The Mars Landing: Why Did We Do It?
A commentary by David Treybig
United Church of God pastor, St. Petersburg and Tampa, Florida
In the midst of the intense focus on the U.S. presidential race
and the sobering reports of natural disasters around the world—the
cyclone in Myanmar, the earthquakes in China, tornadoes in the U.S.—an
unmanned spacecraft gently sat down on the surface of Mars on Sunday,
May 25.
The Phoenix,
NASA's latest craft designed to probe the red planet's
terrain, was launched on August 4 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
After travelling 423 million miles over almost ten months, the solar-powered
Phoenix entered the Martian atmosphere where its thrusters slowed
the craft from a speed of over 12,000 miles per hour to 5 miles
per hour just before touchdown.
The engineers and scientists overseeing the project were delighted
with the flawless landing—one of the most treacherous parts
of the trip, since over half of all previous attempts to land have
failed. After safely settling in the North Polar Region, the Phoenix
unfolded its solar panels and soon sent back its first photos of
the Martian landscape.
Now comes the especially intriguing part of the Phoenix's
mission: a three-month study of the icy terrain and a search for
the building blocks of life. If the Phoenix can confirm that the
presumed water ice is usable, future missions with humans will be
able acquire water to drink and oxygen to breath from the planet
itself without having to bring these supplies from earth.
While the results of this mission will undoubtedly add to our understanding
of Mars and enhance future missions, have you ever wondered why
we humans are so interested in exploring everything around us? Why
do we explore not only the earth but also the heavenly bodies within
our reach? Why are we so concerned about the possibility of life
on another planet?
NASA has four long-term goals for the Mars
Exploration Program, of which the Phoenix Mission is part.
These goals are to: 1. Determine whether life ever arose on Mars;
2. Characterize the climate of Mars; 3. Characterize the geology
of Mars; 4. Prepare for human exploration.
These goals also give us insight into our collective heritage—the
psyche of the human race. But there's no need to travel millions
of miles through space to discover more about the human mind and
why we do the things we do, For most of us, the information we need
to begin understanding ourselves is located within a few feet of
us or obtainable via just a few key strokes on a computer. So where
is this information? In the Holy Bible—the book in which God
reveals how we humans were designed.
This great Book of amazingly accurate information tells us that
at creation God made each form of life according to its specific
type or kind. Plant life was made "according to its kind" (Genesis
1:11). Sea creatures and every other form of life were also made
according to their kind (v. 21, 24). But when God created mankind,
He said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds
of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth" (v. 26).
We humans were designed after the supreme Intelligence of the universe—God
Himself. As a result, the biblical record shows that Adam was a
highly intelligent being capable of naming the animals and carrying
on intelligent conversations immediately after his creation (Genesis
2:19-20, 23; Genesis 3). He was no cave man capable of only crude
grunts.
And just as God has dominion—rulership—over everything
that exists, He has given us humans dominion over the plant and
animal kingdoms on this earth. Furthermore, He eventually wants
to give us even more authority—dominion over the angels and
positions of authority in a new "world to come" (Hebrews
2:5-8, Revelation 5:10).
When we understand that we were created as intelligent beings with
dominion over our world, it is no surprise that we humans instinctively
continue to add to our knowledge base and explore all that is around
us. The Mars Exploration Program simply reflects the fact that we
were hard-wired from the beginning to do these kinds of things.
And even though our abilities are not nearly as great as God's,
we humans clearly exhibit the family traits of our heavenly Father.
 To learn more about the way we were created and our ultimate destiny,
request, download or read online our free booklet: What
is Your Destiny?
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