The Pale Blue Dot

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Growing up in the 1960’s with the Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle Space Programs, it was natural to have a fascination with science and this planet Earth. In Elementary school, I remember watching Dr. Frank C. Baxter in the Bell Laboratories Science series explain how our world, the Sun and nature worked. In Junior High School, Mr. Booth taught physical science and developed an appreciation of the complexity of life and the incredible balance to sustain it in the Universe. But, I did not understand how special and unique this life was until much later when I watch the video “Created Cosmos”. When you see and understand just how unimaginably big the Universe truly is, then you realize just how tiny we are in it. We tend to think that this planet is pretty big and the universe as just what we see in the night sky.

I read that on February 14, 1990, the Voyager 1 Space Probe at the outer fringes of our solar system, approximately 4 billion miles away, turned its telescope around and took a picture of our earth. In the scattered light rays of the Sun, there was an infinitesimally small pixel emitting a pale blue ray of light. The image (above) gives us the perspective of how we are almost invisible and insignificant this planet is within the immensity of outer space. But, this pale blue dot contains something so unique and profound that cannot be found anywhere else in the Cosmos. The Louie Giglio movie “Indescribable” and the Illustra Media documentary “Privileged Planet” explains the statistically impossible conditions for life to survive and thrive here via natural processes. It is the planet Earth. “Look again at that pale blue dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives” surrounded by an immense variation of living organisms on the land, in the air and water. It’s an amazing place.

Tom DeRosa of the Creation Science Institute explains that the Earth lies in the “Goldilocks” Inhabitable Zone at an average distance of 93 million miles from the Sun and a complete orbit occurs every 365.256 days, during which time Earth travels about 584 million miles. The Earth's orbital speed averages about 67,000 mph and spins on its axis at an average speed of approximately 1040 mph. Yet, we pretty much feel like we are standing still. There is an awesomeness and grandeur to the order of the Universe. It is easily observed as the heavenly bodies move about at these unimaginable speeds, following specific pathways that demonstrate a divine plan. Astronomers and Scientists like Sir Isaac Newton and Johnnes Kepler acknowledged a divine Creator and gratefully praised God for His creation. Kepler summarized this by stating: Geometry is one and eternal shining in the mind of God. That share in it according to men is one of the reasons that Man is the image of God.” There is form and design in everything. He concluded that his purpose in life was a journey, an exploration if the mind of the master Designer saying: “I am merely thinking God’s thoughts after Him.”

Isaiah 45:18 For this is what the Lord says - he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited - he says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

Water is an essential element in life as we know it. This amazing pale blue planet is covered on its surface with 71% water in the form of oceans, lakes, rivers and glaciers. The Earth’s bluish hue is caused by the reflection of the oceans against the sun. Viewing our planet from afar, you will see the reflected color of water. This bluish light reminds us that water is a truly unique part of our atmosphere. This pale blue dot in the Universe should remind us of our planet’s astonishing gift of life in all its fullness. Our planet is filled with all these remarkably designed requisites for life to continue. This can only come from an infinite and almighty Creator. This small pixel of an image demonstrates how God loves us and how His glory can be seen from billions of miles away. Look around. Can we see His glory standing on it today? This pale blue dot is a very special place in the Cosmos, blessed by God and created for you and I to bless God.

 

In Christ, Brian