How do religions explain all the zillions of planets?

Spirogyra

Hi, there's so many of them, and they all seem to be empty, why does religion not make reference to them, and why does it not tell us why they are empty? why did God bother making so many lifeless heaps of floating rock, water, fire etc?

yeppydeppy

You might want to ask the people who actually believe in God / religion?

Cabaal

God did it and its gods will,
thats basically it, I don't think you'll get a detailed explanation or commitment to anything when it comes to all the planets and the possibility of life on them.

If they claimed god only created life on earth (I think they already have to be fair) then it makes them look like ejits later down the line if life exists somewhere else. Of course it wouldn't be the first time they got things wrong.

swampgas

I'm afraid most religions are far too busy worrying about people's sex lives to actually think much about the planets.

lazygal

swampgas wrote: »

I'm afraid most religions are far too busy worrying about people's sex lives to actually think much about the planets.

That's really unfair. Some of them are worried about tuned instruments too.

Delirium

Spirogyra wrote: »

Hi, there's so many of them, and they all seem to be empty, why does religion not make reference to them, and why does it not tell us why they are empty? why did God bother making so many lifeless heaps of floating rock, water, fire etc?

Because if he created life on other planets, eventually Kirk and Spock will find and destroy him :P

Gumbi

Godidit.

mewso

Ah folks that's an easy one. He put them all there because he plans ahead. In several millennia we will need the space.

iDave

Works in mysterious ways

Akrasia

Well considering that the early christians believed that god was literally a bearded man in the sky (the heavens referred literally to somewhere above the sky) which original christians believed was the 'firmament' in was a kind of solid barrier between heaven and earth in which god installed lights to 'seperate night from day

So basically, religious people need to first account for the lack of any firmament and lack of any heaven before they even start to look at any explanation for why there are billions of other planets including 7 other uninhabited planets in our own solar system

nagirrac

Spirogyra wrote: »

Hi, there's so many of them, and they all seem to be empty

How did you arrive at this startling claim? We have begun the quest of trying to determine if the planets surrounding suns in the nearby portion of our galaxy have the kind of physical attributes that could support life (as we know it at least), but we're hardly at the stage of calling the approximately 2 to 3 trillion planets in our observed universe empty.

The answer to your question, as newso correctly pointed out, is its obviously for us to expand into as we go forth and multiply. Ray Kurzweil has proposed that we will populate the Milky Way with self replicating AI robots within the next 1,000 years.

Kidchameleon

Spirogyra wrote: »

Hi, there's so many of them, and they all seem to be empty, why does religion not make reference to them

The Catholic church has had a long interest in astronomy. They have had in their employ astronomers for hundreds of years who have made significant discoveries about the universe which we all live in. The Vatican observatory is one of the longest running astronomical research centers in the world! I'm sure other major religions are equally interested in astronomy. Why do you think religions don't make reference to other planets?

Spirogyra wrote: »

and why does it not tell us why they are empty?

Perhaps like the rest of humanity they simply don't know themselves? Go on, you tell us OP!

Dades

Well obviously when most religions were being put together they simply had no idea even one other planet existed.

They're not mentioned for the same reasons dinosaurs aren't.

Sheldons Brain

Spirogyra wrote: »

Hi, there's so many of them, and they all seem to be empty, why does religion not make reference to them, and why does it not tell us why they are empty? why did God bother making so many lifeless heaps of floating rock, water, fire etc?

God doesn't need to explain Himself on Boards.ie.

Hotblack Desiato

Kidchameleon wrote: »

The Catholic church has had a long interest in astronomy.

So that's why the parish priest wanted to see Uranus.


On a serious note, the real question would be why does so much empty space exist? The universe is almost entirely empty, the atom is almost entirely empty...

EunanMac

There's bound to be some evidence for alien life out there somewhere, even though no evidence has been found yet.

Custardpi

Dades wrote: »

Well obviously when most religions were being put together they simply had no idea even one other planet existed.

They're not mentioned for the same reasons dinosaurs aren't.

What about the Behemoth, mentioned in the Book of Job? This site gives makes a very plausible argument for biblical knowledge of dinosaurs.

EunanMac

Custardpi wrote: »

What about the Behemoth, mentioned in the Book of Job? This site gives makes a very plausible argument for biblical knowledge of dinosaurs.

Behemoth could have been any large animal.
The old testament details touches on ancient culture in north east Africa as well as the middle east. Elephants, rhino's, crocodiles and antelopes would have been known about, though perhaps termed differently.

Pherekydes

Kidchameleon wrote: »

The Catholic church has had a long interest in astronomy. They have had in their employ astronomers for hundreds of years who have made significant discoveries about the universe which we all live in. The Vatican observatory is one of the longest running astronomical research centers in the world!

Quite correct. The Gregorian tower was completed in 1580 for the express intention of reforming the calendar.

Their astronomers mustn't have been very good, however, because in 1616 Galileo was tried for the heresy of suggesting the heliocentric model and they didn't back him up. In fact, he was found guilty of heresy and sentenced to die by burning at the stake. Another great service brought to you by the "one true religion".

Kidchameleon

Pherekydes wrote: »

Quite correct. The Gregorian tower was completed in 1580 for the express intention of reforming the calendar.

Their astronomers mustn't have been very good, however, because in 1616 Galileo was tried for the heresy of suggesting the heliocentric model and they didn't back him up. In fact, he was found guilty of heresy and sentenced to die by burning at the stake. Another great service brought to you by the "one true religion".

I believe Copernicus was given a hard time aswell, you'd wonder why they bothered employing him

Kidchameleon

Dades wrote: »

Well obviously when most religions were being put together they simply had no idea even one other planet existed.

They're not mentioned for the same reasons dinosaurs aren't.

Well they are not mentioned in the religious texts but I'm sure religious folk of the modern era mention them as much as anyone else.

Nick Park

Pherekydes wrote: »

Galileo was tried for the heresy of suggesting the heliocentric model and they didn't back him up. In fact, he was found guilty of heresy and sentenced to die by burning at the stake. Another great service brought to you by the "one true religion".

Really? Have you got a source for this claim that Galileo was sentenced to death by burning at the stake?

nagirrac

Nick Park wrote: »

Really? Have you got a source for this claim that Galileo was sentenced to death by burning at the stake?

Of course not, its another atheist myth;).

He's probably confusing Galileo with Bruno, who was burned. Galileo was sentenced to house arrest, although rumor has it that he was also given a tour of the inquisition torture chambers to help focus his mind:eek:.

Turtwig

Galileo couldn't be too severely punished because of his status. That's why astronomers across Europe were being begging him to make the stand.

Burned at the stake he was not.

Regarding OP, scientology does! :pac:

Nodin

Cabaal wrote: »

God did it and its gods will,
........

Satan did it.
http://www.mt.net/~watcher/endtimedelusion.html

Apparently the notion they are from The Horned One dates back to the 1950's.

TwoShedsJackson

You don't have to worry about it as Aliens are going to Hell anyway

Ive always had two views on this.

1,

Life on Earth wont exist for ever, eventually our sun will burn out and life in the solar system will cease to exist. The Universe has been given to Humans to populate and spread out across the stars.

Or


2,

The universe is populated with Gods creations, eventually when Humans have matured enough they can join the family of creation.

ted1

Spirogyra wrote: »

Hi, there's so many of them, and they all seem to be empty, why does religion not make reference to them, and why does it not tell us why they are empty? why did God bother making so many lifeless heaps of floating rock, water, fire etc?

If you don't believe in it then why let it worry you?

Brian Shanahan

Kidchameleon wrote: »

The Catholic church has had a long interest in astronomy.

Yes, what they don't know they can't suppress for being contrary to biblical teaching.

Remember it was the 20th century before the rcc admitted they were wrong in persecuting Gallileo and admitted an earth-centric universe, as portrayed in their never wrong holy book, was wrong.

Brian Shanahan

Custardpi wrote: »

What about the Behemoth, mentioned in the Book of Job? This site gives makes a very plausible argument for biblical knowledge of dinosaurs.

Funny joke custardpi. Thanks for the laugh.

I Heart Internet

God created all those planets when he created the universe(s).

http://vaticanobservatory.org/

http://vaticanobservatory.org/vo-news/recent-news/94-recent-news/brother-guy-has-won-the-carl-sagan-medal

The chief Vatican astronomer is a guy called Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/sep/17/pope-astronomer-baptise-aliens

Pope Francis has also talked (more tongue in cheek I think) of baptising or giving communion to aliens.

I think you'll find the RCC to be refreshingly open minded when it comes to cosmology.