Panspermia

As the theory of evolution loses ground among academics, the theory rising to replace it is called "Panspermia" - the idea that life on earth has it's origins in outer space (see a dictionary definition here). While differing ufo cults claim "their race" as our designers (and in effect gods), others among the scientific community have been saying that life was seeded by extra-terrestrial microbes. Here's just one current article I came across from one of the UK's top internet media sources, which states

"We don't know where life began, but a kilometer or two below the surface of Mars seems a good place. How, then, did life get from Mars to Earth? The answer is straightforward. The same asteroid impacts that made early life so hazardous also served to splatter vast quantities of Martian rock around the solar system. A fraction of this hits Earth; indeed, it does so today. So far, a couple of dozen meteorites have been found that can be traced back to Mars. If there was life on Mars, then it is possible that some Martian microbes will have hitched a ride inside the ejected rocks and made their way to Earth. " http://www.guardian.co.uk

Just hoping I could grab the name for apologetics purposes, I checked out www.panspermia.com - I was 6 years too late. Here's a quick one from their FAQ

Q. So how did life on Earth originate then, according to Cosmic Ancestry?
A. Life on Earth originated when bacterial spores arrived here from space.

By the way, if you've never seen it - or especially if you let your kids watch it without you being around - the plot of the (suspiciously) G-Rated movie "Mission to Mars" ends with the astronauts discovering that Martians seeded earth with all life, before their planet was destroyed and they took off. While the church reads Grant Jeffrey, Michael Drosnin - author of the original book The Bible Code - ends his thesis with the idea that the Bible is so advanced mathematically that it could not have been the product of primitive man, so it had to be written by an alien intelligence. (Validity of the bible codes aside, millions have bought this book.) Of course TV's The X-Files has played the "God is an alien" theme time and time again.

So what does it tell you that a word most have never heard of already has a .com, .net and .org attached to it? Sounds whacky I know, but mark my words - if you have school aged children now, panspermia will be in your grandchildren's college textbooks as "a" if not "the" most plausible explanation for our beginnings. The Biblical worldview got pasted with a major uppercut to the chin in Darwinism. To the eyes of the world the Church is still dizzy and reeling intellectually, although the "theory of evolution" is simply invalid 1000 times over. For those who wish to prepare themselves, their churches, their children, etc - I'm here to tell you, it's a one-two punch. While we're still clearing our heads and putting all our effort into defending ourselves from evolution, Panspermia is the coming right hook meant to knock us out.

More Info
Did Life's Building Blocks Come From Outer Space? "Quite a few headlines enthusiastically proclaimed ‘Seeds of life are everywhere’ and ‘Scientists create life’s building blocks’ These resulted from two studies where scientists formed amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, by zapping impure ice, supposedly matching in..."
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/0418space_amino_acid.asp

Movie Review: Mission to Mars
"Even though it was classified as "futuristic science-fiction," I would call it "evolutionary madness." This movie represents the position to which a number of evolutionists have already moved, and where I believe many others will go as time passes..." http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2/4357news8-4-2000.asp

The Raelian Religion

Probably the largest and most influential of all UFO "groups," they boast 55,000 members in 80 countries. Their primary doctrine is that all life on earth was created as a DNA experiment by "The Raelians." This revelation was given to their founder, when he was taken aboard a UFO and told that he (and Moses, Mohammed, Buddha, Jesus) was the product of a hybrid union between a Raelian and an earth woman, and that he was to start a new religion proclaiming their message, as their final prophet. They use the Bible extensively to make their claims, and say that cloning is the secret to eternal life. Their site is www.rael.org and their primary doctrinal book - The True Face of God is available on Amazon. (Linked for apologetics research, not as an endorsement. See also We Are The Nibiruans by Jelaila Starr - "ambassador from the 12th planet, Nibiru" - for another group with similar claims, and The Urantia Book, as well as the below.)

...from an article - Close Encounters of the Raelian Kind
"Faulkner adds that the Raelians, who claim to have more than 50, 000 members worldwide, are not the first religious movement to suggest alien origins. He explains that Scientology believes that human beings were gods that got bored with existence. "The Scientologists say we have forgotten our otherworldly origins," he says. "The task is now to remember to be omnipotent gods again." http://novanewsnet.ukings.ns.ca/stories/01-02/020215/raelians.htm

Worth noting in this context, Mormon / LDS doctrine states that God (the Father) was a normal man on another planet eons ago, who evolved to become our God. Likewise, good (male) Mormons are promised their own planet, one day. They also believe that angels currently travel to earth from differing planets, and that Mormonism is the predominant religion throughout certain galaxies. These unique doctrines should technically qualify them as the first organized religion to express at least a "passive faith" in both ETs and Panspermia, as life on other planets and the creation of humans by an "alien God" is assumed by their most fundamental doctrines.

Scientology - the "Dianetics" religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard - is also based on his belief in extra-terrestrials.

Modern Authors
The idea of Panspermia is given a slightly different twist by modern authors Erich von Daniken and Zechariah Sitchin, both of whom's books have sold in the double-digit millions. Their ideas are that ancient archeology and texts prove that primitive man had our DNA "tweaked" by races from the stars, resulting in homo sapiens, and that most ancient marvels (such as the Pyramids of Egypt) can be attributed to their intervention. For an amazingly comprehensive and sound scholarly rebuttal to the claims of Zechariah Sitchin (author of The 12th Planet and Genesis Revisited) visit Mike Heiser's ZS page http://www.facadenovel.com/sitchinerrors.htm ; Von Daniken's work Chariots of The Gods is challenged by J Timothy Unruh's work. (For an amazing Biblical view of the perhaps God-ly origin of the Pyramids, try out The Great Pyramid : Prophecy in Stone)

Don't Join a cult for panspermia indoctrination - just turn on the tube!
Star Trek The Next Generation (TM) Episode, "The Chase" - details the common origin of popular species from the show, including humans. An extinct race had created all races from their seed, leaving a message: "... Our scientists seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds, where life was in its infancy. The seed codes directed your evolution toward a physical form resembling ours ... There is something of us in each of you, and so, something of you in each other." Read extended synopsis to "The Chase."
Star Trek Voyager (TM) also aired an episode where they met a "Reptilian" race with almost identical DNA to to humans, that had "split off" from the human evolutionary tree, and left earth for the stars.
The X-Files (TM) "God is an alien" theme tongue-in-cheekily overviewed by Mac Slocum's excellent review of the episode "Biogenesis" / Much of this episode's relevant dialogue (suggesting aliens created life on earth, and wrote the Bible) is presented here . The entire X-Files series' "mythology arc" detailing man's alien origins is expertly summarized by The Ultimate X-Files Information Complex page titled "Genesis".

Fore-warned is fore-armed ~

Yours because His,
Guy Malone