I found this article to be very interesting and someone asked how this affected theology...
What an interesting question! We have several different angles to look at, but one of them is would life as we know it survive on this planet?
After reading the article we see a several things that would be detrimental to life as we know it, basically grass, trees, animals, humans. For one things the planet's orbit is about 37 days, and there is nothing said about a wobble in rotation. Our annual orbit coupled with the wobble in our rotation gives us our seasons and the different temperatures around the globe. That gives the earth, plants and such the opportunity for rest. Biblically, we know that the ground needs to lie fallow every seventh years in order to be optimally fruitful.
Next is the problem of temperature. Since the planet is tidally locked, meaning one side constantly faces the red dwarf sun and the other side constantly faces dark space, there is no relief or rest for the sunny side nor warmth for the dark side. The scientists estimate the average temperature is around -24 degrees to 10 degrees Fahrenheit which is the average between blazing sunny side and freezing dark side.
Can people live in that kind of environment? Yes. But, can they sustain themselves? I seriously doubt it.
I do not believe there a place in the universe exactly like earth, nor are there humans. We get this from the Bible. God tells us there is only one Satan. God has locked him to this earth. The perfect sacrifice of Jesus was here, for us, forever. Our purpose is to display the manifold wisdom of God to those principalities and powers of the heavenlies.
God may have a plan for those other planets at a later time, but the discovery of such does not change God's word or His character. He remains constant.
2 comments:
I've often seen people argue that it would be detrimental to Christianity if it was discovered that there was life on other planets. I have never understood why. C.S. Lewis wrote a science fiction trilogy that included a race of beings on Mars who had never sinned (and, therefore, didn't need salvation) and a new race of beings starting out on Venus that had not yet faced the option of sin. It was very interesting and not antithetical to Christianity. Can't imagine why the question would come up.
excellent point!
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