Dear Lighthouse,
I don’t know about you but, as you might
have guessed, I’ve been watching the Mars rover missions rather closely these days.
Two of our far-flung spacecrafts - Spirit and Opportunity - have landed on the alien world and sent back
some amazing pictures (of rocks, wow!...I know many snear) of the Martian landscape.
It is really neat seeing these images for the first time. To be a part
of this exploration and discovery on a brand new frontier is exciting even though most of the images are rather bleak.
However, I’ve developed a new pet-peeve
recently that I have to get off my chest. Inevitably during the coverage of the
Mars exploration the popular media will say something like this: “NASA
scientists are interested in using the rovers to sample the Martian soil and look for evidence of water on the planet. The presence of water would be a strong indicator that life may have once existed
on Mars.” Sounds innocuous enough, but I’m annoyed at the leap they
are making - ‘where there is water, there is life’. This idea is
very often the subtle message delivered in the media. The problem is that is
circumvents the activity of God.
Don’t get me wrong, from a biological standpoint
water is incredibly significant for life. Even the Bible hints as to its importance
in verses like Gen. 1:2 & 6 where we read about God hovering over the deep and separating the waters during creation. But just because you find water on a planet or moon does not mean there is or was
life.
Maybe I’m too annoyed by this, but the
subtle message is very suggestive of evolution - or rather the spontaneous generation of life without the activity or creative
work of God. Let me pull out a few key Scriptures about God’s creative
work:
“The God who made
the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands...He Himself gives
all men life and breath...’For in Him we live and move and have our being.’..” -Acts 17:24-28 (selections)
“For by Him all
things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...He is before all things, and in Him all things
hold together.” -Colossians 1:16-17 (selections)
Scripture is very clear that God is the origin
of all creation. He created all of it.
He created us. And if life exists elsewhere in this universe (no matter
what level of complexity) God created it. This is not the message that many evolutionary
scientists would have you hear or believe. Rather, they argue that if they can
find life on another planet then this would prove evolution to be true. Their
reasoning is faulty though. God remains the sole creative force in the universe.
(Personally,
I don’t think we will ever find life elsewhere. I don’t think it
impossible, but highly unlikely. And I think it drastically less possible to
find intelligent life on other worlds for the single reason of their need for a Savior.
If all created things have free will then it is most probable they have all sinned.
If find it hard to believe that the Christ would have relived His crucifixion on an infinite number of worlds throughout
time to satisfy redemption. But, that’s my personal opinion. Back to Scripture.)
So, why did
God create all this? Ephesians 3:10-12 gives us a glimpse:
His intent was that now,
through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In
Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
Did you catch that? God created all this so that He - by a slow, patient revelation of Himself throughout time - would be made
known to us. And once He is revealed then His hope is that we will reach out
for Him and be reunited with our Creator. Look at Acts 17:27 again, “God
did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
All this
is made possible in Jesus. He is the end-all, be-all reason for creation, I am
convinced. Therefore the 24 elders that worship around the throne are proved
right when they declare in Rev. 4:11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for
you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
As you know I love astronomy. I love space exploration and I hope it continues with missions like those on Mars today. But I caution us to remember who made the worlds we are now capable of reaching with our frail crafts. Don’t let modern versions of a God-less creation steal the awe and wonder of
our God’s creative acts. Because if we do, we may lose sight as to why
we were created in the first place.
Honor God.
Serving Him with you,
Evan
