“God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
-Genesis 1:28
Artemis II launches today at 6:24 PM Eastern Time. This is very controversial in the Christian culture. Why should we send people into space if we have more pressing issues at home? From a secular perspective society withers if it does not expand. If a culture does not have goals, does not have drive, does not feel the need to develop it will die. Greek, Roman, Chinese, Indian, and European societies have all fallen when their people have lost their drive towards that which is above them. We as humans by nature must move to subdue the Earth. It is commanded by God. Is it our place then to subdue the stars?
This is not a comprehensive defense of my position. Rather it is an overview and a provocative article to encourage you to dig more into this topic. This is a starting point to a different paradigm on the Christian life.
We must constantly look up if we are going to love God. Our execution of the Divine mandate starts with subduing the Earth and looking up to study the heavens.
“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.”
-Isaiah 40:26
Man is on a road of development. His dominion started in the Garden of Eden. In the Old Covenant it spread to the whole of the Earth. The Dominion of the heavens belonged to God. In the New Covenant, our sonship has given us access to the heavens. Not just the dwelling place of God but as well as the lesser heavens. For although we are made lesser than the angels we have been granted a place at the right hand of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the church’s dominion is the heavens as well and all that dwell therein. The Lord has given us the ability to create technologies that take us to far off worlds which he has prepared for his people to cultivate and subdue.
This universe will eventually end at the battle of Armageddon in Jerusalem on Earth. Just because the world will end does not mean we should not grow as a species. The end of the world also does not mean Man will not have spread himself among the stars before hand. It is the duty of the Church to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” What does the word “world” mean in this verse. It is the word κοσμος. This word can mean world, but more importantly it means all of the created order. We have a duty to spread the gospel wherever man goes. We have a duty to be the leaders in science and innovation to the end that Jesus Christ might be glorified as Lord and Savior. For too long Christians have taken a back seat in the scientific world as it “contradicts the Bible”. No more of this! It is unacceptable to our Christian heritage that built science that we would scoff at exploration of the heavens that our own scriptures say, “declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psalm 19:1). The innovations that have been created by science allow as to feed the poor, to take care of the widow, and to lift our brothers and sisters out of poverty to give them space to think on the Divine.
There are Christians out there that would deny that we even landed on the Moon in the first place. I am all for accepting conspiracies that have ample weight to them. Many conspiracies are true from the simple fact that people have similar evil motivations. The Moon landing is not one of these true conspiracies. The simple matter of fact reason why we have not gone back to the moon is because nobody wanted to. We were too occupied with “more important affairs” such as Vietnam, welfare, the Great Society program, Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the Gulf War, the wars for Israel and Iran to put the resources into building a permanent residence on the Moon. This is why Richard Nixon cut majority of the Apollo Applications program and only funded the Space Shuttle, Skylab, and the deep space probes. Along with this competing administrations from Bush, to Obama, to Trump, to Biden, and to Trump again did not give NASA clear instructions on HOW we would go back to the Moon. There have been Billions in wasted tax payer dollars because we could not stick to one plan. From the Space Exploration Initiative, to the Constellation Program, to the Asteroid Mission under Obama, to now the Artemis program it has taken 37 years since the first ideas of the Space Launch System until today to finally send Astronauts back to the moon. We as Americans have been too distracted by domestic issues. This is the true reason why we never went back to the Moon. It is more sad than if we never went at all. The fact that we were able to get Men on the moon within a decade in the 1960’s because we were in competition with the USSR and now we can barely do it 53 years later with new outside pressures from China speaks to our American paranoia and fear. We must learn to cast out fear with love and explore space out of our honor of God and not hatred. This will only be possible if Christians would take the divine mandate to subdue the world seriously.
Episcopalian and first NASA administrator Werner Von Braun said
“Through science man strives to learn more of the mysteries of creation. Through religion he seeks to know the Creator.”
“The farther we probe into space, the greater my faith.”
-Werner Von Braun
Through these two quotes we see how the Christian may support both science and religion. In the first quote Von Braun is not saying that science and religion are incompatible. Rather he is saying that both have different goals. Science and Religion often support each other but do not prove each other. They are totally separate spheres of learning.
Finally I would like to say that I am hopeful for the future of our nation. Young people across the country are realizing their need for a God and savior in Jesus Christ. I believe this is why our Lord is finally allowing us to have the opportunity to explore the Moon again. We must remember who Jesus Christ is if He will allow us to continue our exploration of the universe.
For Further reading see my two other articles
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