The Other Planets of Our Solar System
Mars, said scientists, was by far the most likely prospect for life in some form in our own solar system. The next most likely was Venus, almost the same size as Earth but 26 million miles closer to the sun. United States Mariner probes have revealed the surface temperatures on Venus are an unbearable 800 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The surface pressure on Venus, because of its dense and noxious atmosphere is 75 to 100 times what it is here on Earth. Any surface creatures on Venus would have to be capable of withstanding the same pressure we would encounter at an ocean depth of 2500 feet — nearly one-half MILE below the surface of the ocean.
All analyses of data concerning the atmosphere of Venus indicates poisonous ammonia and carbon dioxide plus other complicated combinations. These would make impossible any forms of life compatible with intelligence.
The inevitable conclusion must be that Venus also has NO LIFE.
The other planets of our solar system are either too close, too far, too big or too small. The ONLY planet in our solar system that has the fantastically narrow limits of life compatibility is the planet EARTH.
We Are Indeed Unique
Just the mathematical possibilities of there being intelligent creatures, IF there are other planets revolving around some of those other stars or suns out there, is very, very remote.
Some mathematical conclusions have been made regarding these possibilities. Informed scientists have said that taking a quantity of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (ten sextillion) possible planets out there somewhere, the possibility of a technical civilization on ONE of them would be 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (ten sextillion) To ONE.
Rather slim chances!
Approaching the possibilities another way, Sir John C. Eccles, a Nobel-Prizewinning scientist specializing in the study of the cerebellum in the brain, said that the evolution of intelligent life was a lucky break and that the chances of it happening again are insurmountable. He stated the chances of the right combination of circumstances occurring again (which circumstances the evolutionary theorists are not sure they know) to produce intelligent life are about 400,000 trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion to ONE!
One must come to the inevitable conclusion: This "good Earth" with its lovely and benign environment, with its abundance of plenty, if we would only learn to use it for the mutual good of mankind, is a rare and choice spot indeed. And, we must also conclude that the unique creature, man, with the attendant creation around him, IS unique in the universe.
No wonder the late physicist Enrico Fermi, after studied contemplation about the relationship of earth to the vast but lifeless universe, concluded:
"Where is everybody?"
Was It Chance After All?
Whatever the process that produced the environment here on earth and the complex life forms including the unique creature man, the process itself must be unique in all the universe. With all those odds, did intelligent life really happen by chance? Was some unique "lucky break" responsible for an unheard-of freak of chances? Did inanimate matter — for some bizarre reason yet undiscovered — give birth to living matter? Can inanimate matter by some unknown law begin a process of evolution to produce thought, consciousness and awareness? Is man, with his dreams to conquer space and his sensitive and acute awareness of things around him, the result of the inherent qualities of dust, rock and gas? Can matter truly beget man?
IF man is practical at all and sensitive in any way to the REALISM of the universe around him, he cannot ignore the concept that the human being is not a freak chance spawned from mindless matter, but the unique creation of a greater intelligence than his own — a Creator, God!
The only logical answer that really satisfies all the demands of what man is encountering is that man was designed, thought out. That man's environment was planned. And that man has an ultimate goal.
What Does It All Mean?
Man could know the answers!
What is man? Why is man? What is this vast universe all about? The answers are clearly revealed by the One who made man. They are revealed in the Instruction Book that goes along with the product.
Are you willing to at least take a look?
Here is a book that asks the BIG questions: What is man anyway? What is his purpose? Why is he here? Where did he come from? This book — the Bible — asks: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Heb. 2:6)
The God who speaks in this book doesn't leave man without an answer! He reveals: I have made man a little lower than the God Family, but I have given him a measure of glory and honor. I have made him to have DOMINION OVER THE WORKS I HAVE MADE (verse 7).
How satisfying it is to really know that man is here for a reason. How gratifying to know there is guided purpose and plan to everything we see in all the vast creation around us. Have you ever looked into the book of Hebrews in YOUR Bible? It goes on to say: "Thou hast put ALL THINGS in subjection under his [man's] feet. For in that He [God] put ALL in subjection under him [man], He left NOTHING that is not put under him" (verse 8).
It is therefore right for man to look out into the vastness of the creation with its endless scope and contemplate dominion over it. God intends it that way.
But, it ought to be clear to man by virtue of the limitations of his physical makeup and the vastness and fathomless distances of space that he is simply not equipped in his present form to have dominion over ALL that he sees "out there."
Again God does not leave man without an answer.
Continuing in verse 8 we see the answer: "But NOW we see NOT YET all things put under him [man]."
Yes, man's present capacities and conditions are not adequate for a job that big. Man has done too wretched a job on his own planet to be allowed, now, to spread his unsolved problems, lusts and vices around the universe.
The First Step
God's revealed knowledge makes clear what is the first step to interplanetary space travel and the conquest of space. Man must be changed!
We do not YET see all things put under man's dominion, but it is also clear that we can see how they will be. We see HOW men can be changed in the example of Jesus who is called Christ, who is the Captain or Pioneer of the change that must occur in man (verses 9-10).
Until men have submitted themselves to God and to His ways, men will never conquer space.
Men should look around them into the vast creation of God. There is a God and to Him and to His ways man will submit. Then God shall equip man with the ability to truly conquer all space and, with God, promulgate truth, honesty, love, and peace throughout the creation. Until man does this he will be restrained to this planet.
"The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath He given to the children of men" (Ps. 115:16).
Man's time is fast running out here on earth. Parallel with his premature efforts to move out into the universe, the degeneracy's and problems on earth have proliferated. It is now possible by several different means to annihilate all human life from the face of planet earth. God is not going to permit this kind of leadership and rulership to permeate His creation.
Soon God must intervene in world affairs and enforce peace and order through His personal rule here on earth. Then men will learn the kind of life God wants spread throughout His creation. The lessons of man's failures will help him to see that God's way is indeed the only way.
Mankind will undergo a change once these lessons are learned. God will impart to men sonship and membership in the Family of God, which will make them like He is. (See I John 3:2)
Men, transformed, will then be ready for the purpose God originally created them for. To have dominion over the works of His — God's — hand. Then, and only then, will men conquer and rule space.
If God grants that men will soon set foot on the moon, it will only be to let him see that indeed the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth has He given to the sons of men — until they learn who rules in the kingdom of men.
How graphic and true were the reactions of the astronauts when they turned from their orbital examination of the alien surface of the moon and said: "How are things back there on the GOOD EARTH?"
If you would like to understand more of the magnificent plan of the great God whose purpose is being worked out here on the "good earth," write for your free subscription to the new monthly magazine, TOMORROW'S WORLD, published under the supervision of the Graduate School of Theology of Ambassador College.