From The Heavens Devotional by Kevin Hartnett
There is a strong bias in the scientific community against the idea that Earth is unique in any way or shows any evidence of a Designer. This belief actually has a name: the Copernican Principle. It is held as a fundamental tenet in many institutions of modern astronomy and astrobiology. It was the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus who theorized in the early sixteenth century that Earth and the other known planets circle the Sun, rather than the Sunorbiting Earth. The philosophical effect of his writings was to remove Earthfrom the center of the cosmos, a monumental switch from the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church at the time.
While there are aspects of the Copernican Principle that are commendable— caution in science is always good—the principle encourages its supporters to downplay or even ignore increasingly obvious facts about Earth and its life. In short, the odds of a world having by accident the combination of qualities that characterize Earth—and that are vital for sustaining life—are vanishingly small. For starters, a planet must exist in the “inhabitable zone” around its star. Not too close so that it would overheat and not too far away so that everything would freeze. The star must be a stable one. Many aren’t. Some stars pulsate or emit highly lethal amounts of radiation—or even huge, intensely hot streamers of electrically charged gas. Many are in multiple star systems that over time disrupt the orbits of any planets in the system. Planets should not wobble, something kept in check by the presence of a large moon. And planets should have a magnetic field to protect them from charged particles, an atmosphere to protect them from cosmic rays, and an environment that contains certain specific molecules in the right quantities, and . . . the list goes on and on. The Lord made Earth to wonderfully satisfy every requirement for sustaining its diverse and abundant life. In Isaiah 6:3, the seraphim who worship God day and night from the magnificent vantage point of heaven are heard to pronounce a surprising perspective, worthy of our contemplation today: “The whole earth is full of His glory.”
Let us join the angels in worshiping Him for His creative genius, which flourishes everywhere in our most remarkable world.
For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.” – Isaiah 45:18
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