Finely Tuned Universe
-Proverbs 28:5
Presumption is one of the great temptations that we face in
life. Whether out of the desire to make
a name for ourselves or to score points for something we deeply believe in,
there is an enticement to draw premature conclusions based off on incomplete
evidence that we must be weary of.
An example of this is found in a secular French Philosopher
named Bernard de Fontenelle who lived in the late 1600s. De Fontenelle believed that there was a man
on the moon. But not just a lonely
individual but an entire civilization saying with “self-assured inerrancy” that
“telescopes
had revealed a moon covered with seas, lakes, mountains, and valleys, even
though, he concedes, it was not possible (yet) to observe lunar creatures. The
similarity of the terrestrial and lunar landscapes, however, provided
sufficient proof that sentient life must exist on the Moon, concluded the
philosopher with orotund self-satisfaction.”
Hearing of such self-assured tones being spoken regarding
the existence of life on the moon by a secular philosopher may cause one to crack
an ever-so-subtle smile at the bottom left of his otherwise stoic mouth. A slight
grin though, that only lasts a moment and that must be done in private, for
should the ever-disdainful secular world see that we find some of their past errors as occasions for laughter,
would likely merit some form of censorious decree as a necessary response on
their part. And should the smile last more than 3 seconds
a protest may be in order. So, for the
purpose of maintaining whatever semblance of peace that still exists within our
society, I would humbly ask the reader not to laugh at the absurdness of the
above paragraph.
Taken in its historical context one must understand that de Fontenelle
was a part of a movement that sought to “deliver” the world from its Biblical
worldview and to instead “land it safely” in the embrace of rationalism. A movement that culminated in the French
Revolution with its intimidation (and in many cases the guillotining) of all
those who opposed secularism. His belief that the technological advancement of
the telescope made certain his hope that life existed on the moon is comical to
us now but what would it have been like then when telescopes were just coming
to the fore and where few had them? What
would the response to such ideas have been in a world where such upheaval was
taking place?
An older example can be found the writing of Blaise Pascal,
the mathematician and Catholic apologist, who in his book Pensées
responds to an ancient attack on the Christian faith by philosophers who, before
telescopes, had counted only one thousand and twenty eight stars in the sky and
stated that such was a refutation of Genesis 15:5, that Abraham’s descendants
would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, because there were many more
Christians and Jewish people than this in the world. Pascal, who lived in the time of telescopes,
mocked this by saying that their “rational” criticism was based on incomplete
information, and that the telescopes of his day were vindicating Scripture.
It is a very interesting thing to consider how quick people
have been to latch on to any “evidence” that they think opposes Christianity
and how in doing so they have embraced ideas that really haven’t aged
well. But regardless of whether we will
ever acquire the tools to be able to accurately count the number of stars in
the universe and if we will ever simultaneously be able to perfectly catalog
the number of those who believed in an Abrahamic faith, Genesis 15:5 will still
remain true because in showing Abraham the stars in the sky He was simply
giving Abraham a picture of an innumerable figure and telling him that this
would be the number of his descendants.
People are strange to fixate on things like this, but I
digress.
~ðŸ”~
A modern-day example of this may be the concept of alien
life. In the 1960s Carl Sagan speculated
that there were likely billions of planets that were capable of supporting
life. He did this because at the time it
was believed that the only conditions that were necessary for a planet to
support life were that it was “having a star something like our sun and being
the right distance from that star” (Metaxas, IAD). This belief led to a multitude of sci-fi
books and dramas regarding alien life, how we would interact with it and our
place in the universe.
Subsequently after this though scientists learned that there
were many more conditions necessary for life than we had originally known. The higher the number of these conditions
became, the less the number of possible planets fit the bill, until “it
mathematically reduced the number of planets that might support life to almost
nothing” (Metaxas, IAD).
This led to a shift in the scientific community where
because the “the conditions science reckoned necessary for life had risen so
high that the idea that life existed anywhere at all seemed more and more
miraculous and even outlandish” (Metaxas, IAD).
Strangely though, the cultural imagination had been pricked
and the stories about alien encounters multiplied in number but the evidence
itself was saying that the idea of aliens was becoming increasingly unlikely¹. And in its place was the ever-growing list of
conditions that were required for life to have ever existed at all.
Many have written about this – I would recommend Eric Metaxas’ book Is Atheism Dead (he goes into this for 3 chapters) along with Stephen Meyers book The Return of the God Hypothesis if you want to dive deeper into this subject – but a couple of these conditions (that are largely taken from these 2 sources) are described below:
1) The Size of the Earth
Scientists have found that the size of our
planet is vitally important for the existence of life upon it. This revolves primarily around 2
factors. The first is that the size of
the earth allows it to have a magnetic field that is strong enough to protect
against solar wind that would strip it of hydrogen and oxygen - which make up
water (Metaxas, IAD)
- and would thus make life impossible.
Mars is a planet that is slightly smaller than Earth and due to this it
doesn’t have the magnetosphere of Earth’s and is therefore ravaged by solar
winds, which have made life upon it impossible.
Secondly, if Earth were any larger the force of gravity would be too powerful. This would make it so that “no water or methane or carbon dioxide could escape our atmosphere, which would be so thick we couldn’t breathe.” (Metaxas, IAD)
So, in short, the size of the earth is in a range that is just right – its not too small and thus lacking the magnetic field to protect from solar winds, and its not too big and thus not allowing certain gases to escape our atmosphere, which would make it so we couldn’t breathe.
2) The Earth’s Location in our Solar System
Our planet’s place in our solar system is also vital. If the Earth were slightly closer to the Sun “most of our water would have evaporated, and thus life couldn’t exist” (Metaxas, IAD). If the Earth were a bit further from the Sun, all the water would have frozen, which also would make life impossible.
We also greatly benefit from the presence of Jupiter and Saturn. Their sheer size and the fact that they are right next to us in the orbit cause them to act as offensive linemen, who shield us from being “endlessly pelted with meteorites and asteroids.” (Metaxas, IAD) It’s easy to take this for granted because we are rarely hit by an asteroid, but we should realize that if these 2 galactic guardians were not in their place, the impacts by comets would be so disastrous that it would make life on Earth impossible to sustain.
3) The Size of the Moon
The moon’s size causes its gravity to stabilize the Earth, which makes it not wobble on its axis (Psalm 104:5). This gives us stable climates. It also causes our oceans’ tides, which are also crucial to the ecosystems of our coast and subsequently vital to the life of our planet. Compared with the moons of other planets, the Earth’s moon is unique in that it is much larger than the moons of other planets. It is 27% the size of Earth and if it was any smaller – like that of the other planets – then life would be impossible on Earth.
4) Our Solar System’s Place in our Galaxy and our Galaxy’s Unique Features
Metaxas states that “our solar system is located on the inner edge of the Orion Arm of our galaxy, about twenty-six thousand light-years from the center.” (Metaxas, IAD) This is important because if we were more centrally located “the radiation hitting us would be far greater, because there are many more stars in the galaxy’s center than out here on the spiral arms where we exist.” (Metaxas, IAD) The “active galactic nucleus outbursts” and larger number of “supernovae and gamma ray bursts” would make life in our solar system impossible should it be located nearer to the center than it currently exists.
Subsequently we find that stars that are father out from the center of our Galaxy are “orbited by planets significantly smaller than Earth” which would mean that they wouldn’t have an “atmosphere capable of supporting life.” (Metaxas, IAD)
Our Galaxy is “better suited for life than 98% of the other galaxies near us.” (Metaxas, IAD) This has to do with it being “shaped like a spiral.” Galaxies that elliptical shapes have “less-ordered orbits, like bees flying around a hive, so they are more likely to pass through interstellar clouds at disastrously high speeds.” (Metaxas, IAD) Metaxas goes on to say that in many ways “our galaxy – a late-type, metal-rich, spiral galaxy with orderly orbits and comparatively little danger between spiral arms – just happens to be that rare galaxy perfectly suited for life, and our placement within that galaxy also happens to be perfectly suited for life.”
5) The Unique Characteristics of Water
Water is extremely vital to life and is very unique from a chemical perspective. Here is a list of ways in which water is different than other similar substances and how things would be different if it was like other elemental compounds.
a.
Water Becomes Less Dense when it Freezes
This is important because if it became more dense when it froze then lakes would “freeze from the bottom up, completely destroying their ecosystems” (Metaxas, IAD). That it instead becomes less dense when it freezes means that once it reaches 32 degrees that ice floats to the surface of lakes and ends up protecting the ecosystem of the lake by creating an “insulation barrier for the water beneath it, protecting it from the cold above the ice, and allowing the life beneath to survive.” (Metaxas, IAD). Water is unique from nearly all other substances in that they become more dense as they reach a solid state (one can observe this himself by melting chocolate, butter or wax). Should water follow suit in this then life wouldn’t be sustainable on earth.
b.
Water has a High Freezing Point
From a molecular perspective water is strange as well. Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi writes “The extraordinary nature of water is borne out by two constants used most frequently for the characterization of substances: melting and boiling points.” (Metaxas, IAD) Chemists are able to “accurately guess the freezing and boiling points of substances by the sizes of their molecules” (Metaxas, IAD) but water is different. Based on molecules of similar size as water, one would expect that water would freeze at -148° Fahrenheit and would boil at 32° Fahrenheit. This is obviously not the case in that it actually freezes at 32°. This matters because the temperatures at high altitudes hover around -70° and if water acted as other molecules of similar size did, then it would evaporate into space. This is because at that very cold temperature “hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen remain gaseous” (Metaxas, IAD) but water “though made of oxygen and hydrogen freezes long before it gets that cold.” (Metaxas, IAD) Making it so that by the time any “water vapor gets that high up it promptly freezes and drops back to the Earth’s surface” (Metaxas, IAD). Should it not do this “it would continue to rise further until the ultraviolet rays in that part of the atmosphere broke it apart into its components of oxygen and hydrogen.” (Metaxas, IAD) The “super-light hydrogen would swiftly escape the atmosphere, never to return, and Earth would be quickly depleted of water” (Metaxas, IAD). If this was the case – if water was like molecules of similar size – then life wouldn’t be sustainable on the Earth.
c.
Water has a very Strong Hydrogen Bond
One of the things that makes water so strange is that it possesses a “very strong hydrogen bond in the H₂O molecule” (Metaxas, IAD) which plays a role in the below 2 properties of water that are also essential to life.
i. Water has a High Surface Tension and is very Viscous
Water’s viscosity and surface tension is what holds it together when you accidentally pour water just slightly above the surface of a glass and notice that it still somehow stays together even though one would think that it would overflow. This matters as it pertains to life on earth in that it makes water able to erode rocks. As water flows through the earth “it picks up bits of stone and sand, which act like a kind of sandpaper on whatever the water flows over, aiding in the process of erosion.” (Metaxas, IAD) By eroding the “rocks over which water flows, the water continues to carry the rock particulate and minerals and metals along, distributing them wherever it goes.” (Metaxas, IAD) This turns out to be extremely important to life because “these vital minerals and metals become part of the soil wherever the water takes them – and all the places in between – and the plants that drink the water get the nitrates, magnesium, and other minerals they need to survive. And the animals that drink the water and eat the plants get these vital minerals too.” (Metaxas, IAD)
ii. Water is hard to Compress
Water’s tensile strength plays an important part in our blood (which is 80% water). Because of this it can “be pushed through our veins effectively” and circulate through our bodies. (Metaxas, IAD) It also enables trees to “pull water all the way up into their highest branches through the exceedingly tiny capillary pathways, all the way up to the leaves that drink in the sunlight” (Metaxas, IAD). When leaves take in sunlight it enacts the process of photosynthesis which causes the water to break apart so that it breaks into hydrogen and oxygen, enabling us to breathe. Should water be easier to compress then this likely would not occur and life as we know it would cease to be.
I have presented a summary of these topics to pique one’s interest in this. This is by no means a definitive list of the numerous properties that must be the way they are for life as we know it to exist. Like I say earlier one would need to buy Is Atheism Dead by Eric Metaxas (or to dig deeper look at the sources that he quotes) to see this discussed in more detail and to also hear about how things that I left out - like how plate tectonics, the way sunlight interacts with seawater and the mass of the universe are essential for life to exist.
But I hope the reader gets the point. We live in a world full of unique features, where
if just one property is slightly different than it is now then life could not
exist. Does that not cause you to marvel?
And what is so interesting is that the principles that we
have discussed here – that of the Earth, the Moon, the Universe, Water, Light
and Plants – are all touched upon in Genesis 1.
Something written four thousand years before physicists, chemists and
biologists were able to explain how the size of the Earth made life
possible. Something that Moses knew way
before science books could elaborate on the wonders of photosynthesis or the muse
upon the strength of the hydrogen bond in the water molecule and how both of
these were essential for life in our world.
Something that causes one to partake in a quiet moment, a brief pause,
where he – should it be a clear evening sky – looks up to the stars above and wonders
why, how, who? Who are you God that You
have given us a self-sustaining world where we can live and move and have our
being (Acts 17:28)?
-------------------------------------
¹To avoid being guilty of presumption myself I want to be sure to
say that this doesn’t mean that I think it’s impossible for aliens to
exist. Saying something like that would
require I know everything about everything.
Scripture doesn’t say anything about aliens (at least that I’ve seen)
but it also doesn’t say that something like aliens couldn’t possibly
exist. If they were discovered, then it
would be something that we would have to prayerfully seek God for how we would
have to proceed. Ultimately there are
millions of possibilities out there in the world that I don’t understand and
don’t even claim to understand but what I do know is that God sent Jesus to the
world to reach out to us so that we could be reconciled to Him and have eternal
life. Christ died and rose from the dead
and that will never change so we can reliably put our trust in Him without
having to claim having total knowledge of everything in the universe.
*All References to (Metaxas, IAD) refer to the incredible
book Is Atheism Dead? by Eric Metaxas that can be purchased here: https://socratesinthecity.com/product/is-atheism-dead/
Comments
Post a Comment