The vastness of space is probably something most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about. We know it’s a big universe out there, but since that doesn’t affect putting food on the table, how we’re going to pass this week’s exam, who has the cheapest gas, or anything else in everyday life, who cares, right? After all, we have enough to deal with on this side of the atmosphere without having to worry about what’s happening billions of light years away.
But then something happens to finally draw your attention skyward. Maybe you’re out walking the dog at night and glance up at the full moon. Perhaps it’s a camping trip where sleeping “under the stars” gives you a chance to see more of the nighttime sky. Or maybe you’re going through a really tough time, so you look to the heavens while praying for God’s intervention. No matter the situation, you find yourself staring upward and wondering why you haven’t ever noticed how big the “out there” really is.
Did you see the recent news about NASA releasing the first photos from the Webb Space Telescope? The images are awe-inspiring. At first glance, you might think you’re looking at something out of a science fiction movie or a digital illustration. It’s funny how we’re conditioned to think “fake” when confronted with something bigger than our limited understanding. Yet these images are not fake; they’re actual photos of deep space. One of them is included in this blog post. Can you even fathom the number of galaxies that are in that photo? You live in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is about 100,000 light years from end to end and could contain over 400 billion stars. And ours is just one of at least two trillion galaxies in observable space. Yes, it’s a big universe.
In a previous post, I pondered why God would create a universe that is so vast. Of course, that questioning assumes you and I both acknowledge God and believe His account of creation. If you’d rather believe in the “big bang,” the theory of evolution, and in naturalism and atheism, you still have to grapple with the same question: why is the universe so big? I submit that the Christian viewpoint offers the best and most hopeful answers. We would expect an infinite and omnipotent God to “go big”—to create a universe that displays His awesomeness. As I said in that former post, I also believe He created a big universe to accommodate what was supposed to be an immortal and growing population of humans. Eventually, one planet would not contain us. How cool would it be for us to explore all that space, all those stars, all those galaxies? And we’d have an eternity in which to do it. That sounds better to me than: matter is infinite, the universe is expanding, and eventually it will all implode.
In my forthcoming novel, Planet of Eden, I explore these things through the experiences of six divergent people who are accidentally taken from this planet by alien humans from another galaxy. What would happen if we came face to face with beings from another world and found they are just like us (or are they)? What would that do to science, philosophy, religion? And what if it was something that was never meant to happen? Planet of Eden is not a heady book, but it’ll get you thinking as you become absorbed into a story of adventure, exploration, romance, acceptance, and finding what was once lost. With the first book nearly ready for publishing, I’m now looking forward to writing the next book of the series. How far will the story go? Hard to say. It’s a big universe!
