Latest / The Extra Mile Podcast / #3 - Do UFOs Really Exist? (with Kate Brown)
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: It's not just let's talk about this possibility, see if people will latch on to it.
- 0:06SPEAKER_00: It's having a moment in culture right now.
- 0:08SPEAKER_00: Like you've got movies like Begonia and Project Hail Mary that are just beginning to blow the charts.
- 0:13SPEAKER_00: Best picture nominee.
- 0:14SPEAKER_00: So people have questions.
- 0:16SPEAKER_00: They're speculating.
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: Are aliens real?
- 0:18SPEAKER_00: Are they sentient?
- 0:19SPEAKER_00: Are they kind?
- 0:20SPEAKER_00: What does that mean for us?
- 0:26SPEAKER_01: Hey, welcome back to the Extra Mile Podcast.
- 0:28SPEAKER_01: Again, my name is Steve Husky, lead pastor here at Faith Church.
- 0:31SPEAKER_01: Every week we do just a recap from the previous Sunday's message and then try to add some extra content, dig a little deeper into heavy topics, and maybe help you move further in your journey with Christ, or if you're asking questions to discover some of those answers.
- 0:43SPEAKER_01: And I'm pleased to sit with uh my personal assistant, uh our guest service director, and a friend of mine that I respect, and uh want to welcome Kate Brown to the podcast.
- 0:51SPEAKER_01: So, Kate, this past week we did a deep dive in the conversation of UFOs and aliens.
- 0:57SPEAKER_01: Um, and I started off by a pretty bold statement by saying UFOs do exist.
- 1:02SPEAKER_01: What did you think when uh when you heard that?
- 1:04SPEAKER_00: I mean, as soon as you said this statement, I was like, Pastor Steve is always locked and loaded.
- 1:08SPEAKER_00: I knew there'd be a good explanation, but you're not the kind of person who's above a tinfoil hat.
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: So I knew we were going one way or the other.
- 1:15SPEAKER_01: I gotta say this.
- 1:15SPEAKER_01: I I almost wore a tinfoil hat and I forgot it at home, just you know, it's a little joke.
- 1:20SPEAKER_01: But uh again, you got to qualify what's a UFO, um, lots of opinions.
- 1:24SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I made sure people knew that if by UFOs we're talking about that we see things in the sky that we don't know what it is or we misidentify.
- 1:33SPEAKER_01: I mean, absolutely UFOs exist.
- 1:34SPEAKER_01: I see things in the sky all the time.
- 1:36SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure is that a plane, is that a balloon?
- 1:39SPEAKER_01: But on the flip side, if in the in the culture, UFOs, UAPs, all the different titles, if we mean that there are aliens from other planets flying in our atmosphere, do they exist?
- 1:50SPEAKER_01: And I I walked away with a pretty bold no.
- 1:52SPEAKER_01: Now I qualified it later, but um you know that's kind of my stance.
- 1:55SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing, at the end of the day, there are about a hundred thousand reports of people who say they see things in our atmosphere.
- 2:02SPEAKER_01: And that's what gets reported.
- 2:03SPEAKER_01: So obviously there's lots more that don't get reported.
- 2:06SPEAKER_01: And when you pass all the things where people at the end of the day who do the research say a lot of those can be explained as natural phenomena, they're just misidentified.
- 2:15SPEAKER_01: But there's this 2% of things who research, who scientists who look into it to say we can't explain what people saw, what they recorded, what they had pictures of.
- 2:24SPEAKER_01: And so to me, it's a fascinating topic topic.
- 2:26SPEAKER_01: What like, you know, what are your thoughts on maybe the unexplained, the 2% that are out there that people can't really define?
- 2:33SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it's just such a timely message and a timely conversation because it's not just let's talk about this possibility, see if people will latch on to it.
- 2:43SPEAKER_00: It's having a moment in culture right now.
- 2:46SPEAKER_00: Like you've got movies like Begonia and Project Hail Mary that are just gonna blow the charts, best picture nominee.
- 2:52SPEAKER_00: So people have questions.
- 2:53SPEAKER_00: They're speculating.
- 2:54SPEAKER_00: Are aliens real?
- 2:55SPEAKER_00: Are they sentient?
- 2:57SPEAKER_00: Are they kind?
- 2:58SPEAKER_00: What does that mean for us?
- 2:59SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I gotta I just gotta ask real quick.
- 3:01SPEAKER_01: So where do you land right now?
- 3:02SPEAKER_00: Do you believe there's aliens, UFOs, or so in your message, you're talking about these 500 million inhabitable planets, right?
- 3:10SPEAKER_00: So I'm thinking we're not that special.
- 3:12SPEAKER_00: Like if life can happen in a natural process, we can't be alone and we just don't know why yet.
- 3:18SPEAKER_01: But I mean, it's again, it's it's I'm still fascinated by the topic.
- 3:23SPEAKER_01: You know, I land, I land a certain place biblically and theologically, and I think that's important.
- 3:27SPEAKER_01: And that's why we have to have this conversation.
- 3:28SPEAKER_01: Again, it is it's a cultural conversation.
- 3:32SPEAKER_01: It's happening in Congress, it's happening on television series, you mentioned movies.
- 3:37SPEAKER_01: So people are having these conversations.
- 3:38SPEAKER_01: And I think anytime there's a big conversation, we as believers, I think we should maybe chime in.
- 3:43SPEAKER_01: We don't have to say something about everything, but something as significant as life on another planet.
- 3:48SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I think deserves a response.
- 3:51SPEAKER_01: And again, especially a theological response.
- 3:53SPEAKER_01: Because at the end of the day, when people do the deep dive into this conversation, those who believe in aliens, believe in UFOs, come back to this idea that, hey, maybe they are the reason we're here.
- 4:04SPEAKER_01: They planted us here, they're our creators, and really, even as a bigger conversation, they're the reason we're seeing them and experiencing them is because they're here to save us.
- 4:12SPEAKER_01: So they're our creators, they're our saviors.
- 4:14SPEAKER_01: So that's why we have, you know, these kind of conversations.
- 4:17SPEAKER_01: And there's two places that I think we should look.
- 4:20SPEAKER_01: Uh, number one is scripture.
- 4:21SPEAKER_01: Obviously, as Christ followers, as believers, that's our framework, that's where we get our worldview, scripture and science.
- 4:27SPEAKER_01: And scripture um doesn't really say, and I don't think it's intended to say it.
- 4:32SPEAKER_01: You know, it it makes scientific statements, but it's not a science book.
- 4:35SPEAKER_01: Right.
- 4:36SPEAKER_01: So when you read it, all we know is that God created the heavens and the earth.
- 4:39SPEAKER_01: And so potentially there's aliens out there, but scripture is silent.
- 4:43SPEAKER_01: Um, and number two is science.
- 4:45SPEAKER_01: And this is the place where, you know, I'm not a scientist, but I'm educated enough to have conversations, and you can really frame it all down to this thing we talked about called the Fermi paradox.
- 4:55SPEAKER_01: And the Fermi paradox states it three things, three proposals.
- 4:59SPEAKER_01: One, that the universe we live in is incredibly large, it's vast.
- 5:03SPEAKER_01: Number two, it's incredibly old, 14 billion years old.
- 5:06SPEAKER_01: And number three, and I don't really land here, but scientists would say it has the ability to produce life from nonliving matter.
- 5:13SPEAKER_01: Right.
- 5:14SPEAKER_01: So if all those are true, that the universe is old, it's huge, lots of planets, you mentioned it.
- 5:19SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 5:20SPEAKER_01: And it can produce life on its own, then this we would come to this conclusion, like we can't be alone.
- 5:25SPEAKER_01: There has to be life out there somewhere.
- 5:27SPEAKER_01: But the paradox is that they can't find it.
- 5:30SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 5:31SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, at the end of the day, there, if there's life out there, Jesus created it.
- 5:35SPEAKER_01: John 1.3 tells us that everything that exists exists because of him.
- 5:39SPEAKER_01: Everything that was made was made by him and through him.
- 5:43SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, at the end of the day, if there's life out there, he made it, which means he is the creator of it and he's the Lord of it.
- 5:50SPEAKER_01: Um, and so while it's possible, I don't think it's probable.
- 5:53SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
- 5:55SPEAKER_00: That makes a lot of sense.
- 5:57SPEAKER_00: So I'll say that I tend to lean with you.
- 6:00SPEAKER_00: That's probably the case.
- 6:01SPEAKER_00: If there were sentient life, if there was spiritual life like us, it's probably out there.
- 6:05SPEAKER_00: But then how do you explain the anecdotes that are?
- 6:10SPEAKER_00: I won't say evidence.
- 6:11SPEAKER_00: I won't say research, I'll say evidence.
- 6:13SPEAKER_00: How do you explain the anecdotes popping up, the TikTok recordings, everybody talking about these encounters and experiences they've had?
- 6:19SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 6:20SPEAKER_01: Again, I just got to say it.
- 6:21SPEAKER_01: When I when I come across videos, there are some that you know look like flying um, what do they call the silver balloons, the mylar balloons?
- 6:28SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
- 6:29SPEAKER_01: But man, there is stuff I've seen that I I don't know, like these glowing orbs that break apart and come back together.
- 6:36SPEAKER_01: I'm just so fascinated by the topic.
- 6:38SPEAKER_01: You know, but so again, at the end of the day, people are capturing things on video.
- 6:43SPEAKER_01: They are having experiences to talk about that they're emotionally moved by, spiritually moved by.
- 6:48SPEAKER_01: And I think when you look at, again, is there is there life out there?
- 6:52SPEAKER_01: It's it's possible, but I don't think it's probable.
- 6:54SPEAKER_01: Has have they visited us?
- 6:56SPEAKER_01: I don't think so, but someone are having experiences that's impacting them.
- 7:00SPEAKER_01: And again, that's why it's a cultural conversation.
- 7:02SPEAKER_01: And and I would land in this place where you know, I think either these things are are if they're real, they're either deceived or they're or they're deceivers.
- 7:14SPEAKER_01: And the reason I say it is because the consistent message in culture is those who have experiences, those who have contacts, they're called contactees, it's kind of this subculture, they all pretty much report the same thing that these alien beings, these other life forces, will consistently say things that are contrary to what we call scripture, that Jesus is real, but hey, he's just a good teacher.
- 7:37SPEAKER_01: Um, that again, that they're here as our creators, they're here as our saviors, and those things go contrary to the Bible.
- 7:43SPEAKER_01: So we just have to say, hey, if life is here and they're visiting us, the message they're bringing doesn't line up with what we believe as Christ followers.
- 7:51SPEAKER_01: And I think that's concerning.
- 7:52SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
- 7:54SPEAKER_00: Can you tell me more about this concept of the deception and if they're deceivers, what kind of messengers are they?
- 8:02SPEAKER_00: What kind of message are they bringing to us?
- 8:04SPEAKER_00: And just hear me out here, right?
- 8:06SPEAKER_00: If aliens are real, if we have a shared language, I understand them, they understand me.
- 8:11SPEAKER_00: Is that not reason enough for me to pull up a chair and have a conversation?
- 8:15SPEAKER_00: What should I listen to?
- 8:16SPEAKER_00: What should I not listen to?
- 8:17SPEAKER_01: I mean, if if there is an alien being that has the capacity, has the intelligence to design a craft to reach us through the expanse of the universe, potentially millions of light years.
- 8:29SPEAKER_01: I mean, man, obviously they're far more intelligent than we are because they're doing things we can't do.
- 8:34SPEAKER_01: But I think that's a mistake that we assume just because they're smarter than us, they're more spiritual than us.
- 8:38SPEAKER_01: Right.
- 8:39SPEAKER_01: And, you know, again, that feels like a logical step.
- 8:42SPEAKER_01: Hey, man, these these beings are incredibly smart.
- 8:45SPEAKER_01: Man, they must know all there is to know.
- 8:48SPEAKER_01: I just say, right here, limited to our planet, there's incredibly intelligent people that do not have faith in the creator and the savior.
- 8:55SPEAKER_01: But on the flip side, there are people who are incredibly smart, incredibly intelligent, who absolutely believe there's a creator and believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior.
- 9:03SPEAKER_01: So I don't think we should make the mistake that just because they're smart, assuming they're here, assuming they could arrive here, just because they're smart doesn't mean they're spiritual, which means if they exist out there, they exist in what we call a fallen, not fallen world.
- 9:18SPEAKER_01: What we have to understand as believers is that the scripture teaches that all of creation is fallen.
- 9:23SPEAKER_01: God made it all.
- 9:24SPEAKER_01: And when Adam and Eve disobeyed, it didn't just affect Adam and Eve, and it didn't just affect all humanity.
- 9:30SPEAKER_01: Sin polluted everything God created.
- 9:32SPEAKER_01: In fact, Romans chapter 8, verse 20 and 21 says, All creation was subjected to God's curse.
- 9:38SPEAKER_01: But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay, which means that sin's polluted everything.
- 9:48SPEAKER_01: So if there's life out there, it has been impacted and polluted by sin, which means if there are sentient beings, they live and are a part of a fallen creation.
- 9:59SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, which means they're subject to deception just like we are.
- 10:03SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 10:03SPEAKER_01: So if they're a voice, if they're intelligent, and they're bringing a message, we just can't trust it just because they're potentially smarter than us, they could be deceived just like we can be deceived.
- 10:12SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 10:12SPEAKER_00: So kind of two questions I have out of that.
- 10:15SPEAKER_00: Um, number one, I love that verse because it's kind of like different references in Revelation, right?
- 10:20SPEAKER_00: It can be argued that verse specifically where it says, even the fallen angels or even angels from heaven, if they preach something contrary to what we bring.
- 10:29SPEAKER_01: That's right.
- 10:30SPEAKER_00: Are we talking about maybe the biblical writers understanding aliens as fallen angels?
- 10:35SPEAKER_00: Are they the same thing?
- 10:36SPEAKER_00: And either way, does that mean that Jesus died for fallen angels like he did us, or died for aliens like he did for us?
- 10:42SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, that is such a profound question.
- 10:45SPEAKER_01: And you know, we obviously didn't tackle this Sunday, and I'm glad we can have this conversation now.
- 10:49SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I think potentially that first century writers maybe experienced things that they called angels and messengers, and maybe they were aliens.
- 10:58SPEAKER_01: Right.
- 10:58SPEAKER_01: Or maybe what what people are experiencing today is aliens are angels.
- 11:01SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
- 11:02SPEAKER_01: You know, we're just talking the framework of what we understand.
- 11:05SPEAKER_01: And I think people who don't believe in God or don't believe in spiritual things that way, again, are experiencing angels, and they just assume, hey, those are aliens.
- 11:12SPEAKER_01: At the end of the day, here's what we know they're messengers.
- 11:14SPEAKER_01: Yeah, these beings, whoever they are, wherever they're from, they're bringing a message.
- 11:19SPEAKER_01: And um goes back to this question again.
- 11:22SPEAKER_01: So if they exist in our universe, and assuming they're just life, they're not, they're not angels, they're just another sentent sentient um race somewhere, um, I would say again, they're they're fallen.
- 11:35SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, they live in a fallen culture.
- 11:37SPEAKER_01: So then the question is, and I don't know the answer to this.
- 11:39SPEAKER_01: This is just, you know, I'd be curious what you think.
- 11:41SPEAKER_01: But philosophically, if they're fallen, they need a savior just like we do.
- 11:46SPEAKER_01: So either there's unlimited atonement, which means Jesus died for everybody, does that include aliens?
- 11:54SPEAKER_01: Or did Jesus, who the Son of God, took on the form of humanity, came and died for humans?
- 11:59SPEAKER_01: Did he take on their form and go to their planets and die for them?
- 12:04SPEAKER_01: I you know, I think at the end of the day, they're been impacted by sin.
- 12:08SPEAKER_01: They would need a savior.
- 12:09SPEAKER_01: Just did Jesus redeem them as well?
- 12:11SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm fascinated by the topic.
- 12:12SPEAKER_01: I think that would be necessary, but I can't prove that biblically.
- 12:15SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
- 12:17SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
- 12:18SPEAKER_00: It's I think that's so cool how you've been able to translate the idea at first of why are aliens even relevant to the gospel?
- 12:25SPEAKER_00: Why are we talking about this as a church culture?
- 12:27SPEAKER_00: Because as you've mentioned from the first message in this series, if Satan wanted to tarnish everything, he's going to find a way to do it.
- 12:34SPEAKER_00: I think he does that in our thinking too.
- 12:37SPEAKER_00: I think we try to make sense of the secular the spiritual in the secular.
- 12:41SPEAKER_00: And I think that's why you see magic systems and superpowers and all these things in our entertainment, is because if we as people are saying, I know there's got to be something all powerful out there.
- 12:53SPEAKER_00: Is it aliens?
- 12:55SPEAKER_00: Is it this?
- 12:55SPEAKER_00: Is it that?
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: But I'm not a spiritual person, I'm maybe not ready to submit to the idea that God is that.
- 13:01SPEAKER_00: God is all of these things.
- 13:03SPEAKER_00: So we're going to keep seeing branches of the supernatural like aliens come out as people are trying to find their spirituality and ultimately their salvation.
- 13:12SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's fascinating that people will almost rest on all the things you mentioned, magic and witchcraft and and they may not use those terms, aliens, but for some reason they will not default that there is a creator.
- 13:24SPEAKER_01: They'll default to all these created things, which you know, Romans 1 talks about.
- 13:28SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I the big takeaway from Sunday is again this idea, if there's life out there, and it's again, it's possible.
- 13:36SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's probable, but if there's life out there, um, who are they?
- 13:40SPEAKER_01: What are they what are they saying?
- 13:41SPEAKER_01: And again, either they are deceived themselves as a part of fallen creation, or, and this is where I land, I believe aliens are manifesting in our world, but I think they're demons.
- 13:52SPEAKER_01: I think they are here intentionally to deceive, which is why their message is hey, Jesus is a great teacher.
- 13:57SPEAKER_01: Hey, he's a some people are saying he's a hybrid alien.
- 14:00SPEAKER_01: Then they're teaching a gospel that's contrary to what we believe in scripture, and uh which means they're here intentionally to deceive and pull people away from the gospel, pull people away from Christ, pull people away from believing in our creator and our savior.
- 14:13SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that's fascinating to me is there's this group again, the subculture called contactees, that they believe they're having consistent ongoing contacts with these aliens, um, either through um meditation or some people are what's called abductees.
- 14:29SPEAKER_01: Could you imagine an alien showing up in your bedroom?
- 14:31SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're afraid as a book afraid of the boogeyman as kids, now aliens are showing up in people's bedrooms.
- 14:35SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I thought it was crazy when you suggested there's a new kind of encounter, the fourth kind.
- 14:40SPEAKER_00: That was a new concept to me.
- 14:42SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 14:42SPEAKER_01: So again, there's, you know, the first kind is visible.
- 14:44SPEAKER_01: We see something in the sky.
- 14:46SPEAKER_01: Close encounters of the second kind is we see just evidence.
- 14:50SPEAKER_01: The third kind is physical contact.
- 14:52SPEAKER_01: People are claiming we've seen aliens.
- 14:54SPEAKER_01: And now the fourth kind is abductees that they feel like they've been taken out of their bedrooms in the middle of the night, couldn't fight it, couldn't resist it.
- 15:02SPEAKER_01: And here's what's fascinating, and which brings me back to why I believe this is demonic, why this is the the enemy trying to interfere in us understanding who God is and what God's done for us is because people who report being abductees, it's always surrounded in fear.
- 15:19SPEAKER_01: I mean, people have turmoil, people have to seek counselors and seek psychiatric help because they're so tormented by these fear memories.
- 15:29SPEAKER_01: And um even more so, what you find is there's been several studies done.
- 15:33SPEAKER_01: One, I believe, has over 300 res re a researcher who's contacted over 300 abductees, another one 600.
- 15:40SPEAKER_01: So they sat down with these people and said, Hey, tell us about your encounters.
- 15:43SPEAKER_01: And they have the same story.
- 15:44SPEAKER_01: When this happens, we're filled with fear.
- 15:47SPEAKER_01: And so these researchers who are Christians both said, Hey, how about the next time you have this experience?
- 15:53SPEAKER_01: Instead of trying to fight where you can't move and you feel like you are bound, just declare the name of Jesus, just speak the name of Jesus to these beings.
- 16:02SPEAKER_01: And what all of them have found consistently is when they introduce the name of Jesus, that those encounters cease immediately and they no longer come back, which tells me what is out there that submits to the name of Jesus that was bringing fear and now is cast out.
- 16:19SPEAKER_01: And again, I mean you just come to this conclusion.
- 16:21SPEAKER_01: It is it's demonic, it's demonic activity.
- 16:24SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there's power in the name of Jesus, even to aliens or fallen angels or whatever it is, the name of Jesus causes everything to bow, which is, man, what we where we stand.
- 16:33SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
- 16:34SPEAKER_00: And I love how the whole point of every message in the series is it's not about the why, and it's not, or sorry, it's not about the how, it's about the why.
- 16:42SPEAKER_00: Every message you've preached so far, that is the message.
- 16:45SPEAKER_00: It's not about the how did it happen and the what, it's about the why.
- 16:48SPEAKER_00: And that's so the case with this.
- 16:50SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think I kind of came into this message thinking, I'm just saying if an alien comes, I'm pulling up a chair.
- 16:56SPEAKER_00: And you're really giving me food to food for thought.
- 16:59SPEAKER_00: You know, how do I uh kind of put up my barriers, my guards?
- 17:04SPEAKER_00: How do I keep my heart clean and away from that kind of influence?
- 17:07SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
- 17:08SPEAKER_01: Again, I don't think we should be crazy conspiracy theorists that put on the illuminating at even as Christians, and everything's demonic, everything's the devil.
- 17:16SPEAKER_01: But again, I think we should just process with a biblical worldview that if this is happening, should we just assume, hey, they're smarter than us, again, therefore more spiritual?
- 17:24SPEAKER_01: Should we just submit ourselves to the conversation?
- 17:26SPEAKER_01: No, I think we should think critically, spiritually, biblically.
- 17:30SPEAKER_01: And if everything they're reporting is true, because I've not had an alien visit me, I kind of would dig it too.
- 17:36SPEAKER_01: Um, I've not received a message, but if I got a message from an alien that was contrary to what God's word teaches, as a believer, we should say, hey, wait a minute.
- 17:46SPEAKER_01: Let's come back to what we believe in the word.
- 17:48SPEAKER_01: And therefore, you know, I'm gonna have the conversation too, but I'm not gonna believe everything it tells me.
- 17:52SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
- 17:54SPEAKER_01: Well, hey, listen, thanks for joining in.
- 17:55SPEAKER_01: I appreciate Kate spending time with us.
- 17:57SPEAKER_01: I hope you do a deep dive, not just into this podcast, but come back to the message.
- 18:01SPEAKER_01: We shared a lot more information that would help you, as a believer or not a believer, just someone with questions to really entertain this idea.
- 18:07SPEAKER_01: Are there aliens out there?
- 18:09SPEAKER_01: Are UFOs visiting our planet?
- 18:10SPEAKER_01: And what does that all mean?
- 18:11SPEAKER_01: So, Kate, thanks for joining us.
- 18:13SPEAKER_01: Appreciate the conversation.
- 18:14SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.