Paradox of the Virtuous Extraterrestrial

Paradox of the Virtuous Extraterrestrial

Note this link:

http://www.salon.com/2014/07/21/ken_ham_wants_to_end_the_u_s_space_program_because_aliens_can%E2%80%99t_have_salvation/

It’s a three-way puzzle. Either ETs never sinned, or they have their own saviours, or they are damned unjustly. If the first, then sin is avoidable; if the second, then Jesus is local; and if the third, then God is not God. One can charge Ham with option 3; worshipping a God too cruel and stupid to really be divine.

This is another version of the Christian dilemma of the Virtuous Pagan. Surely a just god would not condemn virtuous pagans simply because they lived before hearing the Word. Nor should a virtuous extraterrestrial be damned simply for living outside the Crucifixion’s light-cone.

You can derive a voter’s paradox from this. Let Moe say ETs are damned unjustly; and Larry says that ETs have their own saviors; and Curly says that ETs never sinned; and each denies the other two propositions. Therefore each of the following propositions pass by 2/3 majorities:

* ET sinned;

* ET has no local savior;

* ET is not damned.

Yet none believe all three!