No it’s a massive totally unnecessary extravagance. If some trillionaire wants to to do it rather than pay his taxes, fine. And not. We don’t need to go to Mars let alone ‘colonize’ it for any rational and righteous reason whatsoever. Yeah when I was 10 I wanted to be an astronaut. 57 years ago. And yes I’ve read ALL the sci-fi, starting with Heinlein THEN Wells, Bradbury, D. G. Compton’s excellent The Quality of Mercy, all the way up to Kim Stanley Robinson, Andy Weir, in between. Unless there’s an economic reason for doing it, and there isn’t bar some Keynesian argument.
Reason doesn’t come in to it.
It would make more sense to build those colonies here on Earth. Multiple colonies underground or deep on the sea floor are much easier to build, and the Earth outside of those protected colonies would still be orders of magnitude more habitable after a meteor strike than Mars is right now. Our ancestors made it through the Chicxulub impact (most likely by living underground), so I don’t see why we could not.
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He can only know what is knowable, or if He chose to do anything. But He’s done the only thing He can. The rest is down to us and nature’s other unknowable chaos. Not C1st apocalyptic.
The future is known to God (he is omnitemporal).
This is relevant, kinda?
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One of the things that NASA does is to watch for asteroids that could pose a danger to Earth. They are also planning a way to deal with them, possibly by going into space and deflecting them. Asteroids can be dangerous and have devastating consequences. Some Evangelicals believe that God sent the huge asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and other life forms. It was not very nice here on earth for a long time after.
Living underground has its problems. Women don’t get their periods and you’d be a generation away from extinction. Farming underground might be a problem also but not if we go extinct.
We all need to look a little closer to home.
Like inside our thoughts and affections.
God still judges individuals and nations. The rock that all mankind needs to look for and deal with is Christ. Rom 9:33 “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Luke 20:17 The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone’? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
If we humble ourselves and fall on that rock we will be broken but saved from the just wrath of God on us for our rebellion and from the slavery to sin. But if we reject that rock, it will fall on us and crush us and there will be no recovery. No other planet to run to, no ocean floor to flee to. There is no place to hide from the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. All who call on the name of the Lord will be safe. That is our only hope.
I will always bring our attention back to Jesus, for His worth is above the total of all things. He is the Son of the Father and through His blood we have forgiveness and redemption. The New Covenant is in His blood and He is our High Priest.
I wasn’t aware of that. Research might uncover some solutions, such as the type of light and exposure times.
Weed farmers don’t seem to have any problems growing their product indoors.
Of course, these are all problems we would have on Mars since no one would be able to live on the surface because of radiation.
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A carbon negative society, global warming mitigation tech, and a sustainable food chain is not a big challenge for them to get stuck into? Not every kid dreams of being an astronaut.
I admire your optimism. Perhaps, I am old and jaded before my time! My feeling is that if one gives a puppy to an already irresponsible dog owner it will not suddenly make them care for the mistreated dog they already own.
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Thanks for the reminder, Cody. Though in the context of the discussion I struggle to see the rellavence of your post. Looking to Jesus in humble trust and the space colonisiation are not mutually exclusive.
Please try to engage more clearly with the topic being discussed next time. Thanks.
The topic of colonizing Mars, space rocks, living underground or on the ocean floor to save mankind are part of this discussion. Since the forum includes science and trust in God, I am in a quandary to understand how all the imaginations of those topics could possibly involve the Father’s involvement in the present and final salvation of mankind, knowing that the finale state of those who love Him is to be with Him.
People are talking about how to save man from extinction, but the Father is the one in control. It’s not extinction we need to be save from, it’s sin and justice.
My post is very relevant to the other posts, mankind being saved is part of the conversation. It will not be by our great scientific discoveries, it will be by the Father’s will, His plan. I try to bring elaborate imaginations back to the real world.
Thank you for your response.
To be fair to the discussion here, not everyone is talking about colonising mars or mitigating global warming as a way to save the species from extinction (I’m not). After all, many of the future threats faced by global warming, etc. still have the possibility of resulting in the death, displacement, starvation and general suffering of hundreds of millions of people made in God’s image long before they reach extinction event level.
Yes, the Father’s goal is ultimately for us to be with him, but we will be with him here when his Kingdom comes in its fullness as Jesus return ushers in the restoration of all creation. Christians as New Creation people live in light of that future reality in the here and now. And that means stewarding the world we have now and any other worlds we might go to before Jesus return.
As I say, humble trust in Jesus and mars colonisation are not necessarily mutually exclusive, just as creation care and evangelism are not either.
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I tend to agree that for global extinction events it’s in the hands of God. But On the flipside I suppose some might be thinking that there is nothing wrong with trying to avert disaster and prevent injuries. Was it wrong for people to invent modern medicine, seatbelts, cars that crumple and antilock breaks? Wrong to study the weather and predict hurricanes in advance? Wrong to study geology in an effort to predict earthquakes?
Vinnie
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God did have Noah build an ark.
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Nuclear submarines would survive well, even surface vessels. Tsunamis just ping over the deeps. Given even a few days warning, disperse your navies, cruise ships, loaded with seeds, food for a couple of years. There will be Cold War shelters everywhere, nuclear powered, on shock absorbers up to Richter 7. Six orders of magnitude more feasible than a Mars ‘ark’. Satellite coms would survive for decades. Sailors can make anything work; frozen oil installations. It would be On The Beach without the radiation. At all, including solar, for the first year. Be a tad dark. A lot of frozen meat about. If the bugger comes sunside, it’s whoever’s in Cheyenne Mountain and the like. Inuit and Chukchi.
Well, we did survive the first one by living underground.
What did we eat? Anything that could burrow from the Chicxulub fire storm would; badgers, aardvarks do it now. Along with rabbits etc, rats. Rats were there. We were rats. They’d have to be omnivores, carrion eaters: plenty of frozen burnt meat around. [Large omnivorous animals - bears - hibernate in caves.]
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I was thinking of return to Earth after the worst phase of the catastrophe, with technology that would help the survivors.
Personally I believe that God will fulfill the promises and prophecies written in the Bible. I do not believe that God would allow a total extinction of humanity. Large-scale punishment of prevailing evil is possible, based on some examples in the Old testament and what is written in the Revelation.
All suffering is not self-caused. Even innocent may suffer from natural disasters, such as earthquakes and vulcanoes. We have not been promised a paradise on Earth, at least not before the second coming of Jesus.
Maybe it is some sort of egoism or an evolutionary tendency to promote the success of our genes. Anyhow, I would be willing to participate in actions that reduce suffering and save lives. If we would face a total destruction, such as an asteroid hit that takes away all life living on the surface of Earth, then I probably would just concentrate on the hope of living with the Lord and sharing this hope with others.
I agree. It just is unlikely that someone would pay the costs of maintaining an underground colony on Earth just as an insurance against possible planet-wide catastrophes. At least not until we get observations of a big rock on the way to Earth.
Colonizing other plants (or Moon) could get that funding, just because it’s something new and exiting. Is it wise is another questions.
Edit: I have been reading a lot of science fiction (probably too much). One of the books had a scenario where the Moon shattered and large chunks hit Earth. The surface of the Earth became hot and sterile for several thousands of years. Only some small colonies survived, one underground, one in the deep sea, some in space. Just a hypothetical scenario but it was nice to see how the author developed the possible future in such a case. Anyhow, if a large chunk would hit Earth, the surface might be hostile for life for thousands of years. In that case, shallow underground structures would probably not be enough for survival.
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