“A Fool Says…”
DISCUSSION
In 1966, Time Magazine produced a cover story
entitled, “Is God Dead?” Their thinking was that the discoveries of
science were on pace to rule out the fact that there was a God in existence
that created everything. In that same year, Carl Sagan, a famous
astronomer, hypothesized that there were 2 criteria needed for a planet to
support life: 1. The right kind of star and 2. A planet the right distance from
that star. With this opinion, out of the 1 octillion
(1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) planets in the universe, there should
be approximately 1 septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) planets capable
of supporting life. With these odds, Sagan started a program called SETI
(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) in an effort to find life in our
universe using an advanced radio telescopic network. As of 2014, they
have found NOTHING.
As our knowledge of our universe has increased, Sagan’s 2 criteria have now
grown to 200+ criteria that are necessary for supporting life. Every
single one of these criteria has to be met, or life cannot be supported.
As you can imagine, this causes those septillion possible planets to plummet to
a number of planets possible of supporting life to a few thousand, and the
number continues to decrease. In 2006, Peter Schenkel wrote, “Early SETI
efforts were marked by overly optimistic estimates of the probable number of
extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy. In light of new findings and
insights, it seems appropriate to put excessive euphoria to rest and to take a
more down-to-earth view. Earth may be more special, and intelligence much
rarer, in the universe than previously thought.” (Skeptical Inquirer, Volume
30.3, May-June 2006).
We truly
live in a wonderful creation by the hands of our Creator. Realizing this
as we study and draw closer to Him, helps us to reflect Psalm 75:1, “We give
thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare
that Your name is near.”
Prayer
Requests:_______________________________________________________________
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