Spiritual Messages From Satellites
When the Russian Sputnik (Vostok 1) went into orbit around the earth in April 1959, the atheists in the Soviet regime declared that, “the Kingdom of God has come to an end. The Kingdom of man has now begun.” When in 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first man to circumnavigate the Earth in a satellite, on his return they further declared in his name that he did not see God, whom the majority of people on earth believe in. On the other hand, after the moon landing 50 years ago by the Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the voyage back to Earth Aldrin publicly broadcast the Old Testament Psalm 8:3-4: “When I considered the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him.”
Leaving aside the disparate views of the two political camps at the time, we discover that many eternal truths become more certain and more true, after each scientific success. For instance, astrophysicists have shown that our Universe continually expands, and yet every change is accompanied by a similar change in other parts of our “cosmos”, even in fractions of a second, and which if they did not occur would cause the collapse of the whole Universe.
Alan Sandage, winner of the Crawford prize in astronomy, writes: “I find it improbable that such order came out of chaos. There has to be some organising principle. God to me is a mystery, but is the explanation for the miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing.” On the other hand, Fred Hoyle, a British astrophysicist stated, “A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.” Finally, the late Robert Jastow, first chairman of NASA’s Lunar Exploration Committee and a self-proclaimed atheist said, “For the scientist who only trusted the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance, and on reaching the peak he is greeted on the other side by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”
The statements of the top scientists above raise for us a serious problem. What is it that drives man to work so hard, to conquer space, visit the Moon, and continue his searches even further? It is the divine spark, given to us by our Creator as a privilege, which moves our fantasy and mind to conceive, and our hands to create. This same spark motivates the astronauts to operate all the instruments of their spacecraft, either on earth or in flight, with speed and precision. If we were only earth and dust, if we did not have an immortal soul, none of the spectacular feats would have been possible. The landing on the moon reminds us that man is in fact “a small god”, made by the hands of God “according to His image.” (Gen 1:27)
The Universe with its perfect physical laws is a creation of the invisible God, and it is God who gives the ability to man to discover and even to subjugate it to his will. However, there is another truth, superior to what was said so far. The leap to the Moon tells us that we are in need of another leap upwards. This is done without noise and in secrecy. To lift up our hearts and take control of our inner self. To conquer the gravitational pull of our passions, weaknesses of character, bad habits, the influence of unsuitable friendships, and dark inner thoughts and desires. If our intentions are sincere, this can easily be achieved by the grace of the crucified Son of God. Then, we shall reach not only the stars, but the heights of Heaven, “where Divine peace and justice dwell.”
Source: Lychnos October-November 2019