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(Continued from page 6)
the heaven and heaven of heavens
cannot contain thee; how much
less th is house that 1 have
builded?" (1 Kings 8:27).
The !48th Psalm is a call for
the entire c reation- even the
inanimate celestial bodies-"sun
and moon ... all ye stars of light"
to "praise the name of the Lord:
for his name alone is excellent;
his glory is above the earth and
heaven" (Psalms 148:3, 13).
Man's knowledge of the uní–
verse, though growing at a rapid
pace, is infinitesimal. In its report
on the Voyager 1 mission, the
editors of
Newsweek
properly
admitted that "we have made a
start, at least , on knowing just
how little we really know."
God revealed as much thou–
sands of years ago to Jeremiah:
"If heaven above can be mea–
sured, and the foundations of the
earth searched out beneath, 1 will
also cast off all the seed of Israel
for all that they have done, saith
the Lord" (Jeremiah 31 :37).
God, on severa! occasions (see
also Jeremiah 33:25-26) made his
promises to men and nations con–
tingent upon his power to control
his vast celestial realm-or his
unsurpassed knowledge of it.
Man cannot number the "host
of heaven" (Jeremiah 33:22). But
God can- and more.
"Lift up your eyes on high," he
says, "and behold who hath
created these things, that bring–
eth out their host by num–
ber...." Not only tbis, but God
"calleth them all by names by the
greatness of his might, for that he
is strong in power; not one fail–
eth" (Isaiah 40:26).
King David, a man after God's
own hear t , proclaimed that "the
heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his
handywork" (Psalm 19:1).
Eart h la Unique
Men are naturally inqUISlhve as
to whether intelligent life exists
outside our solar system. The
January
1981
Bible does not encourage this
speculation. Rather, it indicates
the uniqueness of Earth.
"The heaven, even the heavens,
are the Lord's: but the earth hath
he given to tbe children of men "
(Psalm 115:16).
Even men of science have com–
mented on how our planet has
been carefully constructed and
positioned for the flourishing of
organic life. A number of years
a~o.
Dr. A. Cressy Morrison, for–
mer president of the New York
Academy of Sciences, said:
"lt
is possible to demonstrate
mathematically that the universe
could not have just happened or
evolved. The work of creation
shows such definite design and
purpose that it demands a 'Mas–
ter mind' to account for its many
perfections.
"The earth rotates on its axis at
1,000 miles an hour. lf it rotated
at only 100 miles an hour, our
days and nights wou ld be 1O
times as long as they are now, and
the earth would alternately burn
and freeze. In such circumstances
vegetation could not live."
Our sun, remarked Dr. Morri–
son, "has a surface temperature
of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit,
and our earth is at the exact
LAYERS OF HAZE
cover Saturn's satel–
lite Titan, top photo. Colors are fa/se and
are used to show details of the aerosol
haze. True color of Titan, on/y moon in
solar system to have an atrnosphere, is
seen in inset picture.
distance necessary to get just
enough heat and yet not too
much. This earth is tilted at an
angle of 23 degrees, and this
enables us to have four seasons. 1f
it were not tilted at this angle,
vapors from the ocean would
move north and south, piling up
continents of ice."
If the earth's moon (called in
Genesis 1: 16, "the lesser light to
rule the night") were not at the
exact distance it is from the earth,
tbe ocean tides, said Dr. Morri–
son, "would inundate tbe land
mass completely twice a day. If
the earth's atmosphere were just
a little thinner, many of the
meteors which are now burned
out in space would bombard us,
setting great fires everywhere."
And they would also produce,
he might have added, the crater-
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