Would meeting life on other planets be good for humanity?

Yes. Life on other planets would show that life is not a chance accident but the plan of a Creator. Contact with such life could strengthen faith and also benefit human knowledge.

Such an encounter would be a gain. The most important reason concerns an old question that scientists and philosophers have pondered for a long time. Did life arise by chance out of nothing, or did someone plan it?

If life existed only on earth, it would be easier to regard it as a one-off accident. But if life is found on other planets too, the other view gains weight. The same signature of a single Creator would then appear in many places. Belief in God would not grow weaker through this, but more certain.

But how could a meeting take place? The distances in space are immense. Even light from other stars takes many years to reach us. A journey across such distances, carrying everything needed for life, is hardly conceivable. The bringing together that the verse above speaks of may therefore also mean contact through messages and signals. It is no accident that researchers have been listening to space for years in case signals arrive from there.

Such contact would also bring practical benefit. Human beings could learn from the knowledge of others, and the other way round. An exchange about science and progress could be very fruitful for both sides.

And religion? It would have nothing to fear. Whoever believes that God is the Creator of all life sees every new discovery as another sign of His power. That is why such an encounter would be no cause for worry, but a good day for humanity.