SCRIPTURE
And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! Genesis 28:12
QUOTE
“It is possible that the future of human civilization depends on the receipt of interstellar messages.” -Carl Sagan.
SCIENCE
Are we left alone to defend ourselves in this mortal paradise called Earth? Could intelligent life be living on other planets? At the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in December 2022, planetary scientist Yasuhito Sekine reported that phosphorus could abound in the underground ocean of Saturn's icy moon, Enceladus. He believes the concentration may be thousands of times greater than in Earth’s Ocean. Phosphate is the backbone of nucleic acids and provides structural support to the DNA and RNA molecules. It is a significant nutrient to life on Earth. Enceladus has most of the elements essential for life, such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, and is prosperous,” Enceladus now appears to meet all of the criteria for a habitable ocean.” says Morgan Cable, an astrobiologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. However, scientists have also discovered the presence of warm water vents in the Enceladus that they believe could provide an energy source for microbial life.
LET US PONDER
Could life exist in other places? Astronomers estimate there are anywhere from 300 million to 400 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way. The likelihood of one of these planets harboring life that requires energy, oxygen, and water is highly questionable. However, two potentially habitable Earth-type planets that revolve around the star GJ 1002 near the Sun have recently been discovered. They are in the habitability zone of the star. Life depends on three essential ingredients: water, energy, and oxygen (we breathe molecular oxygen, two oxygen atoms connected through a double bond), and life on Earth relies on carbon. Though the Bible is not very clear about extraterrestrial human life, Rev. Billy Graham said, “I firmly believe there are intelligent beings like us far away in space who worship God. But we have nothing to fear from these people. Like us, they are God’s creation.” (as quoted by Ted Peters in Science, Theology, and Ethics). Even if simple or intelligent life exists outside the earth, the probability of "human" life is unlikely, because Jesus Christ came to the earth to save the fallen human race, not to any other planet. “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.” Romans 8:22
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