How Come Earth Got All The Good Stuff? / Just Drifting! / No Time

Articles

Eric Lyons / Selected
08/04/24 - The Zephyrhills Beacon

(by Eric Lyons, M.Min.)

Stuart Clark of New Scientist magazine recently asked the question, “How come Earth got all the good stuff?” Of all the planets in our solar system that allegedly formed naturalistically “from the same cloud of gas and dust that surrounded the sun more than 4.5 billion years ago,” why is “Earth...so suitable for life” (Clark, 2008, 199[2675]:29)?

Stuart acknowledged: “We know that its distance from the Sun provides the right amount of heat and light to make the planet habitable, but that alone is not enough. Without the unique mix of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur that make up living things, and without liquid water on the planet’s surface, life as we know it could not have evolved. Chemically speaking, Earth is simply better set up for life than its neighbors. So how come we got all the good stuff?” (p. 29).

How did Earth get to be just the right distance from the Sun to receive “the right amount of heat and light to make the planet habitable”? How did Earth get such a “unique mix” of all the elements that make up living things? How did Earth “acquire its life-giving water supply?” (p. 29). Did Earth become the “just-right” planet by happenstance?

Clark said that our best hope to find clues about Earth’s origin is from meteorites since “they formed at the same time as the planets” (p. 29). However, he admitted: “There are subtle differences that are proving tough to explain. For example, the

mix of oxygen isotopes in chondritic meteorites does not match those found on Earth. So far, no one knows why, but since oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust ... it is a mystery that cannot be ignored” (p. 29, emp. added).

Regarding Earth’s “life-giving water supply,” Clarke suggested that “the most popular explanation is that the water arrived later, in the form of icy comets from the outer solar system that rained down in the period known as the ‘Late Heavy Bombardment.’ As yet, though, there is no firm evidence to confirm this as the source of Earth’s water” (p. 30).

Though atheistic scientists have attempted to answer these and similar questions for many years, still no one has a legitimate naturalistic explanation for what New Scientists call our planet’s “biggest mysteries” (p. 28).

To conclude that Earth received just the right amount of “carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur” by time, chance, and non-intelligence is irrational. When do time, chance, and non-intelligence ever produce such wonderful effects? To conclude that the estimated 326 million cubic miles of water on Earth (“How Much Water...?,” 2008) are the result of “icy comets from the outer solar system” raining down on Earth millions of years ago is equally absurd.

The fact is, adequate non-intelligent, random, naturalistic causes for the “just-right” Earth do not exist. The only rational explanation for the precise design of Earth, the cosmos as a whole, and life on Earth is an intelligent supernatural Creator.

Just Drifting!

(Selected)

The Book of Hebrews declares that “we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (Hebrews 2:1). Another way of translating the final phrase of this verse is, “lest we drift away.”

Nothing in the world is easier than drifting. No person drifts upstream, only downstream. It is so easy. All you do is sit back and relax and let the boat go. You are soon lulled into a lazy stupor, not caring where you go. You may not even be aware you are drifting until it is too late and the boat is on the rocks. Satan is very wise. He seldom urges a Christian to leave the church or to give up his faith in the Lord. Instead he causes us to relax, rest on the oars, and drift along in the Christian life. All around us are Christians who have drifted into a state of coldness and indifference. They have stopped caring about others who need to hear the message of God’s saving grace. Are you drifting? Wake up now! Grab the oars and pull. Your active concern is needed as we seek to lead others to find Christ and His will for their lives.

No Time

(Selected)

I knelt to pray, but not for long,

I had so much to do.

Must hurry off and get to work,

For bills will soon be due.

And so I said a hurried prayer,

Jumped up from off my knees.

My Christian duty now was done,

My soul could be at ease.

All through the day, I had no time;

To speak a word of cheer.

No time to speak a word for God,

They’d laugh at me I feared.

And when before the Lord I came,

I stood with downcast eyes.

Within His hand He held a book,

It was the book of life.

God looked into His book and said,

“Your name I cannot find.

I once was going to write it down,

But never found the time.”