Brian Cox
27 Jul 2023
Earlier this week there was some discussion in the US congress about alien life being “discovered” on other planets. I read a comment by the scientist and broadcaster Brian Cox about it -
“I keep being asked what I make of the UFO thing in congress yesterday, so here it is : I watched a few clips and saw some people who seemed to believe stuff saying extraordinary things without presenting extraordinary evidence. Therefore I have nothing more to say, other than: it would be great if true - it would take a bit of the pressure off our civilisation if we weren’t the only means within there Milky Way by which the Universe understands itself. Sadly, as of today, I still feel that pressure, so we can perhaps focus on not messing our world up rather than hoping that, to paraphrase [Carl] Sagan, someone will float down to save us from ourselves.”
I found his comments both revealing and tragic.
They reveal his motive behind his fascination with the universe. It comes from a search for meaning, and a desire to find others within the universe who may be able to help give some insight into how we are to understand ourselves. He knows that by himself he doesn’t have the answers - but is on a search to find others who may help.
There is also sadness in what he writes. He’s not simply consumed by interest or fascination. He describes this search as a “pressure”. It’s a burden that he cannot get rid of. This is accompanied by an added fear. Without answers or rescue, only we as human beings have the responsibility not to mess up the world. If we fail it’s just up to us to fix our own mess.
I don’t want to criticise Brian Cox for writing this. The fact it is so honest is to his credit. I’d love to sit down with him and talk it over.
He is simply expressing what every human being feels. A desire for understanding life. However it is coupled with a dread that things aren’t as they should be. Years ago, the writer of Ecclesiastes expressed this well. What Brian Cox is experiencing is a search for the meaning of life “under the sun” (as in, within this world). However, as Solomon discovered, there are no answers to be found if we just restrict ourselves to what is here. Even education and knowledge don’t provide answers. “and I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.” Ecc 1:17.
Our meaning doesn’t come from UFO’s or other aliens. It comes from the one who has created us and our universe. The God who stands outside. He created us to know and love him. As Augustine famously said “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you”. Some of us feel that restlessness intensely. Like Brian Cox we feel it as a burden pressing down on us. More of us attempt to silence it through work, leisure, relationships or entertainment. But it is there. Again Ecclesiastes bears witness to this “He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from beginning to the end” (Ecc 3:11).
Our tragedy is that there is communication to us within our world. We are told that the answers we seek are to be found outside our world. We must look to God himself. He has revealed his glory and majesty in the beauty and wonder of creation. The stars that Brian Cox is so good at describing to his viewers puts God’s majesty on display. And yet, since the fall, we have our eyes and ears closed to what they are saying to us.
Jesus would tell us that the situation we are in is both worse and far more wonderful than Brian Cox thinks. To focus on not messing up our world is too little too late. We already have messed it up- when in Adam we rejected our creator. Our biggest danger isn’t climate change, it is the judgement of God we must all face for turning away and rebelling against the one who lovingly created and owns us. This is not a situation we can save ourselves from.
Wonderfully, that same God loves us so much that he has entered our world. It is far too dismissive to say he has “floated down”. Instead the Bible tells us he has “made himself nothing” becoming human, living the life we should have lived, dying and taking the punishment we deserve, and then being raised to new life.
Jesus Christ provides the answer Brian Cox (and, deep down, everyone) is looking for. He reveals meaning. He shows us who God is. He reveals who we are and why we exist. If we know him - and can by hearing his words and believing them - we know the Father. He removes our sinful blindness to the glory of God. He saves us from ourselves. Saving us from our sin and the wrath it brings. Saving us ultimately from the consequences it brings. Saving us from our ignorance. Saving us from the pressure to bring meaning to our lives ourselves.