For decades there have been projects like SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, predicated on the assumption that the universe is so vast surely ours is not the only planet that can sustain sentient life. Surely there must be others; surely we are not alone.

     But findings in a study recently released by astronomers suggest, “The number of planets in the universe that could sustain alien life is much smaller than had been thought.”

     These findings are addressed in an article titled, “Maybe we are alone after all: Planets that could sustain alien life much rarer than thought,” that originally appeared on USA Today.

     The study’s co-author and biogeochemist with the University of California-Riverside Timothy Lyons said, “Our results indicate that complex ecosystems like ours cannot exist in most regions of the habitable zone as traditionally defined.” The habitable zone is defined as a place “where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface.”

     While many planets have liquid water they also have toxic atmospheres making it impossible for the “rich ecosystems like we find on Earth today” to exist.

     Lead author of the study, NASA’s Edward Schwieterman said, “To sustain liquid water at the outer edge of the conventional habitable zone, a planet would need tens of thousands of times more carbon dioxide than Earth has today, that’s far beyond the levels known to be toxic to human and animal life on Earth… As far as we know, Earth is the only planet in the universe that can sustain human life.”

     These findings lend credence to the anthropic principle which is the idea that life, especially complex life forms like humans, is sustained by observable constants in natural phenomena that if they were even slightly altered human life as we know it could not exist.

     It appears the universe was tailor-made for man’s existence, and that implies an Intelligent Designer, a Creator God. The universe, “the heavens and the earth” in biblical language, is an observable effect for which the only sufficient cause is an omniscient, omnipotent Creator. Observable science unerringly points in this direction.

     The psalmist says of our Creator, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me,” Psalm 139:7-10.

     I read about a man who once asked God “if there was life in outer space?” He said God replied, “I’m out here.” Simple and direct, it sounds like something God would say and what the psalmist wrote about.

In simple eloquence the psalmist’s word-picture declares the omnipresence of God. While some may deny His existence, and ignore His presence, the truth is we have never been alone.

Historically speaking the Seven Deadly Sins are “pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth.” Some have said these sins are not mentioned in the Bible, but such a statement reveals an utter ignorance of what the Scriptures teach.

     The first deadly sin on the list is pride. It is written, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;

pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate,” Proverbs 8:13. That is just one verse among many that denounce the sin of pride.

     Pride accompanies every other sin because it takes prideful arrogance to disregard what God teaches us is right and wrong and then do as we please. Pride deceived Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and led Adam to accept and eat it when it was offered to him.

     Pride is what makes us think it is alright to rebel against the will of a holy God. I think it is appropriate that the LGBTQ community’s celebration of sexual sin this month is called, PRIDE.

     Greed is the pursuit of wealth regardless of what it takes to attain the wealth. This makes wealth an idol. The possession of wealth is not a sin, but the pursuit of it becomes a sin when it becomes an obsession. “The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be caught by their own greed,” Proverbs 11:6.

     Wrath is an uncontrolled anger reflecting man’s frustration with not getting what he wants. This is why the Scriptures teach us “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God,” James 1:20.

     Envy is the cousin of covetousness that is forbidden by the Tenth Commandment, Exodus 20:17. When envy causes us to break one of the other commandments to take what belongs to another it is a sin. This is why Jesus lists it among other sins, “deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness,” Mark 7:22.

     Lust is what drives the porn industry and we are warned “when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death,” James 1:15. James reminds us of why these are called “deadly sins.”

     Gluttony is the sin of an uncontrolled appetite; it often leads to obesity and a host of self-inflicted medical conditions. This is not a reference to those who are overweight because of a health issue, but refers to the sin of over-indulgence. Solomon said, “Put a knife to your throat if you are a man of great appetite,” Proverbs 23:2, that is what you are doing when you overeat.

Sloth, the sin of indolence, is characterized in the Scriptures, “The sluggard [a lazy person] says, ‘There is a lion outside: I will be killed in the streets,’” Proverbs 22:13. The slothful person will make any silly excuse to get out of work, and the one who does not work is an unproductive, liability on the rest of the community.

I read an article by Andrew MacDonald that appeared in Christianity Today titled, “Conspiracy Theories, Engaging Online, and Wisdom: The intersection of the Three and How to Respond Biblically.” It addresses how Christians should respond to issues in the news on social media.

     MacDonald writes, “While social media offers amazing opportunities to connect and learn, it seems that every new day brings new stories of awfulness. Baptizing the quote often ascribed to Churchill: the greatest argument against humanity’s inherent goodness is five minutes scrolling through the average social media feed.”

     MacDonald makes a good point; people are fast to respond to things they read without thinking clearly through what is being said, or what may or may not be true about what is said. People on social media tend to respond emotionally rather than thoughtfully.

     MacDonald suggests we should take the words of James to heart, “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger,” James 1:19. He then offers three ways we can slow down our rhetoric and be more thoughtful in what we say. I want to share his three suggestions.

     First, “Is Christ Lord of your social media?” MacDonald says most people would be quick to answer, yes, to this question, “But Christ being Lord of your social media is less a matter of what your profile says and more a matter of what you say and how you relate to others.”

     He goes on to say, “Christians need to recognize that they cannot separate their Christian witness from their political posts … How we speak to one another, the kinds of stories we elevate, and the language we choose all flow out of this question of lordship.”

     Second, “Ask for wisdom.” James enjoins us, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…and it will be given him,” James 1:5. God has already given us much wisdom in His Word. When we respond to an issue with our own opinion while ignoring what God has said about it in His Word we usually just add to the confusion.

     God has given us much direction on many matters and what He thinks is infinitely more important and effective than anything we could ever conceive. Sometimes wisdom is simply seeking God on how to apply what He has already revealed in His Word.

     And last, “Hit pause.” One of the pastors who has mentored me told me that when someone confronts him about something he has said or done, he listens closely to what is said and tells the person he will pray about it. He does not do this to put the person off or dismiss their point; it gives him an opportunity to reflect and pray about the matter apart from what may have been an initial, emotional response, wise advice!

When it comes to social media, we would all be better served if we would simply slow down.

The Coelacanth is in the news again. In an article titled, “Extinct Fish Species That Existed Over 420 million Years Ago Found Alive in the Indian Ocean,” the report claimed the Coelacanth has been “rediscovered.”

     The Coelacanth was first “rediscovered” in 1938 when a recently caught, but badly decomposed, specimen was examined by Rhodes University ichthyologist J. L. B. Smith. Familiar with fossilized remains of the Coelacanth, Smith readily recognized the recently caught fish as a Coelacanth. Thought to be extinct the Coelacanth was soon dubbed the “living fossil.”

     Christians do not doubt the past existence of those life forms represented in the fossil record, but we do take issue with how evolutionists interpret that record. The Coelacanth is a case in point.

     The Coelacanth was a well-known ancient fish because it was widely represented in the fossil record beginning 420 million years ago, but thought to have gone extinct with the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. Interpreting the fossils of Coelacanths, paleontologists believed the Coelacanth was an intermediate life form between fish and amphibians.

     Ergo, it was believed to live in coastal areas and also had lungs to breathe during brief forays on land even though sarcous tissues like skin and internal organs do not survive fossilization. It was thought to be capable of walking on land with its three pair of ventral fleshly lobed fins while searching for food.

     But Christmas came early for creationists on December 22, 1938, when a native fisherman caught a supposedly extinct Coelacanth off the southwestern coast of Madagascar. Evolutionary theories about the Coelacanth collapsed faster than a house of cards hit by a leaf blower when that native fisherman hauled up a net full of facts.

     Here is the first mistake made by scientists, and it is a big one, the Coelacanth is not extinct. Not only were there several colonies in the waters between south Africa and Madagascar but other colonies exist in the Indian Ocean and waters of Indonesia.

     The Coelacanth is a pelagic, it is a deep-sea fish, it is not a coastal dweller. It swims everywhere it goes and does not attempt to walk even on the ocean floor as observed in an expedition by Hans Fricke funded by National Geographic. It is a true fish with gills and does not have lungs.

     Scientists were amazed that the Coelacanth had remained relatively unchanged for more than 400 million years. This is why ichthyologist Smith so easily identified the specimen he examined because it was almost identical to the fossil record. This confirms the biblical account that living things reproduce “after their kind,” Genesis 1:21.

     This is why Paul warned Timothy, about the false interpretations made by those who say they are scientists, because scientists do not always know what they claim to know.      “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding…oppositions of science falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith,” 1 Timothy 6:20-21 (KJV).

This past Wednesday, May 19, 2021, it has been reported, “After debating the meaning of God’s love, the Texas Senate voted along party lines (18-13) to give final approval Tuesday to a bill that would ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender Texans who are 17 and younger.”

     To clarify, we are not talking about medical care in general, no “trans” minor is being deprived heath care with the passage of Bill SB 1311, they would merely be deprived of “gender-affirming” medical care. Specifically, “Under SB 1311, doctors who provide gender-affirming care would lose their medical license. The bill would prohibit liability insurance coverage for banned treatments.”

     At this writing, the bill faces an uncertain future in the Texas House of Representatives, but the debate over the bill in the Texas Senate centered on the meaning of God’s love.

     Texas state Senator Beverly Powell said, “I am concerned, and I don’t want to let this go without saying, that transgender people will hear this argument and will conclude there is no place for them in the church, or worse that God doesn’t love them exactly as they are.”

     Texas state Senator Kelly Hancock countered, “God created man, and woman as we are, and the most important thing to understand is we are loved in that way, as he made us. He created us, and he did not make a mistake when he created us, and therefore his love is shared among those just as he created us, and I think that’s what this bill seeks to recognize.”

     Here we have to views of God’s love that are opposed to one another that determined how each senator responded to the legislation in question. But for a believer, the Scriptures should dictate what is meant when we talk about God’s love, a meaning that is not dictated by how we feel or what we think, but an understanding revealed to us in God’s Word. After all, God is the One who can tell us what He means by His love.

     The Scriptures declare, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” John 3:16. God loves everyone and has made sufficient provision in the cross of Christ for everyone to be saved from their sin whatever form that sin takes when we confess our sin and repent of it.

     God loves us, but that does not mean He loves all the decisions we make or all the things we do. To assume that would be to ignore what is clearly taught in the Scriptures. King David was “a man after [God’s] own heart,” (1 Samuel 13:14), but God clearly showed His displeasure with David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba.      Paul admonishes believers “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,” Romans 12:2.

God loves us exactly where we are, that doesn’t mean He wants us to stay there.