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basically, the ancient astronaut theory holds that all supernatural events depicted throughout the past, were actually extraterrestrial in nature, rather than divine. obviously this leans toward the idea that we were either created by advanced extraterrestrials (or hybridized in some cases), or simply guided by ancient aliens, toward enlightenment. the idea is that the same ufos that are reported now, are the same sky vessels and beings described by the ancients, but that they now no longer feel the need to interact with us in the same they once did.  

thoughts?

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I've been watching some of the Ancient Aliens episodes on the History Channel.  I find it interesting that we think that such visionaries as Leonardo DaVinci were influenced by them.  I'm not disagreeing, but now that we understand that we can fly in "the sky" (outer space) and we talk about space travel that looking back some of their stories could be related to our vision of "little green men" but as their "large white haired gods".

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Stupid, we actually talked about this in my Sunday school class when someone with this theory applied it to Ezekiel  chapter 1. This theory assumes there is no God, thus no ethics and morals; but then it assumes benevolent aliens. There cannot be benevolence in a universe devoid of morals. Second, in the case of Leonardo DaVinci, it assumes the person making this ancient alien visitation theory is smarter than Leonardo himself, because Leonardo clearly stated his bases was the Christian God, not an alien. The theory also completely fails when one asks "where did the aliens come from?"

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Originally Posted by Argan Johnson:
Stupid, we actually talked about this in my Sunday school class when someone with this theory applied it to Ezekiel  chapter 1. This theory assumes there is no God, thus no ethics and morals; but then it assumes benevolent aliens. There cannot be benevolence in a universe devoid of morals. Second, in the case of Leonardo DaVinci, it assumes the person making this ancient alien visitation theory is smarter than Leonardo himself, because Leonardo clearly stated his bases was the Christian God, not an alien. The theory also completely fails when one asks "where did the aliens come from?"

So what was stupid about it? Talking about it in Sunday School or just talking about it in general? Why do you think that if there is aliens that they do not believe in a god or we will believe that there is no need for god anymore in the equation? And, where does it say that Leonardo stated his bases was the Christian God, not an alien? What theory fails when asked "where did the aliens come from?"

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Another thought - if they didn't know that these were "aliens" (since that is obviously how we label them today) and from what I gather in reading and watching that they viewed them as gods (or as saints, other heavenly beings) then they wouldn't think it was weird.

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Originally Posted by Laura Vondenhuevel:
Another thought - if they didn't know that these were "aliens" (since that is obviously how we label them today) and from what I gather in reading and watching that they viewed them as gods (or as saints, other heavenly beings) then they wouldn't think it was weird.

Of course not Laura at least in ancient times man walked with god/aliens knew them intimately and I believe they are still here watching and waiting for us to grow up.

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but could it also be said that ufos today, fill the same psychological void that the gods of old did? to make us feel like a part of something greater? to help us cope with the realization of our own impending deaths?

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:
basically, the ancient astronaut theory holds that all supernatural events depicted throughout the past, were actually extraterrestrial in nature, rather than divine. obviously this leans toward the idea that we were either created by advanced extraterrestrials (or hybridized in some cases), or simply guided by ancient aliens, toward enlightenment. the idea is that the same ufos that are reported now, are the same sky vessels and beings described by the ancients, but that they now no longer feel the need to interact with us in the same they once did.  

thoughts?

Some may remember me theorizing in the past about this.  Lets play what if for a moment.  And lets say that what we were told in the bible about Lucifer and the fallen angels was...in fact...true.  Not saying it is....just playing what if.

So in that story, Lucifer and a buncha other rebellious angels got booted out of Heaven by God, Michael and a host of loyal angels.

So they come down to earth.  Probably before or near the dawn of ancient mankind.  (Guessing here).

Now it seems fairly clear to me that the dark angels would be far more powerful than ancient humans.  Also, if we believe the bible to be true, these dark angels are probably wicked.  So they are wicked and far more powerful than us.  AND...they are mad at God.

What if they began to interact with mankind?  What might they look like?  What wonders might they be able to do?  Taking an example from the tv series Stargate (lol!), what if these (aliens) ended up being the inspiration for the gods and deities of ancient mythology?

Taking this example a bit further...since these beings fallen angels now had power and dominion over the earth way back then...perhaps they divided the earth up among themselves.  And so now you wind up with Egyptian deities and greek deities and Aztec ones and Chinese ones and Sumerian ones and Babylonian ones...etc.

Not saying this happened.  But imo, it is no more far fetched than little green men.

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so the fallen angels would be the same as aliens, and interacting with them could have the same effect as in genesis, when the angels came down to earth and mated with human females, thus creating the giants of genesis?

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Regardless.  There is no documented physical evidence.  All of the abovne can be relegated to myth and fairy tale and how th3e ancients tried to reconcile phenomena they didn't understand into their limited world view.

All the physical data suggests that all life on Earth originated on Earth (and yes, with some source inputs of pre-biotic materials in meteors and comets - which we are getting as we speak, anyway).  

And of all the ancient wonders of the world that "couldn't possibly" be accomplished by ancient humans?  I say why not.  Why couldn't WE have the ingenuity to accomplishe these things?

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Originally Posted by Glenn L Hackney Jr:

Originally Posted by Laura Vondenhuevel:
Another thought - if they didn't know that these were "aliens" (since that is obviously how we label them today) and from what I gather in reading and watching that they viewed them as gods (or as saints, other heavenly beings) then they wouldn't think it was weird.

Of course not Laura at least in ancient times man walked with god/aliens knew them intimately and I believe they are still here watching and waiting for us to grow up.

DAMN you mean I have to grow up??  

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Originally Posted by Glenn L Hackney Jr:

(1)So what was stupid about it? Talking about it in Sunday School or just talking about it in general?  (2)Why do you think that if there is aliens that they do not believe in a god or we will believe that there is no need for god anymore in the equation?  (3)And, where does it say that Leonardo stated his bases was the Christian God, not an alien?  (4)What theory fails when asked "where did the aliens come from?"

1. It is stupid because it does not look at all of the evidence and the original source. E.g. in Ezekiel 1 Ezekiel says he had a vision (i.e. it was not physically real) and almost everything is prefaced with "it looked like" or "similar to". John in Revelation is similar. Both were seeing things they could not really describe and they were putting them in terms closest to what they knew. The ancient alien astronaut proponent is being selective in what he is taking out of Ezekiel.

2. I think that people are instinctively running away from God, and that they cannot live without hope. So they create a hope that a non-God character(s)--in this case aliens--will save them. Just to prove this famous scientist Carl Sagan, who created the science TV show, firmly believed that humanity was heading towards an eco-apocalypse and that we needed salvation from aliens. Thus he was a big proponent of he SETI program. He felt it was humanity's only hope.

3.  http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1697/was-leonardo-da-vinci-religious Here is a link that does not claim that Leonardo was a dyed in the wool Christian of his era (i.e. pre counter reformation catholic) but was still a Christian of some sense. Leonardo did not claim extraterrestrial intervention, it was not a part of his worldview; so to force this alien narrative on Leonardo's inspiration is to invent it whole cloth.

4. Because where did aliens come from? Were they created in a totally evolutionary Darwinist universe? And what inspired the aliens. I am basically asking the "who created God" question. That is why this ancient alien astronaut question fails, all it does is push back the big questions, it does not answer any of the big questions.

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i think in many ways, it's easier for modern people to accept the existence of alien creators, rather than a divine creator. why? one, we are a space-faring society (kind of), so it seems to make sense, and two, it's our culture. the notion that there is no god, leaves a void. a void to be filled by our modern mythology of science-fiction. i don't mind contemplating the idea of an alien race helping to shape our history, but really, to believe such takes no less faith for me, than to believe in a divine force beyond our mortal comprehension.

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What fascinates me most about all this stuff is the possible evidence. I'm not talking about lights in the sky you see on these UFO tv shows (which can easily be made a lot of the time with laser penlights on a plate glass window btw).

No, what fascinates me are things like the ancient Nazca lines.  OR the petroglyphs around europe and other parts of the world.  Things that appear to be merely lines on the ground but when viewed from the air, they are clearly images of animals or other things.  Things that can only be viewed from the air!  

Now some have postulated (is that a word?) the theory that the lines were merely lines that led to waterways. But if so, why does it resemble a huge hummingbird?  OR some other creature?

No, its pretty clear to me that the lines were meant to be viewed from the sky.  But if ancient man couldnt fly....who was meant to see these images?  The gods?  Or someone else who could fly?

(And btw...I'm not a crop circle guy).

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:
so the fallen angels would be the same as aliens, and interacting with them could have the same effect as in genesis, when the angels came down to earth and mated with human females, thus creating the giants of genesis?

Yep.  Possibly.     The Anakites (Josh. 11:21; 21:11) were a tribal group from Hebron feared for their unusual size and strength (Deut. 9:2).  

There is also a theory I've seen on tv whereby some have felt that the ancient Neanderthal might have been what they were talking about.  It seems there is evidence to suggest the Neanderthal were present in at the same time that humans were there.  And the theory is that there may have been some interbreeding between the two.

NY Times Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/science/07neanderthal.html

The fascinating thing about this report is that if this did happen (and there is DNA evidence to suggest it did), then it would imply that humans may have interbred with Neanderthal.  If this is so, then it suggests that humans were a separate group from Neanderthal and not direct descendants!  (Which is what I have believed all along).

To me, it would be like a horse and a donkey breeding and creating a mule...not another horse or donkey.  Kinda sick if ya ask me.  Lol!