Wiki Answers
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Ezekiel 1:3 The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
1:4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
1:5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
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von Daniken (Chariots of the Gods) and J.F. Blumrich (The Spaceships of Ezekiel) both wrote best-selling books that plausibly explain much of the Book of Ezekiel as encounters with UFOs. However, when examined carefully, the relevant passages have better explanations that involve neither extraterrestrial aliens nor angels.
Answer: from a Christian Perspective
In answer specifically to the question, no. The reason being that much of the belief in UFO's etc has no basis in verifiable fact and specifically has links with both the theory of evolution and the occult. As a thinking person it would seem there is no necessity to come up with something which is not even implied in the Bible.
Ezekiel indicates frequently that what he saw was difficult to describe in human language, although he did what he could within the limitations of Hebrew. This is not to imply any limitation in Hebrew itself specifically, but just that some phenomena are difficult to describe in human terms. NASA astronaut Guy Gardner describes the difficulty some astronauts have of expressing what they think and see when they look back at the earth from space. Although the 'data' are here different, the idea is the same -we cannot always adequately describe something which is 'out of the ordinary.' Resorting to explanations which are untenable has no place in a Christian perspective of what the Bible is saying.
To a Christian, belief in a real spiritual world is not akin to belief in UFO's, etc since what is a reliable historical and inspired record speaks clearly of it. The other is opposed to what the Bible stands for and so it can be clearly stated that no Biblical author ever had aliens of UFO's in mind when they wrote anything in the Bible and so to see it there is imposing a presupposition that such exist onto the Bible from outside.
Another Response From a Liberal Christian Perspective:
As for the scriptures, although a spiritual history of our relationship with God throughout the ages, it is not a science book, and should not be read as such. There are texts within the scriptures that are allegorical and others that are purely symbolic, and yet others that are meant to be taken literally. However, inter-planetary science was certainly not on the minds of the various writers of the scriptures, because 'OUR' scriptures were intended to send a message to 'US' - 'HUMANITY'.
Tags: 1:3, answers, bible, ezekiel, spaceships, wiki
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