Over 40 years ago, Time magazine published an article titled “Life on Mars.”Researchers had found a rock in Antarctica that most scientists believed came from the planet Mars. It was about the size of a soda can, weighing a little over four pounds. This rock made the headlines because it had something on it that the article said was “evidence that we are not alone in the Universe.” Supposedly, this little rock proved there was life in outer space. You probably have never heard of this rock. If it was so important, why have you not heard of it? The “evidence” of life in outer space was not good evidence at all. Supposedly, the rock contained fossil remains of tiny bacteria that lived in outer space. After further investigation, the formations in the rock could have been lots of things other than bacteria, and there was no evidence of life in space.
This rock and the magazine article do prove something. They prove that lots of people are very curious about life in space. In fact, right now, all over the world, there are colleges and universities that offer a special degree. In many places, a person can earn a college degree in Astrobiology. You can probably figure that word out yourself. The term “astro” refers to stars and space, and the word “biology” refers to life. Yes, that is right, a person can get a degree in the subject of life in outer space, even though no such thing has ever been found!
You see, many people believe in atheistic evolution. They believe that God does not exist and that life formed over billions of years from non-living chemicals. People who believe this have a serious problem. They think that the Universe has been around for more than 13 billion years, and they know that the Universe is a huge place. If the Universe is that old, and life forms from non-living chemicals through natural processes, then there should be life on planets all over our Universe. One physicist named Enrico Fermi is famous for saying:
“Where is everybody?”
This idea has become known as the Fermi Paradox. A paradox is something that is puzzling and does not make sense. If life arises naturally, and the Universe is more than 13 billion years old, and it is filled with trillions of planets, then life in outer space should be pretty common. But it isn’t.
People who understand the truth about Creation, however, don’t have a problem with the Fermi Paradox. There is a very good reason we would not expect to find life on lots of other planets in our Universe. Life does not, and cannot, arise from natural processes over millions of years. The reason we have life on planet Earth is because God created living things during the six days of Creation. Life did not spontaneously generate from non-living chemicals and then change from one kind of life into all the other kinds of life over millions of years. God spoke life into existence. He created each kind of living thing, such as plants, animals, and humans. He then gave the “instructions” for each living thing to be fruitful and multiply “according to its kind” (Genesis 1:24).
How would we know if there is life in outer space? Sixty-five years ago, in 1960, something called the SETI project began. The letters of the name stand for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. An organization called the SETI Institute was started in 1984. The goal of this project and organization is to find life in space. Those who work there hope to find signals, codes, or messages from intelligent life on other planets. The institute has a budget of about 28 million dollars a year. They use this money to build telescopes and instruments to detect sounds, light waves, and radio waves. So far, they have not found the codes, patterns, and messages that prove intelligence, at least not in outer space.
There is a place, however, where complicated coded information has been found that proves intelligence. This information is complex, very specific, and could not be produced through random natural processes. In fact, this code is so complex that humans have not even figured out exactly how it works. We have been studying it for many decades, and our brightest minds still have so much to learn. Let me explain. Several years ago, an atheist named Richard Dawkins wrote about what he saw outside of his window. He was watching a willow tree drop willow seeds. He explained that each seed has the coded information in it to build another willow tree. He said that it was like the willow tree was dropping computer discs that are filled with coded information and blueprints to build more willow trees. He is exactly right.
Now imagine that we sent astronauts to visit Mars. On that planet, they found small thumb drives all over the ground. When they plugged them into a computer, the drives contained intricate and complicated blueprints to build millions of different machines. Some machines were designed to remove carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with oxygen. Other machines could turn sunlight and chemicals into food that humans could eat. Other machines could turn water, chemicals, and sunlight into hard substances you could use to build houses. Still others built machines that made soft fabrics that could be used for clothing.
Do you see where this is going? On planet Earth, we have living organisms that are “built” with DNA. It is a coded language that is complicated and very specific. Each seed literally contains coded instructions to produce a plant after its kind. Each animal passes on its DNA, which is used to “build” animals after their own kind. If the SETI project found this type of coded, stored, useful information, it would be thrilling, because it would prove there is intelligent life “out there.” It is interesting that if they found this kind of information on discs on other planets, they would say it proves there is other intelligent life in the Universe. But, when they find the coded information here on Earth, they say it is the product of random, natural processes over millions of years. That cannot be true.
The amazing, coded information in living organisms on Earth proves that intelligent life other than humans actually does exist. This “other” intelligence is not a group of little green men from Mars. It is the Master Mind behind the creation of the entire Universe—God.
It is sad that some people will spend hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of hours to find intelligent life “out there,” when all along God has been “right here.” The apostle Paul said that God has designed the world so that humans “should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:27-28).
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