Consider the Heavens

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Consider the Heavens
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• Psalm 83 When I consider thy heavens,the
  works of thy fingers,the moon and the
  stars,which thou has ordained,
• what is man that thou art mindful of him...?
• many people see the vastness of space and wonder
  if there is a God, and, if He is there, why He
  should care about us

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• is there evidence in the heavens of a
  providential, caring God?
• or is this all just a vast,dead, space withouta
  hint of the loveand care of theGod of the Bible?

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• we will consider the creation from the first
  heaven(our atmosphere)...

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• to the farthest reaches of the second heaven (the
  cosmos)...
• ...and see just how mindful of us He really
  is...

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Consider the Atmosphere...
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• our mass is just enough to keep this thin layer
  of gases above us
• any more mass ( more gravity)means a heavier,
  more destructive atmosphere with more deadly
  gases staying here
• less mass (less gravity)and we cant hold onto
  oxygen and other life-support gases

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• our atmosphere is 20 oxygen
• any less?humans arent here
• any more?everything burns alot faster, and
  ourbodies age quicker

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• the thin invisible ozone layer keeps us alive by
  absorbing nasty radiation from space
• less ozoneand we roast in ultraviolet light from
  the sun
• any moreand we dont getenough of the
  sunslife-giving energythrough to thesurface

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• carbon dioxide in our atmosphere acts like a
  blanket and keeps us warm
• any less,we freeze andplant lifedies out
• any more,we fry in arunawaygreenhouseeffect

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• lightning strikes about once a secondon this
  planet
• more often?too many fires
• less often?not enoughnitrogen wouldget
  fixedinto a formusefulfor life

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• water vapor permeates through the atmosphere,
  delivering rain keeping us warm.
• want more?we get a runawaygreenhouse
  effectwhich will fry the planet
• less?life on land would sufferfrom meager to no
  rainfall

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• our slow 24-hour rotation keeps our winds perfect
  - even hurricane force islow - our temps nice
• faster or slower and life is possible,but its
  no Eden

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• our liquid center gives us a magnetic field which
  protects us from the deadly solar winds...
• some solar wind can sneak in at the poles and
  give us the aurorae...

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• a constant, visible, beautiful reminder of our
  magnetic fields protective purpose.

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• it appears we have aperfect atmosphere

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Consider the Moon...
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the Moon has slowed us,kept us steady,given us
tides,stabilized our orbit without it, life
could not exist
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Consider our Neighbors
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• Venus, closer to the sun, has...
• an atmosphere so heavy with carbon dioxide its
  like being under a kilometer of water
• a surface temp around 900F
• a cloud cover of sulfuric acid
• no water
• not a shopping mall in sight

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• Mars, smaller farther out,
• has almost no atmosphere or plate tectonics,
  and its water reservoirs are essentially frozen,
  so there is no life-giving water cycle

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• but its a happy planet!
• apparently we arenot too close,not too far,but
  just the perfectdistance fromthe sun for life

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Consider Jupiter Saturn
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• Jupiter and Saturn are at theperfect distance
  to
• leave our sensitive orbit alone, but
• protect us from nasty, earthbound comets and
  asteroids...

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• for example, in 1994, Jupiter captured an
  incoming comet and ate it like it has done many,
  many times before.

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• these dark plumeswhere the comet fragments
  struckare bigger than the Earth!

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• we still get hit by the big ones occasionally,
  but not nearly as often and always at the perfect
  time.
• apparently,we have the perfect big brothers out
  there

big rock,bad day
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Consider the Sun

• our sun is the perfectage,mass,brightness,
  generationfor life
• anything else, were not here

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• the faint sun paradox says that through an
  amazingly complex list of coincidences, the sun
  increased in luminosity at the same rate the
  greenhouse gases were removed from our atmosphere
  so Earth could maintain a life-friendly constant
  tempfor 4 billion years

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• our sun is a bachelor, a single star most stars
  have at least one other companion
• of course, having no star means a bad day, but
• if the sun had a buddy,our orbit would
  destabilizeand we would not be here

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Consider Other Stars
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• our sun wasnt born near other big and
  destructive stars like these four here in the
  Orion Nebula, the Trapezium Cluster

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• the Trapezium Cluster are clearing away
  planet-making material from their siblings
• no planet-making material, no planets
• no planets, no TV
• no TV, no life

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• sun-sized starseventually go out in ablaze of
  glory
• the sun will, too, a long time from now...

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• but humans were put here at exactly the right
  time tocompletely avoidthis inevitablescenario.
  
• its as if we got stuck on a perfect
  planetcircling alife-giving starwhich has
  theperfect life-cycle

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• many stars, like Betelgeuse in Orion, are bigger
  than our sun - they live much faster and
  violently and die much younger

betelgeuse
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• and when they die, they scour clean everything
  within hundreds of trillions of miles.
• we have no big starry life-threatening neighbors

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• as to these explosions called supernovae
• closer to us?life is exterminated
• farther?not enoughplanet-building debris
• more frequent?life goes bye-bye
• more infrequent?no planets

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Consider our Galaxy
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• we live on the only street in our galaxy which
  allows life, about 2/3 out...
• closer to the nucleus,we get supernovaed,radiate
  d to death,and thrown out ofa stable orbitby
  other stars
• farther,no planet-building material

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• we live in the perfect type of galaxy for life,
  the spiral
• spiral is perfect for life elliptical not
  so

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• FYI FACT!
• our Mormon friends claim that we came from Kolob,
  a planetin the center of the galaxy
• no can do! theres asupermassiveblack hole
  there!
• nothing survivesthis place

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• it appears we are located in the perfect place
  within the perfect type of galaxy
• can things get any better?!

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Consider the Universe

• we live in a cluster of galaxies like this, but
  at the safest place - the edge!...
• at the edge, spirals survive - how?

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• living in the nasty inner placesleads to...
• collisions!!!
• or...

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• cannibalism, in which one galaxy consumes another
• either way,no life

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• worse! clusters can collide with clusters to
  produce the most massive things ever seen!

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• its as if we live in the perfect galaxy in the
  perfect part of a perfect cluster in the perfect
  part of the universe.

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Considering Everything

• considering...
• our atmosphere,
• our Moon,
• our neighbors,
• our Sun,
• our Galaxy,
• our place in the universe,
• and many other things not even mentioned...

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• many scientists are seeing for the first time
  that Somebody mustbe behind it all
• and because manyscientists are seeingdesign
  everywherethey look...some areseeinga
  Designer
• and are being drawn into the Third Heaven - the
  presence of God

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Consider the Third Heaven

• if this whole universe is flooded with design,
  then maybe the Bible is correct, they say
• if the Bible is correct, so are His promises to
  take care of us and fill us with abundant life
• if He has so meticulously taken care of this
  Whole Place, how much more will He take care of
  you, for whom He sacrificed Himself?

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• whats better thanHim taking careof us now?
• some day we will becaught up intothe other
  dimensionsof the Third Heaven,into a New
  Creation,a place Hes prepared for us,to spend
  eternity with Him

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