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 Universe 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.

Three men in Boston lead by Mark Sahady are trying to get a permit to have a straight pride parade. Their attempts to celebrate their heterosexuality have drawn criticism from the supposedly “tolerant” ranks of LGBT supporters. All of it is an exercise in foolishness.

     Actor Chris Evans, a.k.a., Captain America, tweeted, “Wow! Cool initiative, fellas!! Just a thought, instead of ‘Straight Pride’ parade, how about this: The ‘desperately trying to bury our own gay thoughts by being homophobic because no one taught us how to access our emotions as children’ parade? Whatta ya think? Too on the nose??”

     Well Chris, since you asked, I think you are a better comic book actor than you are a thinker. Having a Straight Pride Parade is no more desperate than a Gay Pride Parade that openly flaunts the sinful lifestyle of homosexuality in the hopes of winning social acceptance. From a strictly logical perspective, I think homosexuals should celebrate heterosexuality, because if there were no heterosexuals there would be no homosexuals.

     Further, I think people should think biblically about human sexuality and not take the advice of celebrities that live in the fantasyland of Hollywood where the definition of a long-lasting relationship can be measured with an egg timer.

     I do not know what Chris means by “our own gay thoughts,” I am not a member of that group. I am not plagued by gay thoughts. Maybe Chris is or, maybe he is no better at expressing his thoughts than he is at thinking them.

     To be clear, I think any sort of celebration of human sexuality, parades or otherwise, are a product of the sexual revolution that has led this country down the path of ‘Promised Pleasure’ that dead-ends with divided, dysfunctional, or destroyed families, the AIDS epidemic and other sexually transmitted diseases, sexually confused and suicidal people, and abortion.

     It is foolish to celebrate any form of human sexuality so self-destructive while ignoring the practical advice on human sexuality that has been given to us by our Maker in the Scriptures that leads to life, joy and ultimate satisfaction.

     Paul has warned us, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap,” Galatians 6:7. We have sowed the seeds of the sexual revolution, but now want to pray for a crop failure, and we have mistaken God’s patience with our sin with His permission to sin. It will prove to be a fatal mistake, unless we repent.

The term sexual revolution is defined as “a drastic relaxation in general standards of sexual behavior.” I will not be celebrating that which is destroying us within, now or ever.

I read an author, I can’t remember who, that said grave-markers usually have the deceased’s date of birth and date of death separated by a dash in the middle. That dash he wrote was scant reference to the life that was lived between the two dates.

     Two recent events turned my attention to the dash. This past Saturday, May 25, our newest and fifteenth grandchild was born, and this past Tuesday, May 28, my mother passed away. Our grandson’s dash is ahead of him; my mother’s dash is finished.

     But the dash in my mother’s life included the two greatest gifts any mother can give her child; she gave me life, and at the early age of eight played an influential role in introducing me to the One who gave me eternal life.

     It was Creator God who gave mankind the means to procreate so life is ultimately a sacred gift from God. The fact that life is made up of time, and that time is in limited supply, “in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me (Psalm 139:16),” makes life precious. Life is made up of time and each of us has a limited amount.

     When billionaire Warren Buffet was asked recently what he valued most, he replied, “It’s the two things you can’t buy; time and love.” Time is priceless, even a billionaire can’t buy more; it can’t be saved either, only spent. God has determined for each of us how much time we have; we determine how we spend it.

     In the wake of my mother’s death my time has been spent intermittently between taking care of practical after life arrangements, grief and reflection.

     Memories have awakened some good, some not so good, but I have given more serious reflection to how I have used this precious gift of life and the time my God and my mother have given me, and praying I use it more wisely in the future. When I think about all the things my brothers and I might do to memorialize my mother, I cannot think of any thing better than to live my life for Christ. A cold gravestone cannot compare to a living legacy.

     King Solomon wrote, “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil,” Ecclesiastes 12:14.

How are you living your dash in the middle?

Recent legislation in a number of states has thrust abortion into the spotlight. A lot of talking heads have weighed in on the subject sharing their misguided views clouding the issue with their opinions; here are some facts.

     Abortion existed long before Roe v. Wade. Dr. C. Everett Koop, the Surgeon General under the late, former president Ronald Reagan, said abortion was a medical procedure performed to end a problem pregnancy. Since the mother is literally the life-support system for the child, a pregnancy that was a threat to her health and life was a threat to the child. Dr. Koop said that in such cases the pregnancy would be medically aborted in an effort to save both mother and child.

     Abortions have always been legal when the health and life of the mother have been in genuine jeopardy. Instead of aborting pregnancies, we now abort babies. As our nation has increasingly turned its back on biblical truth, a moral lapse has seized the hearts and minds of our people. Abortion is no longer a medical procedure performed in an effort to save life; it is now a murderous process to end life.

     There is no such thing as a constitutional right to abort babies. The word abortion appears nowhere in the Constitution. Abortion is a fabricated right invented by a Supreme Court that has ceased interpreting the Constitution and has acquiesced to the bloodlust of our culture that refuses to accept responsibility for its immorality.

     There is no such thing as an “unplanned pregnancy.” Sexual relations are the way children are conceived. If a man and a woman choose to have sex and choose to do so without using contraception they should plan on getting pregnant; that’s the way it works. To say a pregnancy was “unplanned” is a euphemism from an emotional perspective, but from the perspective of reality it is stupid.

     This is one of the reasons I oppose sex education in public schools; typically it is taught in an amoral atmosphere by college-educated adults who couldn’t get it right, but somehow think adolescents will.

     The Psalmist declared, “For You formed my inward parts, You wove me in my mother’s womb,” Psalm 139:13.

     In Roe v. Wade, the Warren Court could not say when life begins and denied personhood with its concomitant constitutional protections to the fetus until ex utero viability. But ultrasound technology gave us the capability to peer into the womb.

     This window into the womb dispels the notion that the fetus is just a lump of flesh; clearly it is in every respect a miniature human being.  Its delicate features and undeniably distinctive human qualities cannot hide from the soft waves of sound.  Questions regarding the fetus are no longer just a statement of faith; they are a matter of visible scientific fact.

Am I to believe the Warren Court did not know what Planned Parenthood did; that these miniature human body parts could be sold piecemeal to the highest bidder?

Recently, Liberty University’s president Jerry Falwell, Jr., in Trumpesque fashion tweeted, “My good friend @jerryvines just told me Dr. Adam Greenway is a wonderful man and not part of the @drmoore SBC deep state regime trying to subvert the will of the church members! So glad to hear this news! @toddstarnes .”

     Falwell is referring to Dr. Russell Moore the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. When Trump ran for president Falwell and Moore held conflicting views of Trump.

     Moore was highly critical of Trump’s unrepentant admissions of immorality and apparent lack of any sign of Christian character while claiming to be one. He had suggested Trump’s claim of being a Christian is out of political expediency, that he had a mixed track record on the issues concerning evangelicals, and has a host of self-professed moral failings.

     Moore remarked, “To back Mr. Trump, these [evangelical] voters must repudiate everything they believe.” That got Moore in some hot water with Trump supporters in the SBC who called for his resignation.

     Moore later clarified his comment saying, “There’s a massive difference between someone who enthusiastically excused immorality and someone who felt conflicted, weighted the options based on biblical convictions, and voted their conscience.”

     Moore’s honesty about Trump’s immorality must have offended sycophantic supporters like Falwell and he evidently hasn’t forgiven Moore. It is the sort of thing that happens when politics become more important than Christian character.

     I do not know what kind of conversations Dr. Jerry Vines and Falwell are having but this is the first time I have heard of the “SBC deep state regime.” Maybe Falwell should clarify what he means by the term “SBC deep state regime.” I have no idea what he is talking about.

     A number of evangelicals like Falwell made excuses for Trump’s narcissism and lack of Christian character saying he was just a newborn Christian who needed to mature spiritually, but he should be out of his diapers by now. Trump acts more like a spoiled brat than a babe in Christ.

     While several prominent Christian leaders bent over backwards to excuse Trump’s inconsistent claims to Christianity, Russell Moore held Trump accountable. Russell Moore did what any Christian, especially a leader of an ethics commission, should have done.

      Christians have a civic responsibility to weigh the political issues in the light of our biblical convictions, and then to vote our conscience, but politics for the Christian were never meant to supplant our primary calling to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,” Matthew 28:18.

     It seems to me Trump’s spiritual advisors had a responsibility to influence him to live the Christianity he professed, but it looks like Trump has influenced his spiritual advisors to be more like him; tweeting outlandish attacks on those who disagree with them.      It makes one wonder who is influencing who? Christians should not sell their evangelical birthright for a single serving of political pottage.