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The Atheist Left SQeechless
P
erhaps one can say modern
astronomy began in 1610 when
Galileo peered at the heavens
through his 8-power telescope. In
amazement his eyes beheld clearly for
the first time some of the majar fea–
tures of the solar system: the moun–
tains of the moon, the phases of
Venus, sunspots, the colored bands of
Jupiter. As he looked at Saturn, Gali–
leo saw what seemed to be handles.
Actually, he was seeing Saturn's rings,
but he thought he must be looking at
moons such as Jupiter has. When he
looked again some time later, Saturn
was at a different angle and the rings
were not visible through his little spy–
glass. Expressing his astonishment
that the "moons" had disappeared,
he asked " Has Saturn, perhaps,
devoured his own children?"
As telescopes improved , and
knowledge of the heavens increased,
man 's ancient dreams of reaching out
into space were stimulated. Vivid
imaginations suggested devices such
as Jules Verne's concept of a
powerful cannon that could blast three
men and animals on a voyage around
the moon.
Now, a decade or so alter human
beings actually walked-yes, ca–
vorted-on the moon, and drove a
vehicle
over
its whitish-gray surface as
hundreds of millions of earthlings
watched on their television sets, it still
is hard to realize that it
real/y
hap–
pened. (lndeed, some few who cannot
believe man is capable of such spec–
tacular feats still insist that the whole
Apollo program took place in some
hidden television studio here on
earth!)
Not satisfied with the moon, man
has been reaching beyond. He has
launched small but sophisticated de–
vices equipped with complex detection
and transmitting instruments to probe
the secrets of the planets. A machine
designed by humans lands on Mars
and sends back pictures of its barren
surface, including shots of a little
mechanical shovel digging into the
crust of the red planet and holding the
dirt up to the camera lens. A clase
fly-by produces color pictures of a
volcano erupting on one of Jupiter's
moons. Some 950 million miles from
earth, a tiny craft made by man now
has examined Saturn's rings and sent
the information back to its human
masters.
And what of the future? Plans are
on the drawing board for huge space
stations to orbit the earth. They would
fulfill numerous functions. They could
serve as observatories where tele–
scopes could study the heavens more
effectively, being unhindered by the
pollution and turbulence in the earth's
atmosphere. Such stations could be
used for launching missions to further
explore outer space.
The information that man's instru–
ments and inventions are now reveal–
ing and compiling about the universe is
awesome. The capabilities of the
instruments themselves are awesome.
And just as awesome is what the
instruments reveal about the marvel–
ous mind of man. How is it that human
beings can do such things, that they
have mental abilities so far above all
other living creatures?
There may still be some animals
that look up into the night skies and
acknowledge the full moon with a
grunt or a howl. But none of them
ponders the whys and hows of the
universe . None of them calculates the
movements of planets or the dis–
tance of the nebulae invisible to the
naked eye. No animal ha·s ever made
or has even thought of a telescope
or a vehicle to be launched out past
the earth's gravitational field. No ani–
mal can design a computer that
enhances a photograph taken
hundreds of millions of miles out in
space.
How is it that man has such a mind?
This is a question no atheist can
satisfactorily answer. Befare the awe–
some significance of man's mind they
stand speechless . Evolutionary
science cut off from the knowledge of
God cannot account for it. While some
species of animals have brains that
look
very
similar to the human brain,
the similarity is physical only. In mental
capacity and genius no other creature
comes clase. Why?
The truth is that the human mind is a
special creation of God, far more
complex than the astounding features
now revealed in the solar system. As
the Bible reveals, "there is a spirit in
man" (Job 32:8). The verse goes on
to explain that the Almighty gives to
man the power of understanding and
intellect through that spirit.
God has given to human beings a
spark of his mind power. That man's
thoughts are able to soar above his
earthly surroundings, that he is able to
wonder about the universe and send
spacecraft out to explore the limits of
our solar system reftects but a portian
of the human potential revealed in
Scripture.
Notice how some of that potential is
referred to in Genesis 11 , where man's
first attempt to reach into the heavens
is described. Human beings gathered
themselves together and said :
" 'Come on, Jet us make a name for
ourselves by building a city and a
tower whose top reaches to heaven; it
will keep us from
b~ing
scattered all
over
the wide earth.' Down came the
Eterna! to see the city and the tower
that human beings had built. 'They
a~e
one people,· said the Eterna!. 'and
they have one language; if this is what
they do, to start with,
nothing that they
ever undertake wi/1 prove too hard for
tf:Jem'"
(Genesis 11 :4-7, Moffatt
ver–
sion).
The testimony of God himself about
the potential of man's mind is that
whatever man sets out to do, he can
accomplish. Fortunately God is going
to require that the vast potential of the
human mind be used for good pur–
poses only.
Why not read about the mind God
has created in man by obtaining a
copy of
The lncredible Human Poten–
tia/by
Herbert W. Armstrong. Ask for it
at your local bookstore. lt is published
by Everest House.
- Clayton Steep
The PLAIN TRUTH
..