were squatting on the floor playing with marble balls. While they were playing, my father felt something was watching them. He looked up, and saw a very large, orange disc. It was suspended in mid air, making no sound at all. This flying object suspended at approximately 6 meters above them. My father recalled, the orange disc had a black rim around it (which my father later speculated as possibly, observation panels of some sort). The disc was suspending in mid air at an angle, giving the impression that it was looking down at them.
My father bend down and called his friend to look up. When his friend looked up after a few splits of seconds. This orange flying disc was gone, all they could see, was a speck of a light/object flying away to the corner of the sky at incredible speed.
By the way, my father does not have mental problems, nor is he some sort of sci-fi crazed nerd. I mean, my father doesn't even like sci-fi movies. In fact, my father said, he didn't even know what he saw was called "UFO", until he started to see photos and media reports/productions about UFO in his teenage years.
This is why, I always had an especially deep interest in UFO (and the possibility of extra-terrestrial life). When I became a Christian, this topic gained even more weight in my inquiring mind. But the funny thing is, until 2 years ago, I never told any Christian, that I believed the UFO phenomenon is very real. And very rarely did I tell other Christians about my father's own UFO encounter. The reason is because, I half expected to be met with ridicule and mockery. Because let's face it, most evangelical protestants, are still struggling to adopt evolution into their worldviews. So can you imagine what they will say to me if I announce publicly, that I believe UFO phenomenon is real and tell them my father has seen an UFO?
In the meantime, the more I researched about UFO sighting reports, both old and new. The more convinced I became, that UFO phenomena is undeniably, very likely to be real (see the appendix section, I have collected some links to various UFO related information).
However, I announced my view last year. And as I expected, I met very fierce resistance from Christians (whom I personally know). Some tried to discount my story by saying that, he doesn't know my father so the story has no weight (which is ironic, because I wonder what's his basis for believing the resurrection story through the biblical evidence in the New Testament, although he doesn't personally know Mark, John, Luke and Matthew). Some suggested perhaps my father saw a secret aircraft in development. Based on my knowledge in aircraft design, I constructed arguments to express why I think such a proposal is highly unlikely. But instead of listening to the technical reasoning I presented, they used belittling tactics, implying my qualification means nothing to this topic (a non-sequitur argument really). Essentially, most people make up whatever reasons they can, so they can feel comfortably secured within their existing worldview.
But that hasn't stopped me from trying to engage in such conversations with other Christians. In fact, my exchanges with other Christians on this topic revealed a few things to me:
1) The truth is, a lot of Christians fiercely reject the possibility of UFO and ET existence, because they fear such a reality might somehow, shake the foundation of their faith.
2) A lot of Christians are still unable to reconcile with evolution, and they fear UFO phenomenon and ET existence will further prove the theory of evolution.
3) While some Christians accept evolution, but they fear for the stability of their faith, should ET existence be real and ET claim to be creators of human beings (panspermia).
Back in 1960s, NASA commissioned the Brookings Institution, to perform a study on the implications on the American social attitudes and values, should extra-terrestrial life becomes a reality. This report was submitted to the 87th United States Congress. It was called the Brookings' report (the link to Brookings Report here). The report found, should the existence of extra-terrestrial life is confirmed, it would have catastrophic impact on the Christian sect in the US. Although I live in Sydney and not US, and it is now 2013 and not 1961, but from what I have seen and heard, most Christians still have this lurking fear and uncertainty about the stability of their faith, in relation to the matters of evolution, and the possibility of alien life forms.
The strange thing is, as governments around the world are slowly releasing declassified UFO reports. The Vaticans has been hosting conference on ET and Christianity as well, and publicly announcing the existence of alien life forms won't clash with Christianity.. what's going on? This is something that has been largely overlooked in the evangelical Christian community, and I think we ought to pay more attention to this kind of development.
Having understood this, I set out on my quest to find out, if Christianity can accommodate the reality of extra-terrestrial life. For my own sake, and also for other Christian's sake, this is the question I ask:
If ET is real and they landed on earth tomorrow, and make contact with us. How will such a revelation impact your faith, and what does that mean for Christianity? Furthermore, if ET claim to be creators of human beings, what will you do and what effect will it have on your spiritual life?
And this is when I came across Dr. Michael Heiser, a scholar with PhD in the Hebrew Bible and Semitic language, most famous for debunking History Channel's TV series Ancient Aliens. Out of interest, I bought his book, The Facade, Christian book that talks about UFO and Christianity, but written in the form as a page turning, supernatural thriller. The book itself, I will review in the next part of my review.
Appendix:
Category A: Links to declassified UFO reports from governments:
From FBI
From NSA (National Security Agency)
This report from NSA is very interesting
From CIA
Memo of flying saucers by director Walter Smith
Document 1
Declassified UFO sighting reports from the British government
Declassified UFO sighting reports from the Brazilian government
Declassified UFO sighting reports from the Canadian government
Declassified UFO sighting reports from the the Danish government
French COMETA report part 1
French COMETA report Part 2
Category B: Links to articles and documentaries of UFO sightings reported by eyewitnesses
Battle of Los Angeles (original footage)
"I know what I saw" documentary
New Zealand government to release UFO files
UK airforce executive summary of "Unidentified aerial phenomena)
Russian navy reveals its history of secret UFO encounter
RAF was ordered to shoot down UFOs
US pilot was ordered to shoot down UFOs
A former Top Gun pilot revealed he was ordered to shoot down UFO over Norwich
Japan's top government official says UFO definitely exist
Brookings' Report
Category C: Vatican's statement about UFO and Christianity
The Vatican says it's ok to believe in UFO
The Vatican hold astrobiology conference on ET life
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