Jesus in Space | A Christian's Case for Manned Space Exploration
For Easter I decided, at long last, to publish this piece I wrote several years ago.
"The word “Earth” does not seem to bind us to a certain plot of land. It never has. It is a concept that constantly extends with our reach, and our reach is not near its potential, not by a long shot."
Jesus in Space | A Christian's Case for Manned Space Exploration -by Adam Holt
A few months ago I found myself standing on the side of a Florida causeway outside Cape Canaveral, waiting for a NASA rocket to launch a satellite to Mars. My fellow rocket enthusiasts, the @NASASocial group, stood alongside me. We were a diverse crew of social media mavens that NASA invited to the launch for PR purposes. There were teachers, astronomers, fighter pilots, ex-Navy SEALs, and even three volunteers for the Mars One Project, which will potentially give its crew a ticket to Mars. A one-way ticket to Mars to establish a colony there.
That caught my attention. Does it catch yours? Volunteers for the Mars One Project would forsake their lives here on Earth for a chance to land on truly foreign soil and maybe pioneer a way for us to live there--or die trying.
So as we heard the countdown and watched the rocket leap off the pad with that beautiful crunchy boom, a question came to me, rather unexpectedly, though I have asked it of myself many times:
Should Christians support space exploration, let alone manned space exploration? Just where do we think we're going?
It's one thing to launch satellites to study the failed Martian atmosphere, quite another to imagine sending these charming 20-somethings standing beside me to risk their lives on a foreign planet. Seems ludicrous, confounding, and brave.
And yet, watching the rocket ascend into the clouds, I empathized with the Mars One Project hopefuls. How could I not?
I am a Christian.
Consider my life: I believe Jesus Christ died for our sins and will one day return to establish a kingdom of love and peace upon the Earth. I give up a lot of things for that belief here on Earth. Likewise my space-crazed friends would give up life on Earth for their beliefs.
So why should Christians support space exploration? I believe they should, but not simply to empathize with space enthusiasts. First, consider why they shouldn't.
I can imagine this rationale for skepticism of space exploration: Look, God designed this world and planned for Adam and Eve to tend a garden. "Subdue the Earth," He said. Simple enough. Then our progenitors committed the original sin by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and utterly ruined God’s garden plan. Thus, separation from God. So Christ came to right that wrong and while he was at it enact a bigger plan for humanity to inhabit the Earth and also dwell eternally with the Creator God. Then Christ ascended into Heaven, and we Christians have been discussing the date, method, and means of His return ever since. Therefore, Christ is coming back to Earth. So why should we travel to the other planets? What's the point? We'll never get far anyway. We should spend our money and efforts here on Earth, taking care of the planet and its inhabitants, rather than running off to explore the rest of His creation.
Point taken, Straw Man, point taken. I agree with a number of your italicized remarks.
God did all of those things, and that was and is roughly His plan for His kingdom, with plenty of theological landmines worth tripping on if you like that sort of thing. I do, but now’s not the time. I want you to consider this counter argument to an Earthbound humanity and, consequently, an Earthbound Christianity.
God did indeed say to Adam and Eve to tend the garden. That was their charge. So what then was Christ's charge to us? To love the Lord, love our neighbor, and spread the gospel to the ends of the Earth.
Earth: my argument depends upon that word. Earth, which has been expanding since the beginning of our first recorded thoughts, which began in a garden, a plot of land big enough for Adam and Eve to tend. Was it 50 acres? 500? 500,000? It was their entire world, all which God revealed to them of His Earth.
But then they left the garden and the world grew in front of their eyes. A gate, and beyond the gate an expansive land, already populated it would seem. The Earth grew so large that Adam and Eve couldn't see from one side to the other. How many miles across was it?
Generations passed. And from there the Israelites journeyed in the desert, then were enslaved in Egypt. How big was the Earth then, getting fuller of people groups and bodies of water at every turn?
And on and on, as Galileo blasphemed and told us the terrestrial ball was not only huge but round, and as Columbus prepared to sail to India and bumped into terra incognita, and beyond it an unforeseen ocean that the West had not yet glimpsed. On and on the Earth expanded until finally Neal Armstrong put down a flag on a dusty rock and looked back at the blue and green spaceship we are all riding through the limitless universe that God designed. My point is this: the word “Earth” does not seem to bind us to a certain plot of land. It never has. It is a concept that constantly extends with humanity's reach, and our reach is not near its potential, not by a long shot. Neither, then, is the kingdom of God, as Christ calls it.
Dali, Ascension [1]
For the Christian, then, the Earth that Adam was given to subdue is humanity's start as well as Christ's returning point. He will indeed return in glory, and when he does, where will all the humans be? At least a handful likely will not be on Earth. They'll be on a space station. Would He hold the rest of us back from exploring the rest of His creation? What if He intended for us to do so? That seems equally plausible and within our abilities.
Humans use their abilities well in space. So many good things have come from our current exploration. Manned space exploration has thus far produced advances that help people on Earth live better lives. It has also lead nations to work toward common goals while exploring. Considering our terrible, Earthbound track record of exploration, and considering that the original US/USSR “space race” was a struggle for world power, it's refreshing to see a myriad of countries working together on the International Space Station—cooperation, not domination or exploitation.
From the ISS we push the boundaries of land--and of human achievement and understanding, even as we struggle in the land below to feed and clothe those in need. Why would we stop that good work on the edge of our atmosphere? Why not extend that work of togetherness to other inhabitable planets and moon in the solar system? In short, space is one of the few things we humans do right, in a way I hope one day our Creator will say, Well done, good and faithful servant.
Space won’t be a utopia, of course. After all, humans are the ones going there, and we tend to make a mess of things before we try to make them right, pure though our motivations seem be to be; however, it seems like we’re taking some very positive steps toward acting more, not less, like the people in Christ’s parables the farther we travel from the Earth.
Christ told us to go to the ends of the Earth, and the Earth just seems to keep expanding. In a matter of decades “Earth,” in those terms, will encompass near space and extend to Mars and possibly the moon. If the apostle Paul could travel to the ends of the Earth in his time, modern Christians should follow his example as they always have, even if it does call them beyond the comfort of the atmosphere that we call home.
May grace and peace be yours this Easter.
Adam
PS - NASA's MAVEN Project.
"The word “Earth” does not seem to bind us to a certain plot of land. It never has. It is a concept that constantly extends with our reach, and our reach is not near its potential, not by a long shot."
Jesus in Space | A Christian's Case for Manned Space Exploration -by Adam Holt
A few months ago I found myself standing on the side of a Florida causeway outside Cape Canaveral, waiting for a NASA rocket to launch a satellite to Mars. My fellow rocket enthusiasts, the @NASASocial group, stood alongside me. We were a diverse crew of social media mavens that NASA invited to the launch for PR purposes. There were teachers, astronomers, fighter pilots, ex-Navy SEALs, and even three volunteers for the Mars One Project, which will potentially give its crew a ticket to Mars. A one-way ticket to Mars to establish a colony there.
That caught my attention. Does it catch yours? Volunteers for the Mars One Project would forsake their lives here on Earth for a chance to land on truly foreign soil and maybe pioneer a way for us to live there--or die trying.
So as we heard the countdown and watched the rocket leap off the pad with that beautiful crunchy boom, a question came to me, rather unexpectedly, though I have asked it of myself many times:
Should Christians support space exploration, let alone manned space exploration? Just where do we think we're going?
It's one thing to launch satellites to study the failed Martian atmosphere, quite another to imagine sending these charming 20-somethings standing beside me to risk their lives on a foreign planet. Seems ludicrous, confounding, and brave.
And yet, watching the rocket ascend into the clouds, I empathized with the Mars One Project hopefuls. How could I not?
I am a Christian.
Consider my life: I believe Jesus Christ died for our sins and will one day return to establish a kingdom of love and peace upon the Earth. I give up a lot of things for that belief here on Earth. Likewise my space-crazed friends would give up life on Earth for their beliefs.
So why should Christians support space exploration? I believe they should, but not simply to empathize with space enthusiasts. First, consider why they shouldn't.
I can imagine this rationale for skepticism of space exploration: Look, God designed this world and planned for Adam and Eve to tend a garden. "Subdue the Earth," He said. Simple enough. Then our progenitors committed the original sin by eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil and utterly ruined God’s garden plan. Thus, separation from God. So Christ came to right that wrong and while he was at it enact a bigger plan for humanity to inhabit the Earth and also dwell eternally with the Creator God. Then Christ ascended into Heaven, and we Christians have been discussing the date, method, and means of His return ever since. Therefore, Christ is coming back to Earth. So why should we travel to the other planets? What's the point? We'll never get far anyway. We should spend our money and efforts here on Earth, taking care of the planet and its inhabitants, rather than running off to explore the rest of His creation.
Point taken, Straw Man, point taken. I agree with a number of your italicized remarks.
God did all of those things, and that was and is roughly His plan for His kingdom, with plenty of theological landmines worth tripping on if you like that sort of thing. I do, but now’s not the time. I want you to consider this counter argument to an Earthbound humanity and, consequently, an Earthbound Christianity.
God did indeed say to Adam and Eve to tend the garden. That was their charge. So what then was Christ's charge to us? To love the Lord, love our neighbor, and spread the gospel to the ends of the Earth.
Earth: my argument depends upon that word. Earth, which has been expanding since the beginning of our first recorded thoughts, which began in a garden, a plot of land big enough for Adam and Eve to tend. Was it 50 acres? 500? 500,000? It was their entire world, all which God revealed to them of His Earth.
But then they left the garden and the world grew in front of their eyes. A gate, and beyond the gate an expansive land, already populated it would seem. The Earth grew so large that Adam and Eve couldn't see from one side to the other. How many miles across was it?
Generations passed. And from there the Israelites journeyed in the desert, then were enslaved in Egypt. How big was the Earth then, getting fuller of people groups and bodies of water at every turn?
And on and on, as Galileo blasphemed and told us the terrestrial ball was not only huge but round, and as Columbus prepared to sail to India and bumped into terra incognita, and beyond it an unforeseen ocean that the West had not yet glimpsed. On and on the Earth expanded until finally Neal Armstrong put down a flag on a dusty rock and looked back at the blue and green spaceship we are all riding through the limitless universe that God designed. My point is this: the word “Earth” does not seem to bind us to a certain plot of land. It never has. It is a concept that constantly extends with humanity's reach, and our reach is not near its potential, not by a long shot. Neither, then, is the kingdom of God, as Christ calls it.
Dali, Ascension [1]For the Christian, then, the Earth that Adam was given to subdue is humanity's start as well as Christ's returning point. He will indeed return in glory, and when he does, where will all the humans be? At least a handful likely will not be on Earth. They'll be on a space station. Would He hold the rest of us back from exploring the rest of His creation? What if He intended for us to do so? That seems equally plausible and within our abilities.
Humans use their abilities well in space. So many good things have come from our current exploration. Manned space exploration has thus far produced advances that help people on Earth live better lives. It has also lead nations to work toward common goals while exploring. Considering our terrible, Earthbound track record of exploration, and considering that the original US/USSR “space race” was a struggle for world power, it's refreshing to see a myriad of countries working together on the International Space Station—cooperation, not domination or exploitation.
From the ISS we push the boundaries of land--and of human achievement and understanding, even as we struggle in the land below to feed and clothe those in need. Why would we stop that good work on the edge of our atmosphere? Why not extend that work of togetherness to other inhabitable planets and moon in the solar system? In short, space is one of the few things we humans do right, in a way I hope one day our Creator will say, Well done, good and faithful servant.
Space won’t be a utopia, of course. After all, humans are the ones going there, and we tend to make a mess of things before we try to make them right, pure though our motivations seem be to be; however, it seems like we’re taking some very positive steps toward acting more, not less, like the people in Christ’s parables the farther we travel from the Earth.
Christ told us to go to the ends of the Earth, and the Earth just seems to keep expanding. In a matter of decades “Earth,” in those terms, will encompass near space and extend to Mars and possibly the moon. If the apostle Paul could travel to the ends of the Earth in his time, modern Christians should follow his example as they always have, even if it does call them beyond the comfort of the atmosphere that we call home.
May grace and peace be yours this Easter.
Adam
PS - NASA's MAVEN Project.
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