I'd like to hear opinions on this.
Thanks for the feedback.

No I don't believe it is a sin at all.
Id say its very interesting actually.

I believe some people would consider it a sin is cause they may be scared they would find out the truth. The truth about the world and life!

Definitely not. I've never heard of anyone, even extremists, claiming it is. Have you?

Stephen Hawking just went on record as saying the only hope of the survival of the human race is to colonize space.

I ain't going to disagree with a man of his intellect.

Rick has piquéd my interest - are there people on this planet that actually consider space exploration to be a sin?

Are sins not pretty well laid out in the Bible? I don't think there is any mention of space exploration in that book.

I cannot see how it is a sin unless its prosecution severely disadvantages others. For example, it mote be that a nation that carries out expensive space exploration on th eone hand while its citizens, on the other hand, are starving, ill-housed, or unable to obtain necessary medications could be considered sinful.

However, it would not be the exploration per se that was sinful, but the expenditure on the exploration that would alleviate the dufferings of its people.

M:)RGANITE

Hawkins can be controversial. For instance:

We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
]
Stephen Hawking, Der Spiegel, 1989

M:RGANITE

I believe Hawkins is a closet Theist... or at least Deist.

There are some who feel that the tower of Babel caused God to become angry because the tower was getting too high. So they extrapolated from this belief to man reaching for the stars.


Others pointed out that God gave man the earth as his domain and sole responsibility and made him a caretaker of it and that nothing was said about the material heavens They also cited a scripture that states that to God belong the heavens.

Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. KJV

In fact, away back in the sixties when the manned moon exploration had started many thought that God would intervene because man was going where he had no right to be going.

Anyone of Hawking's intellect is going to be controversial at times. I see absolutely nothing wrong with M:RGANITE's quote. I agree with what Hawking said there.

I would think that Hawking would be a Deist. But since I share that belief, just more reason for me not to contradict him.

That's the problem with parables, they can be perceived to say many various things some of which may be totally beyond the original intention.

The Bible doesn't mention destroying the ozone layer either yet it does speak about those who who ruin the earth.


"....bring to ruin those ruining the earth." ( Revelation 11:17 )

As society changed technology created conditions which were not specifically described in the Bible because they would have been incomprehensible to the people living during the major part of human history.
For example, there are moral issues today about cloning--does the Bible mention cloning?

Today there are emerging major moral issues about artificial intelligence-does the Bible mention artificial intelligence? How about genetic engineering? Is man sinning if he mangles the image of God or man's image by trying to create man's equivalent in machine form? How about transference of consciousness into a machine in order to escape death. Didn't God say death is a punishment for sin? The list is a long one actually, surrogate motherhood, terra-forming and colonization of Mars etcetera.



But all this doesn't make the Bible outdated since it provides guidance via principles which applicable to situations which were not possible during most of human history.

BTW

You fail to provide an opinion.

Sorry, I don't guess I have one since sin is not a part of my religion.

I personally don't see how space exploration can damage a person's faith.
Any life found on other planets can be considered a creation by the same God who created the earth. I think that anything found in outer space would only reinforce godlessness in a person who already believes believes in Godless evolution and sees all that is found in outer space as irrefutable evidence of it.

Certainly and they will quote two scriptures, one about God's mandate to Adam in Eden to care for the earth and all life upon it, and the other to a statement that the heavens belong to God but the earth was given to mankind.

BTW
There are also numerous scriptures which describe the earth being transformed into a paradise home for man and mankind as living forever upon it which are used to butress this conclusion.

It could be considered by then again its not a fact.

Do u believe in Adam and Eve?

In short, you are at the religion forum only to say you disagree.
Since this is a question answering forum all this does is clutter.
Of course cluttering does appeal to those who like to clutter.
Nevertheless, cluttering with "I don't have an opinion!" Is against the forum rules. I have learned by experience that it's advisable to read forum rules in order to avoid unpleasant jack-in-the-box surprises.

Nothing there that says space exploration is a sin and no one else in this has offered up any other arguments that say it's a sin so I guess it's case closed.

I do but that doesn't mean that you have to. I provided the biblical view in order to answer a direct question. Please keep in mind that I am well aware that there are atheists, agnostics, deists, and others here who don't believe in God or who don't believe in the Bible as anything special. There are also who hold other books beside the Bible as holy. Rest assured that I am not trying to convert you. I am only seeking to discuss this from a religious angle. Nothing more.

BTW
I could have used the word "wrong" instead of "sin" but this is the religion forum and it fits in better with the forum's general purpose which is to discuss religion.

Don't worry you won't convert me into anything.
Im a catholic already! But I'm not religious.
I like to look at life and religion from a different prospective.

What you wrote makes sense, yes, but you didn't answer that question!

Right. It's either case closed - or about to head off on a tangent :o

Yep, I'm psychic! :D