Newer Horizons

In 2015, the NASA space probe New Horizons (see pictures), made a flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto which is approximately 3.76 billion miles from the Sun on the outer edge of the Solar System. Scientists had long theorized that Pluto was a geologically dead, airless world in which the Sun was only a dull light in its sky. But their assumptions were false.

Pluto was found to be a geologically active world with a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. Tests revealed that the surface was made up of fractured ice with volcanoes belching out frozen nitrogen like lava. Photos showed Pluto to have mountains of frozen water two miles high (see here and here). Speculation has it that Pluto’s icy surface hides an immense ocean. Pluto was found to have five moons orbiting it with at least one moon, Charon, which may also be geologically active.

Why were the assumptions about Pluto so wrong? Many scientists (but not all) buy into the theory of evolution which insists that the earth and the universe are billions of years old. Creationists hold to the belief in a “young earth” (see here and here); the idea that the earth and the other members of our solar system are thousands of years old, based on scientific evidence and the Genesis account of Creation which states that the heavenly bodies were created on the fourth day (Genesis 1:16-19).

The old earth theory would seem to support an old Pluto because of this dwarf planet’s distance from the Sun which lessens the Sun’s influence in the form of weakened gravitational pull and solar energy. If this was true, the surface of Pluto would be dead with many features covered with cosmic dust and pitted with meteor craters. But what New Horizons found was a “young” Pluto with changing features which fits well into the Biblical account (Isaiah 40:26).

It is ironic that mankind spends billions of dollars on probes to explore space (a worthy goal) and also to find evidence of evolution. When they find none, they bemoan the reality and grasp at straws. They are desperately searching for some evidence that “we are not alone in the Universe.” The good news is that we are not alone. The Creator is there and has left us abundant evidence of His existence (Psalm 8:3-4; 19:1-2; cf. Romans 1:18-20). Roelf L. Ruffner

Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets

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