Episode Details

Just this month, two wealthy business owners, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, took two different private vehicles on flights beyond Earth.[1. GPS III-5 Mission photo (June 17, 2021) courtesy SpaceX on Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.] Now people are saying: the age of lower-cost space flight is finally here, not only from government agencies but from private entrepreneurs! Others wonder if this is all just a big waste. When people are starving because our world groans under sin, is it wise for people to support space flight?

Concession stand

• We’re not starting with the idols. That’s (frankly) an unhelpful approach.
• As usual, we want to ask first what a thing is for—its purpose in God’s world.
• We admit our biases: we both favor space exploration and missions work.
• Our worldview is Christian (we attempt no secular arguments for feeding the hungry).

1. What is the ultimate purpose of life, the universe, and human technology?

• Before we condemn greed and exploitation, what’s good here?
• Cultural mandate, science and technology, stewardship of Earth and space?
• In a world without sin, would expanding humanity have reached the stars?
• God actually disciplines people after they stay in one place (Genesis 11).
• Genesis 11 appears to be all about technology and its proper use/misuse.
• We should explore the cosmos because it testifies to God’s invisible attributes and declares his glory (Romans 1, Psalm 8).

Meme-maker credit: Catherine Darrow.

2. How does sin distort our view of God’s universe and our technology?

• Some people see no practical or transcendent value in space exploration.
• Every time there is a high profile rocket launch, people complain about it.
• “But Lord, those spaceships could have been sold and the money been given to the poor.”
• One meme shows two buttons: “fly in space for ten minutes,” or “End world hunger.”
• Only the fly-in-space button actually works. “End world hunger” is a fantasy.
• Sin leads to human suffering, and also distorts our explanations about that.
• Sin also distorts technology; we can use this to ignore real needs around us.
• But people distract themselves from real needs by projecting onto headlines like this.

3. Today, how might unsaved people explore space, and what about eternity?

• Elon Musk is serious about colonizing Mars.
• Jeff Bezos is serious about colonizing LEO through O’Neill cylinders.
• They and other space barons have also mentioned mining asteroids.
• We must prepare for Martians and Belters (people who mine asteroids).
• Jesus might not return before people truly begin private exploration of space.