Earth: God"s Unique Habitat for Humanity, Part 1
How unique is planet Earth? Perhaps you have heard that we shouldn't believe the hype.
Earth is nothing special.
It is just an insignificant speck among billions of other insignificant specks occupying a mammoth universe that just happens to be here by chance.
Since earth is nothing special, neither are we.
We are just animals who evolved from other animals that are nothing really special either.
We happen to be the lucky ones who wound up at the top of the food chain on a planet that coincidentally supports intelligent life.
We live; we die, and the cycle continues until it all goes up in smoke.
No meaning, no purpose, nothing special.
But maybe there are a few things you haven't heard.
For one, astronomers and physicists are virtually unanimous that the universe had a beginning, just like the Bible states.
There was a time that it had been settled science that the universe was eternal and infinite.
But Einstein, Hubble, and a host of others not only postulated but empirically verified that the universe had actually exploded into existence, an event called the Big Bang.
In addition, researchers realized that the cause of this event could not have been within the universe, but had to be beyond it, that is, a transcendent causal Agent.
Furthermore, this causal Agent seems to have created with a particular vision toward an end.
Researchers have determined that the universe has been expanding since the Big Bang.
This means that the Creator has intended for his work to occur over time, time being one of the dimensions created in the beginning.
The evidence coming in from many independent lines of measurement reports, with better than one percent precision, that the universe blasted into being 13.
73 billion years ago.
So it appears that the Creator has not been in any particular hurry, and, like any artist, has been carefully crafting his masterpiece with the understanding that the formation of life-essential elements in adequate quantities takes a while.
Nonetheless, the formation of certain quantities of these elements required some very specific circumstances, circumstances that appear to have been very fine-tuned.
For example, over the first 9.
2 billion years before the formation of the earth, three specific types of supernovae (massive stellar explosions) would have had to occur at just the right distance from the dust cloud that was the beginning of our Sun.
In addition, these events would have had to occur at just the right time to spew just the right amount of heavy elements into the atmosphere for the successful formation of a planet able to sustain life.
As on astronomer Hugh Ross has put it, the odds of this happening by chance would be the same as the odds of "an explosion in a bicycle factory flinging out onto a sidewalk a block away, right in front of a cyclist, all the parts needed to assemble a new bike without doing harm or damage to the parts, the cyclist, or the sidewalk.
" Furthermore, certain radioactive elements, such as uranium-235, uranium-238, and thorium-232, are crucial to making a planet hospitable for life.
Researchers have found that the quantities of these elements reached their apex at about two-thirds the present age of the universe.
That would be 4.
57 billion years ago, which marks the earth's birthday.
In addition, human civilization has a brief survival window.
It has been estimated that the Sun can burn at its present level of stability for only another 50,000 years.
When one considers that the Creator took 13.
73 billion years to enable a particular species of life to exist for about only 100,000 years, one could reasonably argue that the Creator had a purpose and a meaning for this species, having put so much time and effort into preparing an environment for its flourishing.
Apparently, the value of humans warrants such an extravagant investment.
Finally, if there is any hype that we should not buy into uncritically, it is the claim that there are planets just like ours somewhere else in the universe.
Human civilization finds itself, not only on an imminently habitable planet, but also at a time in the planet's history that our ability to investigate the heavens is optimal.
Interestingly, the Bible argues that "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after Day, they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard" (Psalm 19:1-3).
As far as we can tell, there is no other place or no other time in the universe that enables us so clearly and accurately to hear the voice of the Creator through his creation.
Could it be that this has been his plan all along? Could it be that in his love and goodness he has painstakingly constructed the perfect environment by means of which to communicate to his very special creatures and motivate them to pursue further information about his ultimate purpose for us?
Earth is nothing special.
It is just an insignificant speck among billions of other insignificant specks occupying a mammoth universe that just happens to be here by chance.
Since earth is nothing special, neither are we.
We are just animals who evolved from other animals that are nothing really special either.
We happen to be the lucky ones who wound up at the top of the food chain on a planet that coincidentally supports intelligent life.
We live; we die, and the cycle continues until it all goes up in smoke.
No meaning, no purpose, nothing special.
But maybe there are a few things you haven't heard.
For one, astronomers and physicists are virtually unanimous that the universe had a beginning, just like the Bible states.
There was a time that it had been settled science that the universe was eternal and infinite.
But Einstein, Hubble, and a host of others not only postulated but empirically verified that the universe had actually exploded into existence, an event called the Big Bang.
In addition, researchers realized that the cause of this event could not have been within the universe, but had to be beyond it, that is, a transcendent causal Agent.
Furthermore, this causal Agent seems to have created with a particular vision toward an end.
Researchers have determined that the universe has been expanding since the Big Bang.
This means that the Creator has intended for his work to occur over time, time being one of the dimensions created in the beginning.
The evidence coming in from many independent lines of measurement reports, with better than one percent precision, that the universe blasted into being 13.
73 billion years ago.
So it appears that the Creator has not been in any particular hurry, and, like any artist, has been carefully crafting his masterpiece with the understanding that the formation of life-essential elements in adequate quantities takes a while.
Nonetheless, the formation of certain quantities of these elements required some very specific circumstances, circumstances that appear to have been very fine-tuned.
For example, over the first 9.
2 billion years before the formation of the earth, three specific types of supernovae (massive stellar explosions) would have had to occur at just the right distance from the dust cloud that was the beginning of our Sun.
In addition, these events would have had to occur at just the right time to spew just the right amount of heavy elements into the atmosphere for the successful formation of a planet able to sustain life.
As on astronomer Hugh Ross has put it, the odds of this happening by chance would be the same as the odds of "an explosion in a bicycle factory flinging out onto a sidewalk a block away, right in front of a cyclist, all the parts needed to assemble a new bike without doing harm or damage to the parts, the cyclist, or the sidewalk.
" Furthermore, certain radioactive elements, such as uranium-235, uranium-238, and thorium-232, are crucial to making a planet hospitable for life.
Researchers have found that the quantities of these elements reached their apex at about two-thirds the present age of the universe.
That would be 4.
57 billion years ago, which marks the earth's birthday.
In addition, human civilization has a brief survival window.
It has been estimated that the Sun can burn at its present level of stability for only another 50,000 years.
When one considers that the Creator took 13.
73 billion years to enable a particular species of life to exist for about only 100,000 years, one could reasonably argue that the Creator had a purpose and a meaning for this species, having put so much time and effort into preparing an environment for its flourishing.
Apparently, the value of humans warrants such an extravagant investment.
Finally, if there is any hype that we should not buy into uncritically, it is the claim that there are planets just like ours somewhere else in the universe.
Human civilization finds itself, not only on an imminently habitable planet, but also at a time in the planet's history that our ability to investigate the heavens is optimal.
Interestingly, the Bible argues that "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after Day, they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard" (Psalm 19:1-3).
As far as we can tell, there is no other place or no other time in the universe that enables us so clearly and accurately to hear the voice of the Creator through his creation.
Could it be that this has been his plan all along? Could it be that in his love and goodness he has painstakingly constructed the perfect environment by means of which to communicate to his very special creatures and motivate them to pursue further information about his ultimate purpose for us?