Angela Hunt had this video on her blog and I can't stop thinking about it. I've always liked astronomy and for a while in high school thought I might like to study it. All the math got in the way, though. Space--the universe--fascinates me.
This image goes far beyond fascination. It astounds me. It humbles me. It literally makes me tremble.
Here is a link for another video.
Ok, so here are my thoughts.
I believe that God created the earth just as related in Genesis. I believe in the Biblical time-line that says our earth is only around 6-7,000 years old. But maybe there were many other galaxies in existence before ours. There isn't anything in the Bible to refute the possibility that the universe as a whole hasn't existed for eons.
God has no beginning. He has always existed. Why would He only recently decide that He wanted beings with which to interact?
What if many billions of years ago He created a galaxy and populated it? Interacted with it? Was loved and worshiped there?
Then another galaxy with other beings and another and another throughout eternity?
Why not? People seem to think it's not Christian to think there might be other beings in the universe, but I'm not sure why. I don't see anything wrong with it. Sure, the Bible doesn't come out and say that it is true, but I also don't see anything in the Bible about viruses and they exist. Is God obligated to tell us about everything He has done or made?
The idea that there are populations beyond ours is satisfying to me. God deserves so much more than what He gets from Earthlings alone.
And here's something that occurred to me as I thought of this.
Jesus told His disciples that in His Father's house are many rooms. "I go to prepare a place for you."
He was using the word "you" in the plural sense. He was talking to his followers--us. But he said place. Not places. As if perhaps He is preparing one room for us--all of us. Then who is in the other rooms?
To me, to think that the universe is full of other people who love and worship God and who will be in his House with us is... I don't know. It makes me feel excited and joyful and pleased. And very, very small. Very, very humble.
So, take my thoughts with a grain of salt and let me know what you think. But be nice. If you must call me a wacko, be sweet about it.
And one parting thought. How can I ever, EVER again, think that in any way God is not big enough?
I, too, loved this video when I saw it on Angie's blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are not wacko! I get aggravated with folks being so dogmatic about things that are so above our comprehension that we have no vocabulary to even describe it.
And we certainly have a lot more vocabulary than the folks who were writing the Bible did. Can you imagine Moses trying to write about the internet and space shuttles and TV and cell phones?
We really have no clue how big God is. The Chris Tomlin song Indescribable comes to mind!!
We humans do like to believe we're so special that God made only us. We don't know. I've always wondered if God created another Adam and Eve that DIDN'T sin, and how did that turn out?
ReplyDeleteI used to go to a church that laughed at people who believed in extraterrestrial life. It seemed to me that they were the ignorant ones. How we limit God when we say we are the only life in the universe.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this, Kay.
ReplyDeleteBilly Graham shocked Larry King when he answered a question about believing in extra-terestrial life with basically the same thing you're saying.
ReplyDeleteI personally belive that there are other populated worlds, but we'll never know in this life because I do believe God would have warned us about them in the Bible. In other words, they don't visit us.
It's an interesting thought, especially for Christians. If there are other worlds of intelligent begins, would Satan have gone after them, too, to deceive them? And if so, did Christ plan before the foundations of the earth (other world) to come and be born and save them by dying on a cross (or some other terrible means of execution? And what about heaven? Will these extra terrestrial beings also stand before God's throne? And did they already have their judgment day? We could go on and on with the theological questions. Fascinating.
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