Could Jesus Have Been An Alien?

In January 2015 NASA discovered Kepler 438b, a planet 475 light years away and a similar size to Earth, orbiting a star similar to our sun, in the hypothetical ‘Goldilocks Zone’, the proposed optimal distance a planet needs to be from its star in order to harbour intelligent life. With NASA’s understanding that our galaxy likely contains billions of planets, the possibility of whether aliens exist seems increasingly likely.

With this in mind, since the 1960s there has been an attempt by some pseudo-scientists to reconcile traditional religious teachings with our increasing understanding of the universe we live in, and questioning the implications for the history of the human race, if we are not alone. UFOlogist Dr Barry Downing is one of many people who believe that aliens have visited Earth and influenced our history and religions for millennia. Browning is also a Presbyterian Minister, and he argues that the divine events depicted in the Bible are in fact evidence of extraterrestrial technologies that were misinterpreted by early humans. Browning says Jesus Christ was actually an alien. Downing identifies episodes in the Bible that are similar to modern UFO and alien encounters, like the world’s purportedly oldest UFO sighting in the Book of Ezekial. Downing further highlights evidence of extraterrestrial activity in the gospel of St Matthew in the New Testament, which reports a skyborne being descending from the sky to tell the wise men about the coming birth of Jesus and suggests that the star that leads the wise men to the stables where Jesus is born, is in fact a UFO, that telepathically guided the wise men to Bethlehem.

Downing also draws evidence from the Biblical depiction of Mary’s immaculate conception and the virgin birth of her son Jesus. Downing suggests that Jesus’ embryo was implanted into Mary by aliens, whilst other theories suggest that she was inseminated with alien sperm and Jesus was an alien, human hybrid. Visited by the angel Gabriel, Mary is told that she will have an important son. Downing suggests that this exchange Mary has with Gabriel was in fact an alien encounter. Other UFOlogists draw comparisons with Mary’s virgin birth and modern, alien abduction reports, where women recall becoming spontaneously pregnant after an alien encounter. However this phenomenon has not been proven by modern science.

The most compelling evidence for the Jesus Alien theory is the biblical reports of Jesus’ miracles. Aged 30, the Bible says that Jesus left his work as a carpenter to embark on a three-year mission to preach his wisdom to humanity and advocate social change. During this mission Jesus performs a series of miracles, which Christian Churches consider proof that Jesus was a divine messiah and the son of God. It is documented in the bible that Jesus had the power to control nature, walk on water and even raise the dead. Biblical UFOlogists believe that it is more logical to attribute these miracles to supernatural alien powers, rather than a divine power. This alien power, Downing argues, is also what allowed Jesus to resurrect himself, after being crucified on the cross. When Jesus reveals himself to his followers, he is not immediately recognisable to them, suggesting he underwent a physical transformation. The Bible depicts that despite being a physical man, Jesus could also walk through solid walls.

Furthermore Jesus’ accession from the Earth is argued to be a depiction of a return to his home planet. Most intriguingly, Downing also stresses the importance of Jesus’ own Biblical admission, that he is ‘not of this world’ as proof that the divine is in fact extraterrestrial. Unfortunately for Barry Downing and his followers, there is no proof to verify any of his claims about Jesus being an alien. But whilst debates around Jesus usually centre around whether Biblical accounts should be taken as literal fact or metaphorical truth, Mark Bennett, a member of the Aetherius Society, argues, that it makes much more sense [to many people] to say that Jesus was an interplanetary being who came to Earth to help mankind, than to say that God created a one and only son, who was also himself at a random point in history, who came to come to earth and forgive people their sins for some reason we don’t really know.

Debates over the existence and identity of Jesus have raged for more than 2,000 years, and as our scientific knowledge continues to expand our understanding of humanity and the universe at large, our questions concerning the figurehead of the world’s largest religion can be expected to grow too.