By Editor-in-Chief, Timothy Gocklin, MBA, MSF
The quest for extraterrestrial intelligence is no longer science fiction. New exoplanets are discovered by astronomers every year, some of them in the “habitable zone” where liquid water might exist. In the meantime, theologians, philosophers, and even writers like C.S. Lewis have been contemplating the religious significance of intelligent life beyond Earth for a long time. Do aliens exist? If so, how long would they live, what would they look like, and, most importantly, would they share in humanity’s Fall into sin, or would they be unfallen creations of God?
This article explores these questions both by the scientific investigation of exoplanets such as LHS 1140 b and through the theological imagination created by Scripture and writers like Lewis. The common thread: alien life, if there is any, remains God’s creation, and some never did fall like man.
One of the most promising planets for life is LHS 1140 b, a super-Earth about 49 light-years away from us in the constellation Cetus. James Webb Space Telescope studies suggest it may have a dense, nitrogen-rich atmosphere and water-dominated composition. Some call it a “snowball planet” with frozen oceans but potentially with a warm “bullseye” of liquid water in front of its star.
Why does it matter? Because such an environment might potentially sustain life. With a red dwarf star for its sun, LHS 1140 b receives dependable energy for trillions of years, longer than our solar system will last. Any civilization that develops there would have ample time to advance technologically and socially.
And what would life be like under these conditions? Greater gravity could mean shorter, more compact creatures. Red starlight that is dim could mean eyes of great size and darkness, or indeed bioluminescent structures. Aquatic forms would be probable, as much of the surface would probably be covered with oceans.
This is, admittedly, speculation, but it keeps our thought based in actual science: if there is life on other worlds, then planets like LHS 1140 b are good candidates.
One of the interesting questions is: how long would aliens live?
Scientifically: Increased gravity might reduce metabolism; static environments might increase lifespans. Some scientists hypothesize that the inhabitants of super-Earths might live hundreds and even thousands of years naturally.
Biblically: The Bible positively assigns death and decay to sin. Romans 5:12 teaches, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin.” If death is linked with sin, then an unfallen race can never know it at all.
This is where C.S. Lewis’s Perelandra comes in. On his imaginary Venus, the Green Lady is unfallen, she will not age, become weak, or die. Her immortality is subject to obedience to God. For Lewis, death is not a defect of design in creation but a result of the Fall.
Two options, then:
Fallen extraterrestrials: They can suffer aging and death, but perhaps with much longer natural lifespans than human beings.
Unfallen aliens: They might be virtually immortal, living in perfect health and without corrupting decay, unless God decided otherwise.
Why would God make creatures with free will in the first place, with the possibility that they would fall? The reason lies in God’s nature as love. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and love demands freedom. Without option, obedience is automatic; with option, creatures can respond freely to God’s love.
Lewis illustrates this in Perelandra. The Green Lady can obey or rebel. The novel’s suspense is whether she will fall, like Eve, or cling. Her ability to resist confirms that free will does not require sin, only allows it.
Applied to extraterrestrials:
If they remained loyal, they would exist unfallen, in Eden-like fellowship with God.
If they were to have rebelled, they themselves would need to be redeemed, as does humanity.
Another question of theology: was heaven created for rebellious humanity alone? Scripture suggests not.
Genesis 1:1 says God created “the heavens and the earth.” Heaven existed prior to the Fall.
Psalm 115:16: “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth he has given to the children of men.” Heaven is God’s permanent residence, not an afterlife for sinners.
Revelation 21 shows the New Jerusalem descending, uniting heaven and earth.
Thus, heaven has always been at the center of God’s plan. For man, heaven became a refuge after the Fall. For unfallen extraterrestrials, heaven will not be an escape hope but the state they already possess, instant communion with God.
If there is a heaven, and heaven is a pleasant place, why do individuals, or hypothetical extraterrestrials, fail to come back? The Bible suggests a one-way trip. “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The rich man and Lazarus allegory (Luke 16:19–31) describes a gulf that cannot be bridged between the living and the dead.
Rare exceptions, such as Moses and Elijah visiting at the Transfiguration, were divine intervention, not regular visits. God establishes this boundary in order to keep us walking in faith and to safeguard the dead.
If extraterrestrials are unfallen, their experience will be like Eden, living always in God’s presence, never having to “go” to heaven at all.
According to both science and fantasy, aliens may be very alien-like. On a super-Earth with oceans similar to LHS 1140 b:
Stocky, muscular bodies to withstand gravity.
Streamlined, hydrodynamic bodies for swimming.
Dark, large eyes adapted for dim red light.
Bioluminescence to communicate in dark water.
Scaly or armored epidermis for cold and pressure protection.
Lewis, however, envisioned Mars’s and Venus’s dwellers, hnau (intelligent creatures), as diverse but in sync with their environment. Lewis’s case was not scientific possibility but theological fact: God’s imagination is boundless, and His image could be reflected in forms quite different from our own.
Scripture promises a “new heaven and new earth” (Revelation 21:1). Our resurrection bodies will be physical yet spiritual (1 Corinthians 15). Jesus, after He rose from the dead, could eat food and also walk through closed doors. This is an indication that in the New Creation, man may have abilities far beyond our current physics.
If so, may we one day journey to unfallen worlds? Speculative as it may be, it is in harmony with the biblical expectation of a renewed universe (Colossians 1:20). Revelation 5:13 dreams of “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea” uniting in worship. Perhaps God has His children participate in that cosmic communion.
If they are extraterrestrial, then they are no accident. They would be part of God’s vast creation, formed by His love and sustained by His will. They would be possibly unfallen, remaining as a reminder of what Eden was meant to be. Others like us would have fallen and would need to be redeemed.
Either path, however, has the same problem: Christ is Lord of everything that was created. Colossians 1:16–17 says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… and in him all things hold together.”
To man, heaven is our hope after the Fall. To unfallen creatures, heaven is perhaps their reality already. And God will eventually make it all whole, heaven, earth, and perhaps other worlds, into one forgiven universe in which His love triumphs forever.
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