Today’s Scripture Reading (May 19,
2015): Job 34
Bill Nye and
Buzz Aldrin agree, we must go to Mars. It is the next logical step in our
journey. Some scientists might argue that it would really be a home going since
they believe that life began not on the marshes of earth but on a water soaked Mars.
But life as we have experienced it here might have started on Mars, but it
would never have become what we know of as life there, that would take a very
specific set of conditions – conditions that exist only on Earth. Going to Mars
might be the essential next step for our species. As it stands, all of humanity
inhabits one small, frail, and vulnerable planet. All of our eggs are in one
basket, and maybe it is time to change that.
They also
argue that science needs a manned Mars mission. This generation of scientists
were spurred on by manned missions to the moon. But we haven’t been back to the
moon since 1972 (Apollo 17). Now it might be time to set our eyes a little
further away. As far as a permanent human presence is concerned, Mars is really
the only available site in our neighborhood. Venus, while the closest to the
Earth in size, has experienced an uncontrolled Green House Effect in its
atmosphere. The result is that Venus is the hottest place in our Solar System,
much hotter on average than Mercury which is the closest planet to the sun. Our
moon has no protective atmosphere, a must for long term human development. Mars
on the other hand has an atmosphere, admittedly a very weak one, but some scientists
believe that it might be able to be strengthened to make Mars a home for humans
– and a second basket for our eggs.
But all of
this is scientific conjecture. And we probably won’t know what we can do until
we try. But the key would seem to be in our ability to establish a stable
atmosphere there. It is the one thing that earth has that no other planet has.
However, there is also a warning for all of us here. Mars looks like it had a
stable atmosphere at some point in its past, but a rogue asteroid probably collided
with the planet tearing the atmosphere away (it might have even been one of
Mars two moons that caused the Martian disaster.) Venus has a stable atmosphere
on steroids. If there is a Global Warning example that we need to pay attention
to, it exists on our sister planet. This might be where we are headed if we are
not careful. Life depends on this breath that surrounds the earth. But that
breath has to exist within very narrow limits – too much or too little and we
are finished.
Elihu makes
a very valid statement. If God were to take away his providence, his spirit - his
breath, we would be no more. We know that his blue planet is more fragile than
even Elihu ever guessed. It sometimes seems that catastrophe must be hiding
around every corner. In many ways it is amazing that we have not suffered the
consequences of life in our solar system the way our two closest neighbors have
suffered. Either the rampant atmosphere of Venus or the rarified one of Mars
seem like they should be very real possibilities. Yet we are still here.
Scientists
might call it luck, or point to the pockmarked moon that has absorbed a number
of solar system impacts that might have been labeled for earth. Elihu might
call it the breath of God. I agree with Elihu. But it also raises the stakes a
little. This planet’s atmosphere is incredibly fragile. We can’t do anything
about the next asteroid that is headed our way; that we have to leave in the
hands of God. But we can and need to take steps to protect this delicate
atmosphere, this breath that God has leant to us – until the day he decides to
take it away.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 35
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