I believe that a good and reasonable case can be made that our Universe and everything in it is the result of God’s creative activity; the God who we learn about in the pages of the Bible. This particular blog post does not lay out that case (If you are interested, check my archives…generally RESPONDblog seeks to do just that). This blog post seeks to reasonably apply this conclusion to a discovery that made the news recently.
God and Reason
That’s an important word to a Christian – ”REASON”.
Reason is part of mankind’s toolbox. It’s what we have been given to engage with the events, the people, and the experiences we encounter in our lives. Reason is about level headedness. Reason is used when we are proposing a case for understanding something, making discoveries, constructing theories about what happened in the past and what might happen in the future.
Contrary to what many people might believe, reason is at the very heart of everything that Christians are called to do and say.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect 1 Peter 3:15, NIV
I always aim to be reasonable when I communicate.
Reason tells me that a good Inductive Case can be made that our Universe comes from God’s creative activities. An Inductive Case is basically an inference to the best explanation. What does that mean? It means:
- we can see evidence all around us in our Universe…
- there are lots of theories about where this evidence comes from, what caused us to be here.
- the theory that best fits the evidence and holds the evidence all together – is the inference to the best explanation.
I believe that a good and reasonable case can be made that our Universe and everything in it is the result of God’s creative activity
And this doesn’t stop science. Rather – it fuels science. Why? Because it observes that our Universe is itself rational, it is understandable, it has laws that we can explore and understand (actually this is precisely one of the evidences that the inductive case for God seeks to explain). It begs to be explored. And we are passionate about exploring it. God created man to do science. We’re built for it. That’s why the science-y ones among us love it so much.
Martian Water and ET
NASA announced recently that they have gathered the evidence and built a good and solid case proposing that water exists on Mars. This is a triumph of reason! Actually…getting the space craft and the rovers onto the surface of the planet itself in the first place…is a wonderful result of human reason too. It’s inspiring.
NASA has only observed evidence of salty water on Mars. Nothing more. Yet human imagination and creativity has burst into overdrive. This discovery has fueled speculation in two different directions.
FIRST – that there might be life on Mars right now. There’s life on Earth…why not on Mars?
SECOND – that in the future, mankind might be able to build a sustainable habitat on Mars for people to live and work and play there.
The Second speculation is exciting…and Ridley Scott’s new movie “The Martian” explores how dangerous yet exhilarating such an enterprise might turn out to be! I hope I’m still alive to see such an achievement come about.
Turning to the First speculation…this one has proved contentious for some people in the Christian community. There are those Christians who don’t have a problem with life existing on other planets. Christian Philosopher William Lane Craig has responded,
“I’m puzzled by folks who seem to think, that if life, intelligent life, were discovered somewhere else or that if it were to come here that somehow this would be a disproof of Christianity… that seems to me to be a complete non-sequitur. It doesn’t follow, because Christianity simply doesn’t speak to the question of whether or not God has created life elsewhere in the universe….the scripture is addressed just to life on earth and so it wouldn’t speak of whether or not there’s extra-terrestrial life at all. So I would say that theologically it’s just an open question.”[1]
Craig makes an interesting observation there! Yet what is fascinating about the Bible is that, even though it is focussed on the life on Planet Earth, it has a much wider perspective when it comes to discussing the Universe that God created. Look at Hebrews chapter 1, for example, which talks about the other-ness of God in comparison to the Universe he has made.
“In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands. They will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing. You will fold them up like a cloak and discard them like old clothing. But you are always the same; you will life forever.” Hebrews 1:10-12, NLT
The Bible is unique in that it contains truth that will bring hope into our lives that will resonate in our lives forever. It connects us to the God who loves us. Only the Bible does that. But the Bible does not contain all the truth that is to be known in the Universe. What do I mean? Reason tells me that there are some important things that the Bible lets us in on…but there are many things it does not talk about. For example, as John Lennox is fond of saying with a twinkle in his eye, “I do not teach algebra from Leviticus.”[2] The Bible is not a textbook on Mathematics. To learn these principles we must look elsewhere. The Bible is also not a textbook on life beyond the confines of this Planet. But notice this. Everything that it teaches…it does so with an eye to the majesty and the splendour of our wider Universe and the God who created it.
By the way – if you know me, you’ll know I love space stories best of all. If there are spaceships – I’m there. You’ve got me. But coming down to earth, the head of SETI (the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence) Paul Davies is brutally frank when he talks about alien life. John Lennox sums up his position, “As a human being I like to feel we’re not alone, but as a scientist I have to be honest and I think the science goes to show that we are essentially alone.”[3]
So where does this bring me? Well – this is just my opinion – I am open to having the discussion. But it seems reasonable to me to choose not to get stressed out and emotional about the ET issue! Why don’t we just leave the question of “life on other planets” in God’s capable hands, while focussing on our task at hand whether it’s doing science on this planet or exploring another one? Our Universe is a staggeringly complex place. We can see that in the quantum realm, in the study of biology and human consciousness. We sense it in the speculations around dark matter and the discovery of Exoplanets. YET – given all of that – God wants to engage with us in our lives as we do the exploration of our Universe. And surely this is the more amazing thing?
You sometimes hear people claim that meeting ET really would transform everything. Well – I’m not so sure. Who knows how disappointing, or threatening ET might turn out to be if we ever came face to face? (I still cry when I watch the movie tho) Surely the bigger issue is this:
That the God who created this whole glorious complex and beautiful show…our Universe…and who will one day bring the show to a close…wants to know little old us as we live our lives today?
[1] William Lane Craig on Romans 8, Ezekiel 1, extra-terrestrial intelligence, and UFO, https://kitesintheempyrean.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/william-lane-craig-on-romans-8-and-ezekiel-1/
[2] John Lennox: the Discovery of Water on Mars, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IloVR-zgDNk&list=TLR2X-u73_mtIxMjEwMjAxNQ
[3] Ibid.
