April 1, 2021

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This article was originally published as a chapter in the book “Design and Catastrophe: 51 Scientists Explore Evidence in Nature"

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At age eighteen I went to study astronomy at a university with the motto “Sol Iustitiae Illustra Nos” (Sun of Righteousness, shine upon us). A couple of years later this struck a chord and I accepted Christ as my Savior, adopting Psalm 19:1 as my favorite Bible verse: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” I started looking for relations between science and religion. This is what I found: when I learn about a character trait of God, I find it reflected in an astronomical situation or event; and, vice versa, many astronomical events or configurations point me to some character trait of God.

God Loves People

When I read Genesis 1, I often stand amazed at the brevity of the account of how the transformation of Earth from utter chaos into a habitable planet happened in just six days. Even more amazing, the origin of the cosmos, the extraterrestrial part of our immense universe, is announced in just thirty-nine words that are not part of the description of the six days. This creates the impression, not coincidental I believe, that Earth’s habitat and the creatures that live here are more important to God than the rest of creation. God loves the people created in His image.

Catastrophes

One only needs to read a few more pages in Genesis to find out that humans’ distrust of God’s love resulted in the Fall and the curse on creation. From that day forward, apart from moral and spiritual catastrophes, we read also about physical catastrophes with an apparently cosmic origin: the Flood in Noah’s days (water from heaven and from the depths of the earth, Gen. 6–8), and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (fire from heaven, Gen. 19), among others. The moral catastrophe of the Fall is reflected in nature’s disasters.

I will define a catastrophic event in the cosmos as a seemingly natural event causing loss of life and/or property on Earth. High-energy events in remote places that do no damage on Earth are not called catastrophes. I suggest that we should enjoy these as interesting phenomena that invite us to investigate further, to learn more about the behavior of matter in extreme conditions, as well as to learn about the Creator Himself.

God’s almighty power is shown in stellar outbursts beyond the solar system. A supernova can be as powerful as 1,000 kilonovae, each of which can be as powerful as 1,000 novae. Topping it all are gigantic outbursts, gamma ray bursts: although they last less than a second, they emit as much energy as the sun emits in one million years, with the potential of sterilizing any planet in their neighborhood and killing all life that might exist there.

While we may find comfort in the remoteness of Earth from these events, we must realize that our sun is an active star producing serious outbursts from time to time. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections fire streams of high-energy particles and radiation toward Earth. Major outbursts can disturb the electric grid, communication systems, Earth’s satellites (and the Global Positioning System, among other things), and air travel. Because of current society’s dependence on high tech, relatively minor disturbances can have serious consequences. However, major outbursts are relatively rare, and the more frequent, smaller outbursts do not do much harm. Science is also finding ever-better methods of forecasting solar weather, as the impact of the sun’s activity on Earth is now called.

Design

My early university years also marked the beginning of the space age, when the Russian Sputnik 2 carried a living being—Laika, the dog—into space. Since the Bible hints at the presence of other intelligent creatures in the universe (Neh. 9:6; Job 1:6; 38:7), the search for life on extrasolar planets (also called exoplanets) was on. On April 18, 2019, the number of confirmed exoplanets stood at 3,944.[1] In the face of the hazards described above, one wonders what chances life will have for existing on these planets. And, though red dwarfs—stars with less than half the sun’s mass—are the most numerous candidates for central stars of exoplanetary systems, their outbursts are far more energetic than our sun’s, making life around them almost impossible.

Earth’s location near a less active star, our sun, far away from the lethal ionizing radiation near the center of the Milky Way, with conditions—water in its three phases; an atmosphere protecting us from heavy bombardment by meteorites, comets, and asteroids; and conditions just right for photosynthesis—in perfect tune with the necessities of life, testify of an intelligent Designer whose primary objective is clearly the well-being of His many varied creatures.

Furthermore, the fundamental forces of nature (e.g., gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear forces) are fine-tuned, in many instances within extremely narrow margins, such that when just one parameter is out of tune, life cannot be sustained. Habitability is an exacting demand. The Bible points us to these character traits of God as order, omniscience, and planning.

Finally, Earth’s location in the cosmos and its position as a stable observing platform from which we can investigate the rest of the universe challenge us to investigate the universe and learn more about God’s character (Ps. 19:1). The knowledge of God and His character helps lead to eternal life (John 17:3). Whoever wants to study the universe will find in God a wise Guide who knows every detail of His grand Creation and who is willing to put us on the right track before we endeavor to investigate the universe (Isa. 40:26).

Conclusion

The Christian who looks at the Bible’s Creation report can find assurance that our Creator is in control of everything that happens in the universe when He announces at the end of Creation week that everything “was very good” (Gen. 1:31). In this view, the presence of catastrophic events, though scary, can be understood if we remember God’s foresight and promise—foresight of our moral failure resulting in the curse upon Creation, and promise of His plan to restore creation to its original glory (Gen. 3:16–19; Rom. 8:20–22; Rev. 21:5). Thus, catastrophes remind us of our faults, and design helps us to look forward to new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells and harmony is beyond our wildest dreams (Isa. 65:17; 1 Cor. 2:9; 2 Peter 3:13)

NOTES

[1] For the number of current exoplanets, see https://exoplanetarchive.ipac. caltech.edu [accessed April 22, 2019].

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Mart de Groot is both retired director of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland and a retired minister in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He holds a PhD in Astronomy from the State University of Utrecht. He has contributed to several books and published many articles in astronomical research, including Observed Evolutionary Changes in the Visual Magnitude of the Luminous Blue Variable P Cygni (together with H. Lamers), and At the Interface of Science and Religion.