Space, The Final Frontier

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4)

     Today is the anniversary of the first manned orbit of the earth by Yuri Gregarin and the first launch of the space shuttle, Columbia. Both of these are considered bright moments in our exploration of space. Space, in America depicted as the "final frontier," mankind's manifest destiny at last being fulfilled. We've been searching for extra-terrestrial life for decades. Now, with each discovery of each exo-world, there is a stir of excitement. Will this be the planet that will be enough like ours that we will find that "someone else" for whom we've longed?

          There are people who seem to think that finding life out there will put the final nail in the coffin of Christianity - perhaps of religion as a whole. They don't realize that they are treating this unknown ET  as their god - placing all their hopes for solving what they believe are the problems of mankind in this (as yet) figment of their imaginations. If we were to discover life elsewhere, they are sure it will be like ET or Mr. Spock, not Alien or The Thing. They hope to build a technological "stairway to heaven" in order to bring back down to earth their chosen godling.

           This is precisely the way the people of a plain in Shinar felt. The whole world was not enough for them. They wanted a special place that was all theirs, from which they could build a tower to the heavens. Some say that stairway to heaven was to designed to bring God (or "the gods") down to us. I would say it was to allow us to ascend to be among "the gods," as one of them. Either way, it was the same mistake they are making now, the same arrogance.

             I'm not opposed to space exploration, but I am certain that the romantic dreams of mankind will not find their fulfillment there, even if we solve some of the problems dealing with our finite resources. We are like the man in South Africa, spending years and a great deal of money trying to find the diamonds on which his dreams depended, but never bothering to look in his own yard. We are like the woman searching for "Mr. Right," never noticing the shy glances of the man next door. We search the heavens in hopes of finding our manifest destiny and our "someone else" who will be the answer to our hopes - never noticing that the heavens declare the glory of God, or that He has already come down to us.  
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On the Calendar
Fort Sumter Day (1861)

First manned orbit of Earth (Yuri Gregarin, 1961)

Space Shuttle Columbia Day (first launch)