Here’s an objection you might hear from the more scientifically minded skeptic. “You Christians claim that God designed the universe, and fine-tuned it to be just right for life to exist. But if that is true, why is there so much empty, seemingly wasted, space? If God designed the universe, he clearly didn’t do a very good job.” This is something we don’t always think about, but it’s a valid question. After all, as Douglas Adams put it so nicely, “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” But why is space so big? Why would God make so much space and only focus on the “pale blue dot” as the late Carl Sagan dubbed us?
Are You Sure it’s Wasted Space?
This objection is making a very big assumption in thinking that the space is being wasted. The conditions we observe in our galaxy that allow life to be possible are incredibly precise. Changing one small factor can throw off the balance and suddenly you’re missing a fundamental force or material necessary for life. Changing something something on a macro level like we’re talking about here would have impacts nobody can truly predict. As even most secular scientists will tell you, empty space is not empty. Particles and physics are still acting in the seemingly empty space, making none of it truly wasted.
Beauty in Space
But say they’re right and that God could have made life and the universe exactly the same, but more compact. Would that really be a good thing? Paraphrasing Dr. Jeff Zweerink, this is a question that scientists ask, but artists don’t. We don’t ask an artist why they painted their picture in a specific way we think makes more sense. We understand that they are painting what they felt was beautiful. That God seemingly designed such an unbelievably massive universe, and still finds us significant, is a powerful message. Space fills the imagination with wonder. Think about how much of science fiction is based around the idea of the vastness of space, and what could possibly lay beyond the horizon. After all, would an all loving and powerful God really create a universe without Star Trek?
Discuss your thoughts for this post on our Facebook Group here.
