1. The point is what is OK for animals (like keeping them as pets) is not the same for sentient creatures
Sapient aliens are not men and thus are animals.
2. God says so is not an argument. Because...
A) It can be literally made for anything.
B) Which God? I mean even with Christianity, there's hundreds of different sects that interpret a single book differently. I mean, why should I believe a random guy on a video game forum has it right of the thousands of different beliefs in God in this world?
Name one major religion that doesn't consider man to be the master of Creation.
C) And seriously, if I said God wants us to love everyone and that's why I'm right, would you consider that? Nah. You'd say that I'm for X reason and it would become a theological debate. Like me, you certainly have no reason to believe a random guy on a video game forum knows more than you about what God actually wants.
We are called to love our fellow man, show mercy, love, and so on, etc .etc., without tolerating sin. We are called to forgive those who didn't deserve it and pray for our enemies.
What do all of those things have in common? "Our neighbor" is
human. Forgiveness is
human. Mercy to
humans. Jesus outlined how we treat
our fellow man. Aliens are
not human. They are animals, and we are not required to treat animals the same way we treat men. We are, in fact, called to exercise our sovereignty
over animals and become good stewards of the animals we control.
3. So, aliens don't have souls? Why not?
Souls were given to men. The Bible says that no other creature on the earth has a soul, because conciousness was breathed ("implanted") into man by God Himself.
Life from other planets really isn't addressed in the Bible considering people still thought the Earth was flat.
The first person to discover the earth was round and provide evidence for it lived around 2000 BC, and figured it out based on shadows and the fact that obelisks on the horizon of the same size as local obelisks looked smaller. The enslaved Jews, who wrote the Old Testament at God's Hand, would have been exposed to Egyptian science enough to know the earth is round. The Prophet Isaiah explicitly described the earth as a "circle" or "sphere". Around the time of Christ's birth, a Greek philosopher proved it and, IIRC, even made an educated guess on the earth's size. He was off by several thousand miles, if my memory serves me right.
So, there's no real guidance on alien lifeforms.
Fair enough.
Sure if you define a soul as something given by God, then sure, only humans have it. Of course, what is a soul? I mean give me a solid clear answer to the question philosophers and theologians have been trying to figure out for millenia. What is a soul? Without that answer, we can't measure whether they have souls or not.
The existence of the immortal soul can never be proven, so this is only my opinion.
An immortal soul is given by God, yes. -but based on what we currently know about sapient life, and the absence of aliens, we can easily say that the immortal soul is
sapience itself. Obviously, if we encounter aliens, this would have to be revised or addressed, but as long as no intelligent life is discovered outside of this world, we can say that sapience is the key to a soul unless we're proven wrong..
It goes back to the "God said so" problem. Anyone can say it. But we have no measurable way to determine who is right. And something God only gave us isn't an answer. That's just saying who has it. Not what it is. And again, if we can't measure it, how can we say it something only possessed by us?
Humanity is the ordained master of the universe; one way we can prove that we are the superior lifeform is to subjugate and exploit life on other planets in a sustainable and responsible way. It is our destiny, after all.
4. War gives the right to plunder and subjugate others? So, that is horrific. That line of thinking justifies all war crimes. I thought you believed in treating actual people good. Theoretical human supremacy over aliens is one thing.
Subjugation, as in annexation or making puppet states, etc. etc., not sex crimes on the battlefield or genocide. Plunder, as in taking a nation's wealth and resources.
But I have a hard time believing that you only believe in the right of conquest of aliens. You state flat out that it is your belief. And the only wars we're having is between people. I mean, just........ That is messed up.
I do believe in the right of
conquest. That doesn't mean I support genocide or the horrors of war, nor does it mean I want to go to war. War is heck and is not something that should be done lightly, nor should it be done without reason.
5. OK. Lemme get this straight. You assume that aliens won't have a peaceful nature, but at the same time you believe that winners in a war have the right plunder and subjugate their victims. I don't think you have that nature. Right of conquest is a barbaric and savage view. You can't claim to be about mercy and forgiveness and claim the right of conquest is a legit thing.
Every country on the earth has, and will, conquer other country's land. Conquest is a natural evolution of nation-states equal in importance to the Westphalian theory of national sovereignty.
Ironically, it is also the guarantor of peace. Someone builds a massive army, and then other nations in the area build their own. No one will attack a nation with a good standing army or nuclear weapons, and likewise, the "if they destroy us we destroy them" philosophy of Mutually-Assured Destruction is what prevents WWIII.
Do not misunderstand my belief in the right of conquest with an enthusiasm to wage war on everything. I'm not a neo-conservative and I do not belief in war for the fun of it, nor do I believe that war is fun. War is heck and it is atrocious, simultaneously bringing out the best and worst of humanity.
It is not something desirable.
6. There's no "well, they're probably jerks, so we should be jerks." It's treat others how you want to be treated. You're literally arguing against the concept of what the Golden Rule is. But hey, what would that Jesus guy know about morality?
The Golden Rule applies to
men, not mere animals, and
certainly not aliens. We are called to a different code when treating animals: dignity in containment, painless slaughter for consumption, the prohibition on wasting animal meat and, of course, freedom from torture and starvation, etc. etc. etc., which would naturally be extended to aliens.
Just did that with my ME game.
