http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=1207
The Universe—A “Waste of Space”?
“The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be” (Sagan, 1980, p. 4). So begins Carl Sagan’s immensely popular book and PBS television series,
Cosmos.
A more atheistic, humanistic, materialistic declaration could not be
spoken. Sagan (1934-1996), who was an astronomer at Cornell University
who lived his entire life resistant to the possibility of God and an
afterlife, maintained his unbelief—in the words of his third
wife—“unflinching” to the end (Sagan, 1997, p. 225). She, herself, finds
comfort after his passing “without resorting to the supernatural” (p.
228).
When people reject or avoid the implications of the created order—i.e.,
that it is logically the result of a Supreme Creator—they have
inevitably “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and
served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). Skeptical of
the survival of the Earth at the mercy of
Homo sapiens, Sagan
turned his attention to an almost obsessive dedication to finding
answers and solutions from life forms beyond Earth. In his own words:
“In a very real sense this search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a
search for a cosmic context for mankind, a search for who we are, where
we have come from, and what possibilities there are for our future—in a
universe vaster both in extent and duration than our forefathers ever
dreamed of ” (Sagan, 1973, pp. ix-x).
Less than a year after his death, Hollywood released a movie (on July 11, 1997) based on Sagan’s novel,
Contact
(1985). The film’s central character, Dr. Eleanor Arroway (played by
Jodie Foster), is surely the embodiment of the formative experiences,
philosophical perspectives, and spiritual beliefs of Sagan himself. On
three separate occasions in the film, a pseudo-intellectual remark,
obviously designed to defend the naturalistic explanation of the
existence of the Universe while ridiculing the Christian viewpoint, is
offered up to viewers. As a child, “Ellie” asks her father if life
exists out in the Universe, to which he responds: “
Well, if there wasn’t, it’d be an awful waste of space.”
As an adult, she converses with Palmer Joss (played by Matthew
McConaughey), and, staring up at the starry Puerto Rican sky, expresses
her confidence in the evolution of other life forms elsewhere in the
Universe: “If just one in a million of those stars has planets, and if
only one in a million of those has life, and if just one in a million of
those has intelligent life, then there are millions of civilizations
out there” (as cited in Bohlin, 1998). [Of course, the scientific
evidence does not support this conclusion—see Bohlin, 2002]. Ellie is
pleasantly stunned when Joss repeats the same line that her father
uttered to her when she was a child. Near the close of the film, Ellie
speaks the line again to a group of school children when asked if life
exists in space.
This triple declaration was obviously intended to offer a “logical”
proof that, rather than looking to some supernatural Being Who is
transcendent of the Universe, humans had best recognize that the only
life beyond planet Earth are those life forms that have evolved (like
our own) on other planets in far off galaxies. The materialist is forced
to follow Sagan’s presupposition: life
must exist elsewhere in
the Universe since there is no God. If there is a God Who created life
only on Earth, then He was guilty of poor teleological design—creating a
vast physical realm that serves absolutely no purpose—and thus
producing a nearly infinite realm of “wasted space.”
But wait! The Bible long ago anticipated the skepticism of the
materialist astronomer. At the creation of the Universe, God said: “Let
there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from
the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and
years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to
give light on the earth” (Genesis 1:14-15). The luminaries that God made
included the stars: “God set them in the firmament of the heavens to
give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night”
(vss. 17-18). One very specific function of the stars that occupy space
far beyond our solar system is illumination (cf. Psalm 136:9). They are
“light-bearers” (Keil and Delitzsch, 1976, 1:56; Leupold, 1950, p. 71).
Another very specific purpose of the vastness of space is seen in the
multiple declarations regarding the infinitude of God and the evidence
that points to His existence, His glory, His eternality, and His power.
Paul affirmed very confidently that “since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse” (Romans 1:20). It is absolutely
incredible—and, according to Paul,
inexcusable—for a rational human being to contemplate the magnitude of the Universe and the vastness of space, and then to reject
the only logical, plausible explanation for it all:
God.
Indeed, atheism, evolution, and humanism are simply more sophisticated
forms of the polytheism that has plagued humanity for millennia. Moses
warned the Israelites of this very thing: “[T]ake heed, lest you lift
your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars,
all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them,
which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole
heaven as a heritage” (Deuteronomy 4:19). Evolutionary astronomy assigns
an inflated value to the vastness of space by postulating that it can
provide mankind with an alternative explanation for the existence of
life—an explanation that absents God. Any such postulation ultimately
amounts to idolatry.
David, too, paid homage to the glory of the Creator, as evidenced by
the eloquent symphony of the majestic Universe that is played
perpetually—twenty-four hours a day:
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. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the
ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a
champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat
(Psalm 19:1-6; cf. 74:16-17; 136:7-8).
Separate and apart from the latest evidence that confirms the movement
of the Sun through space (see Thompson, 2001, p. 46), these verses
reaffirm the fact that the created Universe loudly announces the
existence of the Universe-Maker. David also declared: “O Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is Your name in all the earth, You have set Your glory
above the heavens! …When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your
fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man
that You are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:1,3). God “stretched out the
heavens like a curtain” (Psalm 104:2). No wonder even a philosopher on
the order of Immanuel Kant observed: “Two things fill the mind with ever
new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and more steadily we
reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within
me” (as quoted in Geisler, 1983, p. 59).
A third biblical explanation for the creation of the vast Universe was
hinted at by God Himself in the attitude-adjusting lecture He delivered
to Job: “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of
Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season? Or can you
guide the Great Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you fix their rule over the earth?” (Job 38:31-33). Notice the
action terms that are used to refer to the movement of the
constellations: bind, loose, lead forth, and guide. Observe also the
“laws of the heavens” and their relationship to “ruling over the earth”
(see Gaebelein, 1988, 4:1037,1042). These verses imply that the heavenly
bodies have been deliberately orchestrated, modulated, and regulated by
the Creator to serve a purpose or purposes
far beyond our present understanding.
The text seems to hint that Earth’s status, with its living beings, is
somehow affected by the phenomena of the cosmic bodies. Even as the
comprehension of scientists has been lacking through the centuries on
many features of the physical realm, only eventually to discover the
meaning that lay behind observable phenomenon, even so our present
comprehension of space is woefully inadequate to justify passing
judgment on the intentionality and teleology that lie behind many
astronomical phenomena.
Evolutionists have far better arguments with which to attempt to prop
up their atheistic stance (the “problem of evil” being the strongest,
though refutable—see Warren, 1972). The “wasted space” argument is
anemic, pitiful, and hardly worthy of rebuttal. However, since they
brought it to our attention, the Christian is once again reminded of the
unfathomable attributes of the great God Who stands above and beyond
this vast physical realm. The immensity and vastness of the Universe
only spurs the rational mind to marvel at the One whose own metaphysical
transcendence surpasses the visible. In the words of the psalmist: “I
will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your
wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I
will declare Your greatness (145:5-6). “He counts the number of the
stars; He calls them all by name. Great is our Lord, and mighty in
power; His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:4-5). Isaiah agreed:
“Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who
brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the
greatness of His might and the strength of His power” (40:26).
REFERENCES
Bohlin, Ray (1998), “Contact: A Eulogy to Carl Sagan,” [On-line], URL: http://www.probe.org/docs/contact.html.
Bohlin, Ray (2002), “Are We Alone in the Universe?”, [On-line], URL: http://www.probe.org/docs/lifemars.html.
Gaebelein, Frank E., ed. (1988),
The Expositor’s Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Geisler, Norman L. (1983),
Cosmos: Carl Sagan’s Religion for the Scientific Mind (Dallas, TX: Quest).
Keil, C.F. and F. Delitzsch (1976 reprint),
Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Leupold, Herbert C. (1950 reprint),
Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).
Sagan, Carl (1997),
Billions and Billions (New York: Random House).
Sagan, Carl (1985),
Contact (New York: Simon and Schuster).
Sagan, Carl (1980),
Cosmos (New York: Random House).
Sagan, Carl, ed. (1973), “Introduction,”
Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence [CETI] (MIT Press).
Thompson, Bert (2001),
In Defense of the Bible’s Inspiration (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press), second edition.
Warren, Thomas B. (1972),
Have Atheists Proved There Is No God (Jonesboro, AR: National Christian Press).
