Artemis II Earthrise

 After 50 years, humanity has returned to Earth’s Moon. Many US and world residents were fixated on the exploits of four astronauts taking part in a startling space journey on April 1-10, 2026.  The astronauts did not land on the lunar surface as did US astronauts in 1969-1972, but as they looped around the far side of our only satellite they were more distant from our planet than any human had ever been. The astronauts viewed the far side of our lunar companion. A few others have orbited above the surface without walking on the surface.

Imagine being in the vicinity of the Moon and looking back on Planet Earth. Our blog posts have referenced this scenario. Our Apollo 8 astronauts were in orbit around the moon on 12/24/68 when they had a life changing worship experience. Here is a link to our 2014 post:

https://jasscience.blogspot.com/2014/12/overview-effect.html

The US Artemis II astronauts had a similar worship experience during their April 1-10 trip to the Moon. Viewing Planet Earth in its entirety surrounded by deep blackness with a view of distant stars is an incomprehensible experience for a human. The Artemis II astronauts easily perceived entire coastlines, rivers, thunderclouds, and an illuminated South Pole. The space travelers could see auroras and occasional meteor flashes when tiny meteoroids impacted the Moon’s surface.They also viewed a 53-minute total solar eclipse during their loop around the Moon and witnessed an “Earthrise” when our home planet apparently “rose” over the moon’s horizon.  

The perils of the trip aboard the powerful space vehicle ranged from a bumpy ride and elevated g-forces during launch to a radio blackout when the astronauts looped behind the moon after their long journey. Perhaps the most frightening experience occurred when the space travelers returned to our planet prior to splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, CA. Frictional heat of 3000 degrees from air impacting the capsule at 24,000 mph poses a significant hazard. Our space travelers were insulated from the searing heat.

We challenge our readers to envision a circular sphere—Planet Earth—suspended in the darkness of outer space. This sphere is home to 8.3 billion human souls created in God’s image, and also home to over two million separate identified species of animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi in many separate phyla. This variety of life on our planet is known as biodiversity. Many millions of species are yet to be discovered.

Holy Scripture describes not only biodiversity, but also the beauty and design of physical features of Planet Earth. Psalm 8 contains a rich tapestry of worship topics:    

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens…..When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”  (Psalm 8:1-4 NIV)

What is humanity’s 21st century visual perspective of our planet? Ancient Scripture writers anticipated our 20th and 21st century discoveries in outer space. With our flights to the Moon, the 1968-1972 Apollo pilots and the recent Artemis astronauts, humans have broken loose from the Earth’s gravity and entered the Moon’s gravitational field when they were about 9/10 of the way to the lunar surface. Imagine the impact of the “overview effect” referenced in the link above. Humans gaze back at Planet Earth from distant space. It is not difficult to give God the glory when we look back to Earth from outer space.    

  

  

  

Evolution Confusion

 What is confusing about evolution? The complex, multidimensional topic has been alternately defended and attacked since Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species was published in 1859. Stephen J. Gould (1941-2002), famous evolutionary biologist and science historian, declared evolution to be both theory and fact. 

Biology teachers in our public schools mostly endorse a powerful statement: “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” That statement was voiced by a famous geneticist, Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975). Most biology students in our secular public schools have been taught evolutionary theory relentlessly in their biology classrooms. 

The theory of evolution has been crafted by an army of scientists who offer an explanation for the theory. Few people would object to the definition of evolution as “change over time.” Biological entities have indeed changed slightly over the vast ages of time. These changes are known as microevolution. This form of evolution does NOT result in formation of a new species. Microevolutionary changes over time are caused by the popular phenomena termed gene flow and genetic drift. Detailed discussion of these issues is beyond the scope of our current blog. If we research the topic of evolution, most secular biologists currently include gene flow and genetic drift in their explanations for the cause of organic evolution. These modern explanations have joined Charles Darwin’s premise of natural selection. The proposal of mutation originated several decades after Darwin. Gene flow and genetic drift are concepts developed more recently. Taken together, evolutionary scientists possess strong confidence that organic evolution is a FACT.    

Macroevolution, if it were to occur, would result in a new species. This distinction between microevolution and macroevolution is important. Organic evolution has become a cultural icon. The term evolution has been applied in many other contexts: linguistic, cosmological, cultural, and societal, to name a few. Depending on the source of one’s research, more than half of our population believes in naturalistic evolution. Many Christians claim to be theistic evolutionists or evolutionary creationists. They believe God oversees or guides naturalistic processes which result in the production of novel species.

People who do not believe in naturalistic evolution are known as creationists. They believe living entities were originally produced when God, the Creator of All Things, spoke them into existence—ex nihilo—out of nothing. Likewise, in the beginning, God spoke all matter, energy, space, and time into existence ex nihilo—out of nothing.   

The term evolution has been mischaracterized. Our young people have been taught a form of evolution known as “molecules to man” evolution. This evolutionary doctrine has been defined by Charles Darwin as follows: “… probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from one primordial form, into which life was first breathed.” Charles Darwin uttered this statement in 1859. Darwin sounded like a creationist when he used the phrase “…into which life was first breathed.” Darwin, however, believed in naturalistic evolution.

Molecules to Man evolution has been illustrated artistically by a persuasive “phylogenetic tree.” The tree has one trunk representing a simple one-celled life form. The many branches on this tree illustrate increasingly complex organisms. Separate branches are tipped with many diverse species of life. The artistic tree is sometimes called the TOL—the “tree of life” in evolutionary biology.

The concept that God created living things, ex nihilo, out of nothing, does not conform to evolutionary theory. In theological terms, God SPOKE living entities into existence. In contrast, evolutionary theory is a naturalistic, materialistic theory. Evolutionists claim the actions of a divine Creator of life are unnecessary. New species are produced naturalistically from previously existing matter according to evolutionary thinking.

A powerful creationist scripture verse is Psalm 139:14: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (NIV). The origin of life is a divine miracle.  The existence and functionality of living entities are also divine miracles. We rejoice in the miracle of life.