Sometimes I start these conversations not knowing where they are going to end. This is one of those times. The subject today concerns current events, the universe and religion. Now, you can see why I don’t know where this is headed. Any one of the topics is complex enough in its own right without mixing them all together.
I think it began with the Artemis 2 lunar flyby of the far side of the moon last April, a total distance of about 695,000 miles and more than 230,000 miles from Earth. Staggering numbers almost beyond human comprehension.
That led me to a series called How the Universe Works that had originally aired on the Discovery Channel back in 2011. I found it on HBO Max last month. When you look at the size and scope of the universe, the Artemis 2 trek was like an inch to a million miles or more. This is a big and very complex universe. And this planet we call earth amounts to one grain of sand on the beaches of St. Simons.
And that gets me to current events. As I write this, we are at war with Iran. Iran is at war with us and our allies. Israel is at war with Islamic terrorists. Russia and the Ukraine have been at war going on 5 years. There are civil wars in Sudan and Myanmar. Yemen and Haiti. According to data from the International Committee of the Red Cross, there are currently anywhere from 65 to 130 active armed conflicts globally. Peace on earth? Forget about it. And we think that earth is all there is? Forget that, too.
Our planet, which we seem hellbent on destroying, resides in a solar system that includes the Sun, eight planets, five dwarf planets, hundreds of moons, and thousands of asteroids and comets. Our Solar System is located in a galaxy known as the Milky Way. In addition to the Solar System, the Milky Way is estimated to contain another 100 billion to 400 billion stars and at least that number of planets.
There’s more. Scientists think there are at least two trillion galaxies from what they have been able to observe and the feeling is that there are even more yet to be seen. Several trillion galaxies with each containing hundreds of billions of stars? Maybe you can get your head around those numbers. I can’t. I can say that comparing our planet to a grain of sand on the beaches of St. Simons may be a gross understatement. What is not an understatement is that we are one tiny insignificant rock in a universe vast beyond our comprehension. And that brings me to religion.
I believe in God. If anything, the more I learn about the vastness of the universe, the more convinced I am of God’s presence. It’s called faith. I have it and I don’t need to justify it to anyone. God is not a he or a she or an it, something we can define in human terms. In the Bible, God says, “I Am Who I Am.” That pretty much sums it up for me. God is God.
For all my life, I have thought of God only in terms of this earth. Heaven and Hell. Adam and Eve. The Garden of Eden. Was that the work of God? Did God pick out earth from all the untold multi-trillions of planets to create a walking and talking man? (And woman.) Or did life on this earth form some 3.5 billion years ago through abiogenesis, a process in which life was created from non-living matter, as scientists maintain, and then evolved into who and what we are today?
The scientists interviewed on How the Universe Works surmised that there well could be other forms of life somewhere in our galaxy or beyond. They just haven’t found them yet. If so, did God put them there? Or was God a one-planet God? If so, why us? A bunch of fractious people who can’t get along with each other?
I don’t know the answers, but I am anxious to explore the questions. A small group of us with diverse backgrounds, including clergy, are planning to meet regularly and talk about all of this. I am convinced God approves of the discussions and is not threatened by our musings. God is I Am Who I Am and that’s not going to change. We are the ones who need to change.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
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