ET and Jesus Walk Into a Bar.

What if Jesus met an extraterrestrial? What consequences might result from a conversation between religion and aliens? What might humanity have to learn about God from other life forms?

We’ve Been Asking These Questions for a Long Time.

These are all big questions that are rarely asked in the mainline. But they have been in our imaginations for centuries — from Thomas Paine¹ to Ray Bradbury.² In 2014, NASA gave the Center for Theological Inquiry $1.1 million to look into the implications of extraterrestrial life on society.³ And at the heart of this centuries-long astro-theological inquiry is one question:

Could our earthly faiths accommodate these new beings — or would it shake our beliefs to the core.⁴

The question seems to cast the future into an either/or scenario. Either human religion will continue with alien life or human beliefs will crumble when faced with an alien encounter! Interestingly, C.S. Lewis circumvents the either/or issue and seems to think that alien interaction could actually make humanity better.

Aliens Are Better Christians.

C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet⁵ tells the story of a man named Ransom and his adventures on the planet Malacandra. Ransom meets the hrossa (one of the three species that inhabits Malacandra), learns the local language, and forms a bond with a particular hrossa named Hyoi.

In one conversation, Ransom asks Hyoi if the hrossa ever attack the other species. Hyoi does not understand. Ransom asks more specifically, “If [two species] wanted one thing and neither would give it…would the other at last come with force? Would they say, ‘give it or we will kill you?’…” ⁶

But Hyoi cannot understand why one species would be willing to hurt the other. When Ransom suggests that they might fight over resources such as food, Hyoi responds with the simplest answer:

If the other [needs] food,

why should we not give it to them? ⁷

FYI — Jesus Agrees with Hyoi.

Throughout many conversations and interactions on this strange planet, Ransom’s journey results in the following understanding: I am not the center of the universe. It’s that simple. And it can be argued that Jesus’ time on Earth was aimed at the same.

In one particular passage of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus explains what the end times might look like. It involves separating “sheep” to the right and “goats” to the left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me — you did it to me.’ ⁸

Be More Like ET and Jesus.

Life is not meant to be about “me.” It is supposed to be about others. At the center of humanity is relationship. Jesus’ answer to the question of religion is to love God and to love one’s neighbor.⁹ We are bound to one another.

There is great need in the world, and it shows itself in a myriad of different ways (physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc.) But for Jesus and a fictional alien named Hyoi, the answer to such need is simple: if one needs food, why should we not give it to them?

1. Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, http://klymkowskylab.colorado.edu/Readings/Thomas%20Paine%20-%20The%20Age%20of%20Reason.pdf.
2. Ray Bradbury, “The Man,” in The Illustrated Man (New York: Bantam, 1951), 42–52.
3. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161215-if-we-made-contact-with-aliens-how-would-religions-react.
4. Ibid.
5. The first of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy which also includes the Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.
6. C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet (New York: Collier, 1965), 72.
7. Ibid.
8. Matthew 25:34–40 (MSG).
9. Matthew 22:37–39.