Whenever people talk about life on other planets, they almost always assume that whoever (or whatever) lives there must be smarter than us. Why? I mean, really. Who says that just because they’re not from Earth, they’re automatically of a higher intelligence? Maybe they’re like that John Belushi character from Animal House and are just out crusing for the next big intergalatic kegger? Maybe they have a 0.0 GPA. Ever thought of that?

And this idea that life got started by seeds from aliens. Where did that come from? Did some really bored aliens start looking for a planet to impregnate? Did they have to pull out the ol’ GPS to find us (’cause with their hyper-intelligence, they would have invented it long before we thought of it)? I can imagine them looking at some giant map and saying, “Hey, look at that little blue-green planet. No, not Mars, the blue one. Down there. Yeah, that one. Whaddya say we go down there and start a new species?”

I don’t know. Probably not. It just seems that if there really is life on other planets, maybe they’ve screwed up just as bad as we did. Maybe instead of a snake tempting Eve with forbidden fruit, it was a spider tempting someone with pasta primavera. ‘Cause I’d be much more tempted by that personally. Or some planet where chocolate was the cause of original sin.

Is there a point to this? No. I’m just thinking weird thoughts. Like maybe what we need more of is not more rules or a different President or a better ethical and moral code. Maybe what we need is more grace, mercy, and love.  To love each other, whether we are white, black. . . . or green. Love covers over a multitude of sins and love is the force more powerful than any weapon or group or ideology.

So until someone produces a hi-def photo of a UFO and not some blurry image taken in the 50’s, I will remain a skeptic when it comes to life on other planets. But never about God or about love. I know both of those are real because I see the proof in my life every day.

Amen and amen.