Is there life beyond planet Earth?Have some people had encounters with such life?What is the explanation for such claimed encounters?Are they valid, fraudulent, or have these people been deceived?The United States government has been very involved with this issue:1. After supposed sightings of U.F.O.s, Project Blue Book was started in 1952 and ended in 1969. It investigated 12,618 reports and concluded, “There was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as ‘unidentified’ were extraterrestrial vehicles.”2. For over 100 years scientists have been listening for radio messages from space. Millions of channels have been analyzed. There have been no confirmed messages.3. Starting in 1976 there have been ten different landers or rovers on Mars looking for signs of life. Results: negative.Different Perspectives1. Atheistic – Life evolved on Earth by chance, so it could have evolved by chance elsewhere. Problem: Life is so complex, that the probability of it evolving even once by chance in the known universe over billions of years is zero.2. Theistic – God created life on Earth, so He could have also created it elsewhere. Problem: There is no evidence of life outside of Earth.3. Biblical – There are no scriptures that explicitly state there is or is not life outside of Earth. Problem: There are scriptures that contradict extraterrestrial life.Divisions of Life 1. Life without the capacity to choose whether or not to obey God. On earth this consists of animals, plants, and microbes. Problem: No such organisms have been detected on Mars and no such organisms could travel here from far away or communicate with us via radio waves.2. Life with the capacity to obey or disobey God. Two possibilities: they obeyed or they disobeyed.a. Obedient life. Unlike humans, they would not have disobeyed God. Problem: if they never disobeyed God, they would be living in innocence on another planet. Therefore, God would not have cursed their planet as He did to Earth because of man’s sin. However, according to the Bible, the entire universe is under the curse. Romans 8:22: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Therefore, it is inconsistent with the Bible for innocent people to exist anywhere in the universe.b. Disobedient life. Creatures, like humans, who have disobeyed God. Problem: God, being the essence of love, would provide these sinful beings with a way to be forgiven so that they could be restored to Himself, as He did for humans by Jesus Christ dying for our sins. However, there is no way for God to save such sinful beings that is consistent with scriptural truths.Possible Ways for Extraterrestrials to be Restored to God1. God would send Jesus to be born on their planet, grow up, die for their sins, rise again and return to heaven. Problem: Jesus “… is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,” (Hebrews 8:1). Jesus is not visiting other planets to die for their sins. (Also, see Hebrews 9:12, 9:24 – 28, 10:10 – 14; I Peter 3:18,22; Rev. 1:18, and Romans 6:9). In addition, Jesus will leave heaven one day and return to the earth where He will reign for one thousand years. After this, the entire universe will be destroyed and God will make a new heaven and earth. It would be unfair for Jesus just to return to this planet and reign here for one thousand years if He has other people elsewhere.2. God would send other Sons, each to a different planet to die for their sins. Problem: Jesus is God’s only Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).3. God could send another being, other than His Son, to redeem the disobedient inhabitants of another planet. Problem: That redeemer would be on the same level as Jesus Christ – each having redeemed a race on a different planet. But no one is on the same level as Jesus Christ: “… God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Philippians 2:9-11). Therefore, there are no other redeemers.4. God would send us to preach the gospel to the sinful inhabitants of other planets so that they can be reconciled to God by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Problem: Jesus commanded His disciples to be His witnesses in “… Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). He also declared, “… this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). So, our witness only extends to planet earth. In addition, it is difficult to reconcile God’s impartiality with the notion of Christ only coming personally to the fallen creatures of Adam’s posterity, while all other fallen creatures have to hear the gospel second hand from us.To summarize: God would not send His Son, another Son, nor any other Being to redeem extraterrestrial fallen creatures. Nor would He send us to evangelize such creatures. Since God has redeemed fallen mankind, He would certainly have provided a means to redeem any other fallen creatures. But since there is no means, according to the Scriptures, whereby He might redeem such creatures, He, knowing beforehand that they would fall into sin, would not have made them. Therefore, they, just as unfallen extraterrestrial beings, do not exist.One might ask, then, “Why did God create such a universe with so many billions of stars if He has only placed beings in His image on planet Earth?” Romans 1:20 tells us that, “… the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead….” When we behold the immeasurably vast universe, we understand that its Creator is immeasurably powerful. So, how do we account for unidentified anomalous phenomena? Four possibilities are: optical illusions, hoaxes, secret human technology, and ruses perpetrated by evil spirits. But why would evil spirits pose as extraterrestrials? Four possibilities are: to hide their identity while they torment people; to engender hope that other creatures, rather than God, would provide salvation from all our problems; to engender hope that one day we will evolve to the level of the aliens; and to engender hope that one day our technology will advance to the level of the aliens, so that we will solve all our problems without the Creator.Our only hope for this life and especially the next, is to turn with all our hearts to our Creator, seeking to do His will, and to believe that Jesus Christ, His only Son, died for our sins and rose again to reconcile us to God. This results in the forgiveness of all our sins and ensures us a place in heaven when this life is through. That is great news and far more satisfying than hoping that the aliens will come and save us!