Ufology, the Bible, and Reason

I was listening to the radio program Coast to Coast the other night. The host was talking with Dr. Jacques Vallee about UFO’s, specifically about ancient UFO’s, such as those recorded in ancient documents found in Egypt, Rome, China, and in the Bible. That’s right, the Bible. The fact that ufologists seek to find UFO’s in the Bible was not a surprise to me, I knew they did that all the time. One of the passages in the Bible usually cited as a record of a UFO sighting is Ezekiel 1, which is the passage that describes Ezekiel’s vision of the four living creatures and the four wheels full of eyes. This “interpretation” of Ezekiel is fairly common, even appearing in popular media, such as the movie Knowing. Not only is Ezekiel 1 directly referenced in this movie, when the “alien craft” is finally seen, it resembles a wheel within a wheel, much like the description of the wheels full of eyes in Ezekiel.

Anyway, Dr. Vallee considers many records of UFO sightings to be authentic. His reason is, the recorded events must have made such an impression on people that they took the time to write a record of the event in stone, in some cases (isn’t mythology also recorded in stone?). What struck me is, wouldn’t an event such as a man dying, being buried for three days, and rising from the dead also make a huge impression on the people who witnessed it? Yet, Dr. Vallee does not take he Bible seriously, for he misinterprets Ezekiel 1 to be a record of an abduction (no exaggeration, he used the word “abduction” to describe Ezekiel 1). He even had the gall to say that Ezekiel was based on tradition handed down and written several years after Ezekiel’s death, therefore it was a less reliable record than UFO sightings recorded in ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Chinese documents. He discounted the Bible, not only the Word of God but also the most historically verified book in the world, as less reliable than poems written in ancient China (one specific example of a UFO record Dr. Vallee mentioned was just that: an ancient Chinese poem).

But probably the most outrageous thing Dr. Vallee said was when he disparaged religious explanations for UFO’s. That’s right: after misinterpreting Ezekiel 1 (a passage from the Bible, a religious book), Dr. Vallee considers a religious explanation of such an event as ridiculous. But more than that, Dr. Vallee deliberately steered clear of theorizing what the UFO’s actually are. So… he’ll leave what UFO’s are open to interpretation, but explaining them using religion is ridiculous? That’s not very open-minded.

That is why I occasionally listen to Coast to Coast: to remind myself that fringe ideas are poorly thought out and glaringly inconsistent (well, that and sometimes I am up late at night).

Lastly, do I think UFO’s are real? Some of them, yes. But I’ll take the religious explanation on this one. Most likely, they are demons or demonic activity designed to deceive people and create a hope and trust in UFOs and extraterrestrials as a substitute for a trust in God.