Vinnie Harned
An issue that has had me concerned for quite some time is the acceptance there is over the large amounts of money spent on space exploration. Now don’t get me wrong. I love to study space, and I think that the more we study the universe, the more we see what a powerful God we serve. I also believe that God is pleased when we learn more about his creation.
But when it comes to the billion-dollar scale space research, are we being good stewards of the money that God has given us? Here’s my view.
The Economy
One thing we have to remember is the fact that; at the current time in our Nation’s history: all the money we have to spend is Monopoly money (the only difference, is that you think it’s worth something). Should we be spending billions of dollars in Monopoly money to explore space? This doesn’t seem at all the time to be exploring space.
Ungodly Scientists
Back in the good old days, the scientific chief at NASA was a Creationist named Werner Von Braun. Dr. Braun knew there had to be a creator who had ordained everything they were studying. As long as he was scientific chief he continued to give credit to their abilities to the God that created the entire universe.
Unfortunately, Braun is no longer at NASA, and ever since his death in 1977, NASA has forgotten the credit Dr. Von Braun gave to the Lord for their achievements,
I remember visiting NASA back in 2006. I was still quite young at the time, but I still remember there being a lot of secular teaching in NASA. Most of what was being drummed into our heads there was about searching for alien life, which of course; I didn’t believe existed.
As far as I can see, I don’t see any sense of supporting such an atheistic group. Even if they are exploring the cosmos, they certainly aren’t giving God any credit for any of their abilities.
There are many too many atheists who share you’re opinion that we shouldn’t explore all of God’s creation past this this planet. That makes me think. Our old youth pastor used to us stories of astronauts who would get saved all the time in space. Why? Because EARTH is the domain of satan! God cast the evil one to earth from heaven. Once the astronauts got out of the devil’s domain up to where he has no power, they see the truth! There were so many Christian astronauts in NASA, and that’s why the government shut down the space shuttles and plans to go back to the moon are on “hold”. Please don’t fall into the same trap!
I think that there needs to be some clarification. It’s not that I think we should not be exploring our Universe. The problem is that the way scientists are doing it today, they are not being good stewards of what God has given us. It’s one thing to build space telescopes and visit the moon. It’s quite another thing to build multi-billion dollar rovers to search for life.
The Earth is not satan’s domain. Man was given dominion over the Earth. The evil one is merely an intruder. If you really want to be accurate about satan’s “domain,” consider the verse (Ephesians 2:2), “…the prince of the power of the air…” Now to my main point: consider how the devil bows his knee to God and that he cannot do anything unless God Himself allow it, as evident in the Book of Job. How then can the devil prevent the reception of salvation when the devil must first entreat God? If God intends to save a person, then He will save that person, as it is written (Deuteronomy 32:39), “neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.” What can the devil do to stop God’s saving hand reaching out for the lost? Whether one is on the moon or on the Earth, it makes no difference as to how easily one can be saved. As for the gov’t “shutting down the space shuttles,” they were “retired” due to their age and the number of times it was used. Just like one is not likely to drive a car with 400,000 miles through America’s largest desert for fear of it breaking down and perhaps even costing his life, the space shuttles were in turn retired for the same reason. With every use, the next use becomes more dangerous.
As for Vinnie’s article, I would agree that exploring the universe for life is a waste, however otherwise.
All creationists who praise the philosophy of Werner Von Braun should remember that during World War II he willingly worked for Nazi Germany, creating the terror weapon (the V2 rocket) and managing its construction using slave labor. These rockets were launched against civilian targets in England near the end of the war. Because of his knowledge and experience in creating this weapon, the United States government was willing to overlook these activities rather than have him tried at Nuremburg.
I completely understand your concern, Vinnie, about our government “wasting time and money” on searching for life. You’re right about our economy and about the number of atheistic scientists steering space programs.
However, I feel a little differently. Atheists have been involved in science for as long as Believers, and however blind, have made significant contributions. I don’t believe they’ll find aliens in space, but searching for life doesn’t just mean looking around for little green men. They research planetary geography, magnetic fields, relationship to its sun, etc. All this has impact on our own understanding of Earth as much as any other planet.
As for our economy, it’s just my personal opinion that science, no matter the cost, should continue on at full blast. I’m a science student and looking forward to a career as a scientist–so I’m probably biased to the extreme in that respect. But as I said, you’re right about our economy, and I completely understand your viewpoint.