Evidence of Creation...
Between 1921 and 1926, our understanding of the universe changed. Hubble used a powerful telescope to look at the universe. Until then, we had thought the Milky Way
was the only galaxy.
But, Hubble saw something amazing...
The Milky Way galaxy, encompassing about
100 billion stars was only one of many galaxies in
the visible universe.
The sheer
quantity of galaxies we could see was incredible. Could each contain about 100 billion stars
(suns) like the Milky Way? Scientists believed that they probably did. At first, seeing so many galaxies out
there convinced evolutionary
scientists that our Earth must be a common planet. Robert Jastrow voiced this viewpoint when he said:
"The universe is populated by innumerable Earths and perhaps, innumerable forms of life."
Evolution teaches that all the elements needed for
life on our planet came into being by chance – by some stellar lottery. If Earth is common, and similar planets can be found throughout space, the idea that we evolved is easier to swallow. In fact, in order to prove that Earth evolved, evolutionists need the Earth to be common - not unique in the whole of the universe. But is this so?
Are carbon-based life-form planets rare or common in the universe? After all, the universe is a huge place... To answer this question, we must first identify the necessary factors that are required in order for a planet be habitable for carbon-based life-forms.
Extensive research has been done by NASA
and other scientists to determine what it takes to have complex life on a
planet.
They have come up with a list of about 20 critical factors. We don’t have time to address them all,
but we will look at 10 compelling factors required to support our fragile life
on Earth.
FACTOR #1: Liquid Water
In order for a planet to sustain life, it
must have liquid water. This is the first factor
scientists list as needed on our planet for us to survive. Why is water so essential?
Water can dissolve and transport the
chemical nutrients needed in carbon-based life-forms. In addition, water absorbs heat from the
sun which is critical to regulating the surface of the Earth’s temperature.
Interestingly enough, our Earth has exactly the right amount of water to
keep our planet healthy. If we had too
many continents and not enough sea, our climate would be thrown off balance
enough to make our planet an unhappy place, maybe even an unlivable place.
FACTOR #2: The Goldilocks Zone
A planet's distance from the sun is critical. There is an orbital region around the sun that NASA scientists call the "Goldilocks Zone". This is the narrow orbital band where it is not too hot and not too cold. In fact, only in this narrow band are the temperatures are just right to have liquid water on the planet.
If a planet has water, but is too far from the sun, the water freezes. If the planet is too close to the sun, the water boils and evaporates away. So the habitable Goldilocks Zone is relatively narrow.
Remarkably, to those who wish to believe
our Earth evolved by chance, we are positioned
perfectly in the habitable zone of our solar system.
As
the above picture shows, the location of a solar system’s habitable zone changes
depending on how large or small its sun happens to be.
If the Earth were just 5% closer to our sun than it is, our planet would be a lot like Venus. A runaway greenhouse effect would take place. Temperatures would reach about 900 degrees Fahrenheit.
What if the Earth were 20% farther from the sun than it is? If it were 20% farther away from the sun, carbon dioxide clouds would form in Earth's upper atmosphere. This would create on Earth the same sterile environment as we find on Mars. Mars has ice (non-liquid water), but water itself is not enough for a planet to be hospitable to Earth's complexity of life.
As it turns out, Earth is in just the right place in our solar system...
FACTOR #3: A Terrestrial Planet
In order to be habitable to Earth's life-forms, our planet also needs to be "terrestrial" (a rocky planet). Comparatively, Earth has a paper-thin
crust. If the crust of Earth were significantly
thicker, plate tectonics (a
process which recycles the Earth’s crust) could not happen.
Our Earth's crust is broken into more than a dozen tectonic plates. Like a great moving conveyor belt, this
tectonic action is continually recycling the Earth’s materials. Because of this action, the chemicals and
minerals needed to support carbon-based life are continually being provided. In other words, if it wasn’t for the fact
that our planet has plate tectonics
continually renewing vital minerals and chemicals, we would eventually run out
of the things needed to support life on this planet. Thus, plate tectonics is a
vital part of keeping us all alive.
FACTOR #4: Magnetic Fields
Deep within our planet's interior, the movement of liquid iron (in the magma) generates magnetic fields around the Earth. This protective magnetic field is
essential to complex life as we have it on Earth. Without it, we would quickly become as
barren of life as Mars.
This is because of the sun’s powerful
solar wind. Our magnetic field protects us from the
harmful effects of the sun’s solar wind. These solar winds harmlessly sweep past
our planet, because of the protective shield created
by our Earth’s magnetic fields.
FACTOR #5: Earth's Mass
Have you ever wondered what would happen to life on Earth if our planet's mass were smaller? Probably not! We are so blessed to have all the factors required for habitable life that we don't even think about them. But, if Earth's mass were smaller our magnetic field would be weaker, allowing the sun to strip away our Earth's atmosphere. Just this factor alone would be enough to make Earth as barren as Mars.
FACTOR #6: Our Oxygen/Nitrogen Atmosphere
From space, Earth's atmosphere seems to glow like a thin, blue ribbon of light. It is actually less than 1% of the
planet’s diameter.
Our atmosphere is made up of 78% nitrogen, 21%
oxygen, and 1% carbon dioxide. This is the perfect mix to provide us
with a temperate climate, protection from the sun’s radiation, and it is the correct
combination of gases necessary for liquid water and complex carbon-based life. Once again, our Earth has exactly what it needs to support the life here. Our atmosphere is absolutely perfect for our
needs.
FACTOR #7: A Large Moon
Compared with the other planets which we can
observe in space, our Earth (for it’s size) has a large moon. Because of it’s size, the moon generates
a powerful gravitational pull on the Earth, which stabilizes the Earth’s
rotation on its axis. Our moon is one quarter of the size of the Earth. Because of the moon’s size, it keeps the
Earth tilted at a constant 23.5° angle. This
gives us relatively mild seasonal changes. It is
one main reason, why Earth is the only planet in our solar system with mild
enough climates to sustain life.
FACTOR #8: The Type of Star We Orbit
We orbit a sun called a "spectral type G2 dwarf star". And this is the perfect kind of star for our sun to be - to suit our needs.
The ‘G2’ classification of our Sun
indicates it has a surface temperature of approximately 10,000° Fahrenheit
(5,500° Calvin), about the middle of the temperature scale for stars, giving it
a white color. Yet, this
happens to be the perfect temperature for Earth’s sun to be.
Big as it is, our sun is actually small
for a star. Betelgeuse (located in the shoulder of
Orion) is an M2Ib red supergiant and physically one of the largest stars known. If Betelgeuse took the place of our Sun
its outer surface would extend between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter.
Antares (Alpha Scorpii) is also a red
supergiant and extremely large – about 700 times the diameter of our Sun and
one of the brightest stars in the heavens. Yet, none of
these star sizes would work for Earth. Isn’t it amazing that our sun happens to
be exactly the right size to suit our needs?
Not only are the size of our sun and our distance from it vital
factors to life on Earth, but also our
orbiting path around the sun is critical. Scientists
have found that most orbiting bodies in space orbit in an elliptical path. Notably,
our Earth does not orbit in the usual elliptical path. The distance between the earth and
the sun varies less than 0.33% ! Earth's orbit is almost circular. Why is that important ? It
minimizes temperature change as the earth revolves around the sun.
Not only does earth have a circular orbit,
but many of the planets in our solar system also have circular orbits. The orbit of Venus is CIRCULAR -
this is very important because Venus' size is like earth's and an eccentric
orbit (or elliptical shaped orbit)
would destabilize EARTH's orbit! The orbit of all the Giant Planets
are circular - again, this is very important because their gravitational forces
are huge and an eccentric orbit would destabilize Earth's orbit. What's the chance of so many
planets having near-circular orbits in our solar system by accident?
Consider also, the size of our sun and
our position near it. If the sun were less massive, like 90% of
the stars in our galaxy, the habitable zone would be smaller. To remain within its boundaries, the
Earth would have to be positioned closer to its star.
Our sun is exactly the right size to have
a perfect habitable zone.If our sun were smaller than it is, the
habitable zone that our planet would have to orbit in would be much closer to
the sun. If this were
so, the increased gravity from our closeness to the sun, would lock our Earth’s
rotation, keeping us from turning as we orbit
around the sun. Naturally, this would
mean that one side of our planet would always be in daytime and the other side
of the planet would always be in night time.
This
would limit plant life to one side of Earth.
In fact, animal life would be limited to one side of Earth as well. But, this isn’t the most serious problem. No longer rotating, one side of the Earth
would continually face the sun giving it increased radiation from solar flares. The other side would be dark, in a state
of continual cold and ice. Complex life could not long tolerate
these drastic extremes.
And so,
amazingly we find that our sun just happens to be exactly the right size to
give earth a perfect habitable zone.
FACTOR #9: Our Location in Our Galaxy
Scientists have now discovered that not
only is our planet in the exact right location in our solar system, orbiting an
absolutely perfectly sized sun
at exactly the perfect distance, but also, we are in the exact right location
in the Milky Way galaxy. If we
were closer to the middle of the galaxy, Earth would be in a very dangerous
place. Black holes are common, stars go super nova with too great a
frequency. Our fragile life forms would
not likely survive long if our planet were positioned nearer the center of the
galaxy.
Not
only are we placed in the safest spot for us to be, we are also placed between
the spirals, not within a spiral. This means that we get a clear view of the
night sky, enabling us to see the constellations and learn. Thus,
we find that we are not only placed in the safest place, but also in a place
where we will get the best view of the heavens enabling us to learn and
scientifically grow.
FACTOR #10: Giant Planet "Guardians"
Another factor needed to support Earth's life is the presence of several gas giant planets in a protective ring orbiting about us. These gas giants protect us from most comet impacts and from large space debris.
The picture above is taken with infrared
showing many comets hitting Jupiter at once. The Giant Planet Jupiter (and in a
lesser amount, Saturn and Neptune) is shielding Earth from many
asteroids/comets by drawing this space debris to itself and away from hitting
Earth. Jupiter is in fact "taking the hits" for Earth.
Evidence of this is the Collision
of the comet Shoemaker-Levi 9 with Jupiter in
July 1994. The picture at the right shows the
impacts on Jupiter from this comet. From
images like these, scientists have come to understand that were it not for the
presence of the gas giant planets orbiting around us like guardian angels, the
fragile life on our planet would have likely been destroyed long ago.
We've only looked at 10 factors necessary for the like of life such as we find on Earth. But when scientists
began to compile a list of all the factors needed to support the fragile
carbon-based life forms we have on Earth, it was a list of twenty factors!
When scientists saw this huge list and
realized that our little planet just happens to
have all these critical factors, some began asking themselves what the odds
were that these life-supporting factors all came to be here by chance.
To determine the probability that all these factors could be present on Earth by mere chance (an evolutionary accident), scientists came up with a complex equation...
N x fsg x fgnz x fcr x fsp x fcnz x np x fj x fc x fo x fm x fcp x fmn x fw x ft x fl x fi x fr x flc x flt...
Then, they assigned a conservative 1 in 10 value to each factor deemed necessary for Earth's life, creating the following math equation:
1011 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10
This comes out to one thousandth of one millionth that all these factors are present on Earth by chance evolution!
By comparison, the odds of winning the lottery are 18 million to 1... At the lowest estimate, there is a
one in a trillion chance that the earth would get
all 20 factors needed to support our life. If the same odds of winning were applied to the lottery,
no one would ever win. And
yet, the supposed scientific theory of evolution states that Earth has done
just that.
Many believe that by random chance we possess all 20 vital factors which allow for
carbon-based life to exist here. What
does all this mean? For one thing, the idea that there are numerous planets
just like Earth throughout the Milky Way galaxy is totally blown out of the
water. Scientists admit that there are not likely to be any other planet here like ours for there
just aren’t enough stars in the galaxy to handle those odds! This can only mean one thing – the earth is a
special place – unique. And that it was put here by design, rather than by accident.
Two, former evolutionist scientists, considering all this, were converted to believing in the Creator. They wrote about it all in their book, The Privileged Planet (shown below).
What a wonderful God we have! And seeing all His tender watch-care over us, planning for our every need, far beyond out own awareness, gives us a huge reason to trust Him.
Isaiah 26:3 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in Yahweh for ever: for in the Yahweh JEHOVAH is everlasting strength."
