Cosmology Keeps Blindly Tripping Over a God-Created Cosmos (Dread the Thought!)

God is not going to save the world.  Jesus makes that clear in John 17:8-9:

8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

It is true that it is God’s will that all men should be saved, but man also must want to be saved.  When speaking of salvation, Jesus said: Few there be that find it. Matthew 7:13-14:

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

You and I can be one of the few.

Dear visitor, have you yet to be BORN AGAIN as Jesus declares in John 3:3?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

BORN AGAIN means born a second time, this time of the Spirit of God.  You were born the first time as a child of Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So, but when you are BORN AGAIN, you become a child of God.

In just a few moments, I will invite you to follow me in a simple prompt, and if you follow from your heart, you will enter into the greatest promise and miracle a man can know.  Today, you will be born a second time. Today, all your sin and shame will be washed away by Christ’s cleansing blood.  You will be clean.  Today, all of Satan’s bondages in your life will be broken, no matter how formidable they appear.  You will be free.   Today, you will become one of the glorious few. 

Here is the prompt I promised: Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Luke 17:20-21:

20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

GOD SAID, Isaiah 45:18:

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

GOD SAID, Psalm 115:15-16:

15 Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.

16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

MAN SAID: I want a world without God and His Christ!  I want a universe without God and His Christ! That’s what I want, and it’s all about ME!

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1219 that will once again certify the supernatural and inerrant truth of God’s majority-text Holy Bible.  All of these Word-centric features are archived here in text and streaming audio for your edification and to be used as ammunition in the battle for the souls of the lost sons and daughters of Adam.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.

Thank you for visiting.  May the beauty of God’s countenance shine upon you with the glory of His exhilarating truth.

Dread the thought that God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and God’s Word, penned thousands of years ago, would hold the answer to all of life’s questions! No matter what or how, the world’s academics must find another way.  This is truly a hereditary issue. 

In Genesis 3, Satan offered our grandmother, mtDNA Eve (as biology calls the common mother of all living), another way—promising her the retention of immortality and great wisdom to boot.  (Genesis 3:4-5)

mtDNA Eve rejected God’s Word and followed the devil—another way. Y-Chromosome Adam (as biology calls the common father of all living) followed his wife’s wicked leadership.  The end result of this other way is the iron grip of the law of sin and death.  It’s hereditary:  Like mother, like daughter; like father, like son.  The only way to escape is to be BORN AGAIN, just like Jesus said.  But, dread the thought!  The world’s so-called wisest must find another way.

Jesus speaks in John 10:1:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.    

Jesus Christ is the only way. John 14:6:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.   

There is NO “other way.”  Acts 4:10-12:

10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Dread the thought!  They must find another way.

Up until the last 20 years or so, the idea of immortality was Sunday School foolishness, but not anymore.  Immortality, and the quest for it, has left the realm of fantasy and entered the exalted halls of theoretic medicine.  Billions are being spent in an effort to extend human life to achieve theoretical immortality.  Immortality?! Is it really possible?  Yes! Yes! Yes!  But, dread the thought of God and His Jesus.  They must find another way.

There are a host of such examples on GodSaidManSaid highlighting man’s efforts to find “another way,” and one that is a particular obsession among the fallen is the quest to find life in outer space.  We have addressed the issue in numerous features and the subject makes the news on a regular basis.  GodSaidManSaid must note that there is certainly life in outer space, and the Scriptures even tell us where and who.  Remember that God, His Christ, the Holy Ghost, God’s angels, as well as Satan and the fallen angels are not of this world.  They are from outer space.  Dread the thought that the Bible had all the answers this whole time!

When stymied by the incredible odds against the illusion that this world, all its marvelous lifeforms, and the universe are all a product of a fortuitous “big bang,” and from a vast amount of nothingness sprang all this everything, the champions of evolution (academia’s god) fall back to a defensive position.  Their defense? That life must have been seeded from outer space and from an infinite source of wisdom.  Dread the thought that the source of this “infinite wisdom from outer space” is Jesus Christ by whom God created all things!  We hear them knock, knock, knocking at Hebrews 1:1-3:

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

One of the “refinements” of the unbelievers’ fallback position of celestial seeding from a source of infinite wisdom is a parallel, invisible, all-powerful "megaverse" or “multiverses” where this source of infinite creation knowledge is found.  That sounds just like Jesus Christ and the invisible, all-powerful Kingdom of God, but dread the thought!  The invisible Kingdom of God, the place of infinite wisdom, the source of all life—what a novel idea!  We hear them knocking.

Several pages from previous GodSaidManSaid features follow that address cosmology’s mad quest to find life in outer space.  As we continue, remember that the carnal must find “another way.”

GodSaidManSaid, “An Invisible (Yet So Very Visible) Kingdom of God—Part 2:”

Science’s relatively new discoveries suggest that there are things such as black holes, wormholes, quantum physics, extra dimensions, and a parallel universe or universes.  Once again, they are tripping over the Word of God but they don’t know they’ve stumbled. Science now theorizes that there may be an extra dimension or dimensions in which lives a parallel universe or metaverse.  Our physical universe has three dimensions of width, height, and length.  Einstein added time/space to the equation.  Ephesians 3:18 clearly describes four dimensions:

May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

In the verse just read, two dimensions seem redundant and they are “length” and “depth.” For the sake of this feature, the extra dimension, “depth,” will be the place where the invisible universe dwells that Jesus calls the Kingdom of God. Luke 17:20-21:

20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Noah Webster gives the following examples in his definition of depth:

🔾 A deep place.

🔾 The sea, the ocean.

🔾 The abyss; a gulf of infinite profundity.

🔾 Unsearchableness; infinity.

🔾 The breadth and depth of the love of Christ, are its vast extent.  

Regarding the invisible universe, you’ll find the following from feature one of this series:

In the June 2011 issue of Discover magazine, under the heading “The Hidden Reality,” writer Brian Greene addresses the theoretical and evolving science behind the concept of black holes, wormholes, quantum physics, and a parallel universe or universes.  These subjects have been addressed on GodSaidManSaid, but in this feature, we will see today’s scientists once again knocking on Heaven’s door.  The following excerpts are from Greene’s article:

While Andrew Hamilton delves into the extreme realities inside black holes, physicist Brian Greene explains how properties at the black hole’s surface—its event horizon—suggest the unsettling theory that our world is a mere representation of another universe, a shadow of the realm where real events take place.

With its hegemony diminished, universe has given way to other terms that capture the wider canvas on which the totality of reality may be painted. Parallel worlds, or parallel universes, or multiple universes or alternate universes or the metaverse, megaverse, or multiverse—they’re all synonymous, and they’re all among the words used to embrace not just our universe, but a spectrum of others that may be out there.

If this line of reasoning is correct, then there are physical processes taking place on some distant surface that, much as a puppeteer pulls strings, are fully linked to the processes taking place in my fingers, arms, and brain as I type these words at my desk.  Our experiences here, and that distant reality there, would form the most interlocked of parallel worlds.  Phenomena in the two—I’ll call them Holographic Parallel Universes—would be so fully joined that their respective evolutions would be as connected as me and my shadow.  [End of quote]

Yes, there is a parallel universe that is invisible to the natural eye.  The Bible calls it the Kingdom of God, and the amazing thing is that the believer is fully aware of it and literally traffics in it. 

Yes, there is an outside source—an outside shepherd dictating actions and leading to a final destination.  The amazing thing is that we choose the shepherd. 

When science comes knocking at the door, it will discover that the children of the Kingdom were already there the whole time. [End of quotes]

Something out-of-this-world unique and even bizarre belongs to the BORN AGAIN. We once dwelt in their universe and sat in blind darkness, even as they presently do, and we thought their same vacuous thoughts.  But one day, we saw for the first time.  We saw a great Light and were BORN AGAIN, born a most literal second time, this time of the Spirit of God. BORN AGAIN is the portal by which we passed through the thinnest of membranes into the parallel, invisible metaverse into the Kingdom of God. Man, this is so beyond the lexicon!  The invisible KINGDOM of GOD! We can look through the membrane that separates us and see the carnal, but they cannot see us.  They are blind. We know their thoughts because we once thought them, too, but our thoughts, they cannot think. They are spiritually dead in trespasses and sin.

Is it true? Did Jesus get it right? Is there an invisible universe, the ultimate metaverse?  Irrefutable proof is found in the marvelous miracle of a transformed life. Sons and daughters of God come into the Kingdom in a variety of ways and each testimony is different, but the results are always the same: They are BORN AGAIN and, yes, new creatures—brand new!—and they have entered the invisible Kingdom.

The transformed life is proof of this invisible universe, the metaverse, that Jesus calls the Kingdom of God. Everything changes at BORN AGAIN, the portal to the new and opposite universe.

Everything is new and opposite in the glorious Kingdom. II Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

◉ One sure vital sign for the children of God is a hunger and thirst for the Words of God.  Just as physical man eats bread to grow and sustain life, the new spiritual man eats words.  Revelation 19:13 says of Jesus Christ, “and His name is called The Word of God.” Now consider John 6:35 and 50-51:

35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

We have new food in the Kingdom of God.  We eat the Word of God.

◉ The children of the Kingdom of God have a new and deep desire to attend church and to be taught and to participate in the glory of God. We do not attend grudgingly! No, it is the high point of the week.

◉ We become God-willed, not self-willed.

◉ We actually pay tithes unto the invisible Kingdom and do so joyfully!

◉ It’s totally new. The residents of the invisible Kingdom look to give instead of receive.

◉ The BORN AGAIN follow new diets and enjoy new entertainment, and so much more.

◉ This new and invisible Kingdom has its own currency.  All things are purchased with childlike faith.

Certainly, there is an invisible metaverse and untold millions have passed through the Holy Ghost portal Jesus calls BORN AGAIN, through the thinnest of membranes, unto the other side. The beloved of the LORD know it as the Kingdom of God and they walk up and down in it every day. Once again, they’re knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door. But of course, they must find another way. [End of quotes]

Keep in mind that the champions of evolution need cover when the audience picks up on the absurdity of a Big Bang—boom! Here we are!—your first cousin being a mushroom, your second cousin a banana, and your father a monkey.  When these “bright minds” need rescued, it’s seeding from an all-powerful, all-knowing, megaverse.  (Who isn’t God; dread the thought!)

GodSaidManSaid, “The End from the Beginning (Father, What Would You Do if You Were Me?):”

Science comes to grips with this truth in what they know as the “anthropic principle.”  Dr. Roger G. Gallup addresses this concept in his book Evolution—The Greatest Deception in Modern History, where he writes:

Another aspect of preprogrammed design is the Anthropic Principle, or the realization by scientists that the universe was designed in a very precise manner to support human life.  This principle is an attempt to explain the fact that fundamental constants of physics and chemistry are fine-tuned to allow the universe and life to exist.

This principle was first suggested by astrophysicist and cosmologist Brandon Carter in 1973 when he concluded that essential structures from the sub-atomic level to the entire universe depend on delicate balances between different physical forces.  Such balances could not have arisen by random chance.  There is overwhelming evidence that our universe, galaxy, solar system, stars and planets, and the earth were fine-tuned for the existence and well-being of human, animal, and plant life. [End of quote]

The GodSaidManSaid feature “Anthropic Principle,” has this to say:  

Have you ever heard of the term anthropocentrism? Descriptionary: A Thematic Dictionary defines anthropocentrism: "the belief that human beings are at the center of all meaning and creation."

Today's physicists are preoccupied with what is commonly known as the Anthropic Principle. To science, it is the intriguing discovery that all things have been designed with man in mind. In a 1997 issue of Nature magazine, physicists Carr and Reese dealt with this subject in a feature titled "The Anthropic Principle & the Structure of the Physical World."

Can it be? Could all of creation be designed to facilitate the needs of man, including the universe? Are man and the earth central to the universe, or are we just an accident that happens on occasion? The following excerpt is from a feature on this website titled "Ever Learning:"

In six days, God created all that you see. The host of Heaven was created on the fourth day for the purpose of serving the earth. The earth is the center of attention. Stephen Hawking in his book, A Brief History of Time, seems to be tripping over the truth. He reports:

Now at first sight, all of this evidence that the universe looks the same whichever direction we look in, might seem to suggest there is something special about our place in the universe. In particular, it might seem that if we observe all other galaxies to be moving away from us, then we must be at the center of the universe. There is, however, an alternate explanation: the universe might look the same in every direction as seen from any other galaxy, too. This, as we have seen, was Friedmann's second assumption. We believe it only on grounds of modesty: it would be most remarkable if the universe looked the same in every direction around us, but not around other points in the universe! [End of quote]

The observable evidence shows the earth as the center of the universe. [End of quote]

The Word of God clearly tells us that the world was created for and to be inhabited by man:

🌍 Psalm 115:15-16:

15 Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.

16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

🌎 Isaiah 45:18:

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.   

Let’s let the scientists speak for themselves.  The following paragraphs are from the book Does God Exist?, edited by Dave Miller, PhD.  Excerpts follow:

In the interview with Stein, Dawkins went on to say concerning the supposed alien creators, “But that higher intelligence would, itself, had to have come about by some ultimately inexplicable process. It couldn’t have just jumped into existence spontaneously.”  So, the alien creators, as Dawkins himself admits, have been strapped with the laws of nature as well.  Thus, the problem of abiogenesis is merely shifted to the alien’s abode, where the question of the origin of life must still be answered.

Bottom line: life is evidence of design, and by implication, an intelligent designer.  Believing that aliens are life’s designer is an admission of that truth. Writing in New Scientist, Dawkins admitted, “The more statistically improbable a thing is, the less we can believe that it just happened by blind chance. Superficially, the obvious alternative to chance is an intelligent Designer.”  Sadly, the atheist simply cannot bring himself to accept the clear cut “obvious alternative” that is staring him in the face.

“We have to figure out a way to explain all of this design in nature.”  

Geoge Ellis and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, Joseph Silk, wrote in 2014 in Nature: “This year, debates in physics circles took a worrying turn.  Faced with difficulties in applying fundamental theories to the observed Universe, some researchers called for a change in how theoretical physics is done.”  Ironically, the “difficulties” theoretical physicists have encountered have become considerable enough that, apparently, going beyond nature is necessary.  According to cosmologist Bernard Carr of Queen Mary University in London, a supernatural option of some sort is demanded. He warned cosmologists to accept the inevitable implications of the evidence: “If you don’t want God, you’d better have  multiverse.” The multiverse has, therefore, been latched onto by many naturalists to try to explain away the “difficulties” facing physicists without resorting to God, even though, among other issues with it, there is absolutely no evidence for its existence.  Lee Smolin said, “We had to invent the multiverse,” and according to Lawson Parker, writing in National Geographic, it arose from our “imagination.” The use of our imagination to determine where we came from certainly sounds like today’s “science” is moving ever further into the realm of fiction.

According to Tim Folger, writing in Discover magazine, “The idea that the universe was made just for us—known as the anthropic principle—debuted in 1973.”  Since then, the mountain of evidence supporting the principle has drastically grown in elevation.  Consider, for example:

⬥In a 2011 article, under the heading “Seven Questionable Arguments” for the multiverse, Ellis discussed argument number four: “A remarkable fact about our universe is that physical constants have just the right values needed to allow for complex structures, including living things. … I agree that the multiverse is a possible valid explanation for [fine-tuning examples]; … arguably, it is the only scientifically based option we have right now.  But we have no hope of testing it observationally.”  [Notice that the multiverse is “the only scientifically based option,” and yet “we have no hope of testing it observationally.” Doesn’t that make it an “unscientifically based option” based on naturalistic thinking?

⬥Folger quotes Linde in Discover magazine:

“We have a lot of really, really strange coincidences, and all of these coincidences are such that they make life possible,” Linde says.  Physicists don’t like coincidences.  They like even less the notion that life is somehow central to the universe, and yet recent discoveries are forcing them to confront that very idea. … Call it a fluke, a mystery, a miracle.  Or call it the biggest problem in physics.  Short of invoking a benevolent creator, many physicists see only one possible explanation: Our universe may be but one of perhaps infinitely many universes in an inconceivably vast multiverse. … Advocates argue that, like it or not, the multiverse may well be the only viable non-religious explanation for what is often called the “fine-tuning problem”—the baffling observation that the laws of the universe seem custom-tailored to favor the emergence of life. … “If there is only one universe,” Carr says, “you might have to have a fine-tuner. If you don’t want God, you’d better have a multiverse.”

Notice: Physicists cannot help but acknowledge the truth of the Teleological Argument (intentional design) for the existence of God.  The universe seems to have been perfectly designed—with detailed fine-tuning—just for us.  Design demands a designer.  Resorting to belief in the multiverse is a concession by naturalists that we have been right all along: there exists an “unseen realm.”  But rather than concede God, naturalists invent the evidence-less, imaginary multiverse. Ironically all the while, the multiverse is itself a supernatural option, although once again, without any evidence to support it. [End of quotes]

So their conclusion is: If there’s no God, then there must be an invisible multiverse, or a megaverse, that is not discernable to the naked eye, which is the creator of all that is, and it ultimately rules and dictates all outcomes.  Here they go again, knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door.  They have arrived at the invisible Kingdom of God, at the God who has created all that is, at the God who ultimately rules and dictates all outcomes.  They have arrived at Luke 17:20-21:

20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

These wise academics have arrived at the invisible Kingdom of God, which they are calling the “multiverse,” but they can’t come in.  This place is only entered into on one’s knees.  [End of quotes]

Some additional paragraphs follow concerning the anthropic principle and our unique earth, from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Noah & Humans in Outer Space:”

Isaiah 45:18:

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

God created the earth and its universe to support mankind and the world’s lifeforms, a principle that science calls the Anthropic Principle—everything made for man.

The following excerpts are from Dr. Grant Jeffrey’s book, Creation:

Professor Lawrence Henderson of Harvard University acknowledged that scientific evidence confirms that our solar system was endowed with unique characteristics that prepared it to be a habitable environment for living organisms, including human life.

The great difficulty appears to be that there is here no possibility of interaction.  In our solar system, at least, the fitness of the environment far precedes the existence of the living organisms.

In other words, there is no rational, credible, materialistic explanation for the fact that our solar system, and Earth itself, are uniquely fitted to accommodate human life unless God created all of this Universe according to His divine purpose as the Scriptures declare: “The Earth hath he given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16). 

A NASA astronomer, John O’Keefe, wrote about the remarkable nature of the Universe:

We are, by astronomical standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures… If the Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence.  It is my view that these circumstances indicate the Universe was created for man to live in.

Paul Davis, respected professor of theoretical physics, acknowledged that the recent discoveries in astronomy strongly support the conclusion that there must be a supernatural Designer who created  the Universe in the remarkably fine-tuned manner that allows the Earth and humanity to exist. 

There is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all … it seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s numbers to make the Universe. … The impression of design is overwhelming. [End of quotes]

The earth was made to be inhabited by man, and outer space was not.  Those Sunday schooled among us knew it all the time. [End of quotes]

The search continues for “another earth.”  This feature in the May 2024 issue of Scientific American wonders, “When We Find Earth 2.0, What’s Next?” Excerpts follow:

And, yes, the list includes many Earth-size worlds.  Of the 5,500 or so exoplanets found to date, about 100 are close in size to our home planet. But there’s more to Earth than just its size.

If you’re looking for an exact replica—say, with Earth’s size, mass and composition, as well as breathable air and drinkable water—those odds look pretty long.  Planetary formation involves a lot of random variables that affect how a planet forms and evolves over time.  Even small changes can lead to dramatically different planetary evolution, and many of these variables interact.  For example, a planet a little bit warmer than Earth—perhaps orbiting a hotter star or closer to a cooler star—could wind up with a runaway greenhouse effect that boils its oceans and eventually heats its desiccated surface to the melting point of lead.  There but for the grace of Venus go we.

Even the very notion of habitability is fuzzier than you might think.  There are icy moons in the outer solar system that have oceans of water under their frozen surfaces, as well as other conditions potentially conducive for life.  Eternal darkness in temperatures just above freezing may not sound like Eden, but it could be paradise for life that evolved there.

All this is to say we don’t think we’ve found a planet orbiting another star that’s just like Earth.  For one thing, we don’t know enough about the atmospheres and chemical compositions of these worlds to say whether they’re Earth-like.  Of the 100 Earth-sized exoplanets mentioned earlier, only three also have roughly Earth’s mass and receive about the same amount of light and heat from their host star.

When I’m asked about Earth 2.0, the implicit part of the question is whether we can travel to it and live there. Simply put, we can’t.  So why look if we can’t go?

Because—to paraphrase a possibly apocryphal answer to a similar question—it’s probably there. We look because we want to know.

It may also help us answer the most fundamental question humans have ever had: How did we get here?  For millennia this question has inspired speculation, myth, religion, and philosophy.  With a distant blue-white world hovering in the eyepiece, it becomes science.  Knowable.  And then we can, perhaps, indulge ourselves further.  If we find another habitable world, we can dare to crack open the door for the next Big Question: Are we alone? [End of quotes]

The headline of a four-page feature in the July/August 2024 issue of Discover magazine asks, “Is Earth the Only Goldilocks Planet?”  Excerpts follow:

In 2000, paleontologist Peter Ward and astronomer Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington in Seattle penned a controversial book, Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe. In it, they propose that Earth is an unusual world where complex lifeforms developed over an extended period.  They further assert that though simple, unicellular life may be abundant in the universe, complex life must be exceedingly rare.

In sharp contrast, noted Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astrophysicist Avi Loeb passionately argues in his book Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth: “Given the ubiquity of habitable planets, it is the height of arrogance to conclude that we are unique.”

As radio astronomer Alan Bridle of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia, succinctly puts it: “Habitable by what?”  He asks, “Supposing sentient creatures had happily evolved in an ocean under the ice of Enceladus or Europa, would they be mystified by arguments that the HZ (habitable zone) for water-dependent life does not extend as far as Mars?”

So, are Goldilocks worlds (like Earth) capable of fostering technologically-advanced lifeforms rare in our galaxy?  When Rare Earth was published, only about 100 exoplanets had been found, most of which were easy-to-detect gas giants.  What is the state of affairs two decades and some 5,000 planets later?

Ward and Brownlee argue that the right type of star system for hosting complex life is one like ours, with a single main sequence star, rocky planets in its HZ (habitable zone), and an outlying gas giant like Jupiter. The sun is G spectral class, which comprises about 9 percent of hydrogen-burning stars in the Milky Way.  M-class dwarf stars are the most common and longest-lived stars.  However, they seem less suitable because they bombard their planets with radiation from stellar flares.

Other key components in the supposition that Earths are rare are the presence of Jupiter, our relatively large moon, and plate tectonics.  Because Jupiter’s gravitational influence deflected asteroids and comets away from the early inner solar system, it lowered the frequency of Earth impacts and allowed life to thrive and evolve.  And the moon plays a crucial role by keeping our planet’s tilt around 23 degrees, which ensures seasonal cycles and ocean tides are not too extreme.  Our large satellite also generated tidal forces that induced plate tectonics in Earth’s crust.  Those processes are thought to allow steady evolutionary change, allowing life to diversify and grow more complex.

Also deemed crucial are liquid water and our planet’s magnetic field.  Water, as we know, is vital for life on Earth.  And our planet’s strong magnetic field shields its surface from harmful solar radiation and cosmic rays, so it likely facilitated the genesis of complex life.

Collectively, these considerations lead some to view our situation as so unlikely that other planets with beings as intelligent as us are improbable.  We may be alone in the galaxy.

The Great Filter, in a nutshell, posits that we might be alone because there are so many improbable steps in the evolution of higher intelligence that it is unlikely to occur multiple times.  Coupled with our potential to self-destruct, perhaps that’s why technologically advanced civilizations are rare or don’t last long, thereby explaining the Fermi paradox.  [The discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life, and the apparently high likelihood of its existence.]  

And finally, the question raised in 1950, noted here in a caption under a picture of physicist Enrico Fermi:

“But where is everybody?”

They consistently look in all the wrong places.  The six-page spread in the July/August 2024 issue of American Scientist headlines with “Alien Life is No Joke.”  The June 29, 2024 cover story is titled, “Our Cosmic Perspective,” and probes “The biggest questions about the universe and our place in it.”

They scratch their heads and search in vain because they are seeking another way. Dread the thought that God’s Word and His Christ had all the answers this whole time!  Be of good cheer, child of God, your faith in His Word will never be disappointed.  

GOD SAID, Luke 17:20-21:

20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

GOD SAID, Isaiah 45:18:

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

GOD SAID, Psalm 115:15-16:

15 Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.

16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

MAN SAID: I want a world without God and His Christ!  I want a universe without God and His Christ! That’s what I want, and it’s all about ME!

 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Brasch, K., “Is Earth the Only Goldilocks Planet?” Discover, July/August 2024

GodSaidManSaid, “An Invisible (Yet So Very Visible) Kingdom of God—Part 2” 

GodSaidManSaid, “Noah & Humans in Outer Space”

GodSaidManSaid, “The End from the Beginning (Father, What Would You Do if You Were Me?)”

Plait, P., “When We Find Earth 2.0, What’s Next?” Scientific American, May 2024

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