A California reader inquires about the propriety of our space ventures. “Do we have any business in going to the moon?” The reader points to Psalm 115:16 as probable evidence that we sin in trying to go to other planets: “The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah; but the earth he has given to the children of men.”
It was on July 20, 1969, that Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buz Aldrin planted the first human footprints on the surface of the moon. If you were watching your television set on that historic evening, you remember that as Armstrong’s foot left the landing step of the lunar Module Taxi, he was heard saying: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” No human had ever walked there before, but for about two hours and fourteen minutes, two men roamed the moon‘s surface in the performance of a variety of chores.
Reactions to that historic event were mixed. The most common word used was “unbelievable.” It seemed like a dream. Many people stepped outside of their homes, gazed up at the silvery moon in the sky, and had a hard time convincing themselves that two men actually were walking on the surface of that distant round ball in the heavens. There had been those who had been quite convinced that God would never allow men to set foot on the moon. There were others who believed that the staggering cost ($350 million for one round trip in an Apollo spaceship) was too high, especially in the light of a multitude of needs right here on earth.
Does the Scripture have anything to say about our human ventures into space? Is there any clearly discernable direction in the Bible by which we can judge the “rightness” or “wrongness” of space exploration? Psalm 115:16, quoted above, can hardly be said to be a determining factor in our judgment. In that Psalm, the psalmist contrasts the idols of the heathen with the Lord God of Israel, and calls the people to honor the name of God. It is because God is the Creator of heaven and earth that He is to be praised by His people. But the psalm writer’s concept of heaven and earth appears limited, as evidenced by vs. 17 where he says: “the dead praise not Jehovah.” The Old Testament does not yet clearly reveal a heavenly church (ecclesia) where God is praised without ceasing, or a praising company consisting of angels as well as the spirits of people who died in the faith and a sharp contrast appears at this point between heaven and earth.
We must also remember that the word “heaven” or “heavens” is used in different ways in the Bible. To say, as the psalmist does in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork,” is to refer to that atmosphere above the earth, to that realm of space in which the sun and moon and stars are located. The Old Testament has no word for “universe,” and to express the idea of it, the phrase “heaven and earth” is frequently used.
But the word “heaven” is also used in the Bible for the place of God‘s abode (Ps. 2:4) as well as the abode of angels (Matt. 22:30). It is also to that place that all of us as believers will be taken after this life is over, into the immediate presence of God. But where is that? Is it far out in space somewhere? Is it really “up,” and if so, how far? Beyond this universe, and farther away than the farthest known planet?
Though Scripture is relatively silent about the details of heaven, we have reason to believe that there will be a renewal of this world. In II Peter 3, Peter speaks of the passing away of the heavens and the dissolving of the earth, and then says in vs. 13, “But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” This passage suggests that there will be a renewal out of the old world which will produce a purified universe. The point is this: we need not think of “heaven” as a place far away, millions or billions of miles from the earth, somewhere up in the sky, but only as another dimension, a spirit world for the present, to which we are not sensitive now in our finite humanness. Someday, when the end comes, God will bring forth a new heaven and a new earth out of the old, and we with body and soul shall dwell in God’s presence forever. But we won‘t have to travel billions of miles to get there.
In the light of these things, I do not believe we do violence to the will of God in our space explorations. He has created a marvelous universe, so much of which is yet beyond our understanding, but all of which is yet beyond our understanding, but all of which declares his glory (Ps. 19:1). If space exploration is done with the proper motivation (and it is here that we as Christians have an important role to play), then it too can be to the glory of God.
I conclude my comments by quoting the words of a leading scientist associated with NASA, Dr. Rodney W. Johnson, who is also a Christian. He said: “Most . . . scientists, engineers and technicians associated with the space program . . . who have a faith in God hold this faith strongly, as if their association with the space program had acted to reinforce their belief. . . . Men are looking for a new verification of their faith, and I expect the space program to provide just this sort of thing sooner or later . . . . This could take the form of the confirmation of a significant Bible truth.
“Our humanity is verified . . . by our response to this divine command (to subdue the earth). The more we arc able to do in a technical sense, the more human we become. God intended it to be this way, and us to behave this fashion. This event really demonstrates again, that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God. I have often said that scientific discoveries resulting from our space programs, may in the final analysis, be of lesser significance than the spiritual understanding derived from them.
“Reaching the moon, or Mars for that matter, must not be just another escape valve for an exploding population. It must not be another glorification of man and his technical achievements. Nor must it be permitted to become a substitute for theological meaning and spiritual expression in our day. Rather, it must be an extension of the revelation of God in nature. It must cause us to ask again the question: What is man that thou art mindful of him?” (Ps. 8).
