Evidence that the building blocks of life are abundant in the interstellar medium? Yes, but it's not a big deal.

Greetings, mortals!  Earlier today, scientists with the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy announced their finding that isopropyl cyanide, an organic molecule, is abundant in the interstellar medium.  They made this "discovery" by observing the Sagittarius B2 gas cloud with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) of radio telescopes to analyze the radiospectrometric signatures of the various molecules that make up the gas cloud. 

While researchers have previously detected organic molecules in space, isopropyl cyanide is the first such organic molecule seen that has a branched carbon backbone.  It, unlike any of those previously-observed molecules, is thus more like the amino acids that your sciences (incorrectly) believe form the building blocks of life here on Earth.  Because the amino acids, like isopropyl cyanide, have a branched, carbon-based structure.

What's the significance of this?  Well, if you believe life on Earth arose naturalistically, this finding strongly suggests that other branched carbon molecules -- including, possibly, amino acids themselves -- exist in abundance in space.  That would further support the theory that life arose on Earth without any supernatural intervention because it means those building blocks were likely already present here on Earth and didn't have to form from simpler molecules under the right conditions.

In other words, if branched carbon molecules are abundant in space, they were likely abundant on Earth from its earliest days.  And if that's true, the number of steps humans thought were needed to move from molecules present on Earth to the emergence of life decreases.  It also increases the likelihood that life exists elsewhere in the universe.

Said another way, given the existence of branched carbon organic molecules in space, the number of assumptions in the chemical synthesis-based hypotheses of abiogenesis goes down.  And as scientists are always fond of telling us, the simpler a hypothesis is in relation to competing hypotheses, the more likely it's true.

Does this undermine Creation or Intelligent Design?  No, of course not.  First of all, if you want to blaspheme by calling Creation a hypothesis, it's the simplest hypothesis of all: God did it.  You don't even need to assume anything (apart from the agency of a supernatural being of limitless power and eternal duration whose very existence is at variance with all available evidence, which evidence is consistent only with a naturalistic universe).  QED.

Second, even if branched carbon organic molecules were abundant on Earth from its beginning, no one was around to see those molecules become self-replicating bases for all terrestrial life.  That means abiogenesis can't be proven, which means, of course, abiogenesis must not be true.  And if abiogenesis isn't true, then Creation must be, because it says so in the Bible.  QED again!

If God Created all, why, then, are complex organic molecules present in interstellar space?  Simple.  As I said in my last post, God has been expanding the veil of Heaven to make sure human space exploration doesn't pierce through it.  It's been a big project and something we had to do pretty quickly, so, well, there wasn't a lot of time to clean everything up.

Basically, the organic compounds you're seeing in space are the cast-off materials from Creation.  It's the sawdust on the floor of God's workshop.  That's all.  There's no significance to it at all apart from being further proof that God Created all life on Earth.

So quit getting all excited about this, okay?  Focus on something more important.  Like praying, or figuring out better ways to rationalize the Bible into being literal truth.  The salvation of your immortal soul is, after all, both incompatible with and more important than knowledge.

Thank you for reading, and as always, I welcome your comments below!

If God Punished Humanity for the Tower of Babel, why not for Space Exploration?

Oh, He's punishing you for it.  And what He's doing is chilling.

But we'll get to that.  First let's discuss what you're doing wrong.  The Book of Genesis is clear on how humanity is supposed to view the cosmos: 

"Flammarion" by Anonymous - Camille Flammarion, L'Atmosphere: Météorologie Populaire (Paris, 1888), pp. 163. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

I, of course, cloaked this truth of Creation in the evidence that you now claim points to a spherical earth, heliocentric solar system, and Big Bang cosmology.  But you were supposed to reject all of that evidence.  You were supposed to accept what the Bible says about the cosmos because what the Bible says about the cosmos is in the Bible.

Obviously you went a different way.

And so here we are, with humanity growing more and more distant from the beliefs God prescribed for you as your scientists re-create the conditions of the Big Bang, achieve greater understanding of your place in the universe, and use space-based telescopes to peer further than ever before into the cosmos.

You're not limiting yourself to terrestrial efforts, either.  You have collaborated despite nationalism to build an orbital station, sent a probe past the heliosphere into interstellar space (maybe), and landed a laser-armed, nuclear-powered science tank on another planet.  Your spaceflight capabilities have advanced to the point that private entities are now able to accomplish feats of engineering once achievable only by governments.

Which brings us back to the Tower of Babel.  Genesis 11:1-9 teaches,

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 

And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto Heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

In short, a bunch of dudes got together and, because they had both the ability to collaborate effortlessly and a sufficient supply of slime, were able to begin building a tower that would have pierced Heaven but for the intervention of God.  Because as God said, when humans collaborate fully, nothing within their imaginations remains beyond their grasp.

Seriously.  You guys are figuring out how to propel spaceships with glorified microwave ovens.  You're working on a warp drive, for [blasphemy redacted]'s sake.  Let that sink in.  You are working on a warp drive.

Now, sure, the warp drive stuff is still all theoretical.  But do you think something being theoretical is going to stop you?  Look at your Rosetta spacecraft.  It was launched in 2004.  A week ago, the European Space Agency chose a landing site on comet 67P for the Rosetta's Philae lander.  Let that sink in.  Humans shot a rocket into space ten years ago, successfully maneuvered its payload into stable orbit around a comet this year, and are about to land on that comet another science tank.  And how did you do this?  By combining math, astronomy, physics, chemistry, engineering, and fire.  Holy [blasphemy redacted].

Anyway!  Back to Babel.  Humanity was about to pierce the veil of Heaven.  But if it had done that, the portion of the dark ocean held above the Earth by Heaven would have poured through, drowning everything on Earth.  And that kind of devastation is something only God is allowed to wreak, thank you very much.  Also, secondarily, humanity was proving itself capable of equaling the glory of God, which He really doesn't like.

For those two reasons, God (who, of course, loves you and wants only for you to succeed), robbed you of your ability to collaborate with one another for your shared benefit.  The veil of Heaven and God's majesty were thus preserved.

Except you found workarounds.  Fast forward 4,300 years -- since, of course, the Earth is only 6,000 years old -- and not only have you learned each others'  languages, you're now so capable as scientists and engineers that you can exceed the works of the Babel architects within not just a single language, but within a single nation.

So what was God to do?  Organized religious sects already keep you divided, obviously, but that's no longer sufficient.  Neither is the languages thing.  Even if He pulled that again, you'd just adapt again.  You'd keep expanding your reach to the stars, pierce the veil of Heaven, and drown the Earth.

So He decided to punish you by implementing a public works project second in scope only to Creation.  As humanity has peered and explored deeper into space, God has concomitantly expanded the veil of Heaven to exceed your reach.  That is His horrifying punishment for your continued, arrogant exploration of the cosmos.

Now, you may be saying, "that doesn't seem so bad."  Well, then.  You haven't thought through the implications.

Before they may receive their posthumous reward in Heaven, virtuous souls must first get there.  And as you know, God has made it so nothing in the universe travels faster than the speed of light -- including humans' immortal souls.

The veil of Heaven is now over 13 billion light-years away from the Earth.  Which means that when your faithful loved ones pass away, it takes at least 13 billion years for their souls to reach Heaven.  So your dear departed Grandma?  Yep, you guessed it.  She's presently hurtling through the blackness of space, incorporeal, immortal, and utterly alone, just as she will be for billions and billions of years to come.

Terrible, isn't it?  But necessary -- because God loves you.  He doesn't want you to drown.

...again, I mean.

Thank you for reading, mortals!  As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Was the Moon created by an Earth impact with a planet-sized body? Nope! It was Created by God.

Greetings, mortals!  I come today to debunk a rising belief that the Moon was formed by an impact between the Earth and a smaller, but still planet-sized, body.  It was not.  It was Created by God.

First, though, what your sciences have begun to mislead you to believe: Per today's Science Daily, researchers from the European Association of Geochemistry have released the results of their work with oxygen isotopes in lunar samples.  They say their analysis supports the theory that the Moon was formed when the Earth collided with a Mars-sized body approximately 4.5 billion years ago.

The researchers compared the oxygen isotope makeup of Earth samples with lunar samples, some of which were provided by NASA from the Apollo 11, 12, and 16 missions.  As Science Daily reports, while these isotopes vary throughout the solar system, they are very closely similar between the Earth and the Moon.  If the Moon had been created by a giant impact with another planetoid (which your scientists have named Theia), however, planetary geology would predict that the isotopic makeups of the Earth and Moon would differ.

Well, according to these researchers, the isotopic makeups of the Earth and the Moon do differ.  Dr. Hewartz, the lead researcher, said:

The differences are small and difficult to detect, but they are there. This means two things; firstly we can now be reasonably sure that the Giant collision took place. Secondly, it gives us an idea of the geochemistry of Theia. Theia seems to have been similar to what we call E-type chondrites.  If this is true, we can now predict the geochemical and isotopic composition of the Moon, because the present Moon is a mixture of Theia and the early Earth. The next goal is to find out how much material of Theia is in the Moon.

Okay, so, now we get to the key issues: Can science, armed with these new findings, predict the isotopic composition of the Moon?  Can it thereby confirm the giant impact hypothesis of the Moon's formation?  The answers are "yes" and "absolutely not, cease now your vile blasphemy or face damnation!".

First, yes, science could predict the isotopic composition of the Moon.  It's somewhat different than Earth's because, of course, I imbued the Moon with isotopes consistent with an admixture of the Earth and E-type chondrites to make it appear as if the Moon was formed in a giant impact approximately 4.5 billion years ago.  Your science is expert at detecting and exploring such mundane phenomena.  And sure, you'll be able to use your present observations to advance your future observations.  You'll develop an understanding of what rigorous observation of the physical universe tells you about how the universe works, and from that, develop a plausible, well-supported theory about how the Moon was formed.

But that's as far as you'll get.  You won't learn how the Moon was formed.  Because the physical universe doesn't tell you anything about how the Moon was really Created.  The Bible does.  And does the Bible say any nonsense about "and Theia impacted the Earth approximately 4.5 billion years ago, forming the Moon?"  Of course not.  God made the Moon, and that's that, no matter what your evidence tells you.

So, in summary, abandon your misguided reliance on empirical evidence and return to faith in the Almighty.

And, please, leave your thoughts -- and your ardent wishes to return to loving communion with God! -- in the comments!

The newly-discovered "Mega-Earth"...and a reminder that only God's Earth matters.

Earlier today, astronomers announced that they have detected a rocky world 17 times the size of earth orbiting star Kepler-10.  They have deemed this planet, which they have named Kepler-10c, a "Mega-Earth."  Their theories about planetary formation did not allow for the possibility of so large a rocky planet.  Astronomers thought that all planets of this size would be gas giants, like Jupiter.  

They were, of course, wrong.  God can create any planet of any kind at any size He sees fit.  We need no model of planetary formation to tell us that.  It is my ardent hope that this discovery of a mystery of God's Creation -- one that illustrates that Man's science is and will forever be flawed and limited -- will convince these astronomers to abandon scientific inquiry and return to Faith in God Almighty.

There's one other thing I wanted to mention: As you can see in the Smithsonian Science article linked above, Dimitar Sasselov, one of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics researchers involved in the project that detected Kepler-10c, says that "Kepler-10c has positive implications for life."

Now, I don't want to take away from Professor Sasselov's work here -- he has laid bare the fact that humanity cannot grasp the full wonder of God's Creation and so should simply abandon science, accept that God's Creation is wonderful, and focus on faithfully serving Him.  But if he means that the existence of Mega-Earths like Kepler-10c suggests that there are more planets out there capable of supporting extraterrestrial life, he is flat wrong.

God created life once -- ONCE -- and He did it here on Earth.  There is no other life in the Universe.  All of the money you're funneling into astronomy, astrophysics, exobiology?  That budget increase you just awarded NASA?  It is all a waste of money.  You're chasing things that don't exist when you should be focused on using that money to establish Christianity as your global religion, build churches, and exalt God.

Now that your science has served the limited purpose of disproving itself, it's time to pack it in, okay?  No other beings will ever come down out of the sky to communicate with you.  

Well, except for Jesus.  And when that day comes, trust me: you'll be glad you accepted that scientific inquiry is heretical and returned to unquestioning faith in God.