Apparitions and Aliens: Religion and UFOs

As anyone who has studied the UFO phenomenon knows, there is a definite link between UFOs and religion. Much has already been written on this, so I’m intentionally skipping some of the more well known Biblical UFO’s with the exception of several I find important for various reasons. Many writers, such as Barry Downing (The Bible & Flying Saucers) have covered the UFO encounters in the Bible. Moses on Mount Sinai and the burning bush, the pillar of cloud or fire and the parting of the Red Sea, and the ascension of Elijah in a “chariot of fire” are thought by many to be evidence of UFO encounters in the Old Testament.

UFO type phenomena has been associated with Christianity since the beginning. The Star of Bethlehem that the wise men followed to find Jesus definitely exhibited UFO properties. Matthew 2:9 states “When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was.” The “star” has been explained as a comet, a planetary conjunction, or a supernova, but was it actually an astronomical event? This “star” moved and then stopped, apparently able to mark a geographical position accurately enough for the wise men to find Jesus. This is an important point. If the “star” was an astronomical event, the only locations it could have pinpointed would be along a line to the horizon, in which case the wise men would have had to stumble across Jesus during their journey.

If we take this account literally, the possibilities are interesting. What if the star was an alien ship? Was the virgin birth the result of a Marian abduction? I think not. The most logical explanation for the virgin birth of Jesus was that this story was “borrowed” from mythology, which is loaded with virgin births, as well as the sons of gods motif. Horus, Ishtar, and Krishna are examples of virgin births before Jesus.

Paul was a major player in getting the early Christian church started, and wrote much of what became the New Testament. Paul supposedly became converted during a UFO type encounter while traveling to Damascus. This event is reported in Acts 9:1-7 and Acts 22:9, but they are somewhat contradictory accounts. The basic story is that Paul was a Jewish theologian that had been persecuting Christians. A light “brighter than the sun” hovered over Paul and his men, blinding Paul. A disembodied voice claiming to be Jesus chastised Paul for his persecution of Christians. Paul was “converted,” and many of his subsequent epistles (letters) were included in the New Testament. Paul was so influential in establishing the early church that Christianity could just as well be called “Paulianity.”