Doug Johnson: Picturing the universe

Published 12:06 am Saturday, October 31, 2020

Our universe is massive!

Years ago, a scientist suggested an interesting analogy.

“Imagine,” he said, “A perfectly smooth glass pavement on which the finest speck can be seen. Then, shrink our sun from 865,000 miles in diameter to only two feet, and place this gilt ball on the pavement to represent the sun.

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“Step off 82 paces of about two feet each, and to proportionately represent the first planet, Mercury, put down a mustard seed.

“Take 60 steps more, each about two feet, and for Venus, put down an ordinary shot the size of a BB.

“Mark 78 steps more, and for our earth, put down a pea.

“Step off 108 paces from there, and for Mars, put down a pinhead.

“Sprinkle some fine dust for the asteroids, take 788 steps more, and for Jupiter, put down an orange.

“Take 934 steps, and for Saturn, put down a golf ball.

“Mark 2,086 steps more, and for Uranus, put down a marble.

“Step off 2,322 steps from there, and for Neptune, put down a cherry.

“This will take two and a half miles, and we haven’t discussed Pluto. If we swing completely around, we have a smooth glass surface five miles in diameter representing our solar system, just a tiny fraction of the heavens. On this surface, five miles across, we have only a mustard seed, BB, pea, pinhead, dust, orange, golf ball, marble and cherry. And we should have to go 6,720 miles, not feet, on the same scale before we could put down another two-foot ball to represent the nearest star.”

I have often wondered how people can look at something so vast and beautiful as our solar system and still not believe in God.

The evolutionists would have us to believe the universe, with all of its intricate details and precisely placed planets, just came together one day through a massive explosion.

I must admit that it takes a lot of faith to believe in the “Big Bang Theory.” Call me crazy, but every explosion I have witnessed has created nothing but chaos and destruction!

The size, position, and angle of the earth is a scientific phenomenon If the earth was a few degrees closer to the sun we’d disintegrate, a few degrees farther away we’d freeze. The axis of the earth is tilted at a perfect 23-degree angle thus allowing global distribution of the rays of the sun, making it possible for the food chain to exist.

The stars rotate with such exact precision that the Atomic Clock, with an error factor of less than three seconds per millennium, is set by the way they move.

The evolutionists also claim that all plants and animals have evolved from a different plant or animal over time.

I must confess that my favorite animal is the duck-billed platypus.

I think God created the platypus just to confuse the evolutionists. It lays eggs like a turtle, gives milk like a mammal, has a bill like a duck, hair like a bear, sharp claws like a reptile, venom like a snake, and barks like a puppy.

Hmm… I wonder which animal the platypus evolved from?

In Genesis 1:1, the Bible tells us, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

No, it doesn’t take a whole lot of faith to believe in God… especially when you can see His handiwork all around you!

Rev. Doug Johnson is the senior pastor at Raven Assembly of God in Raven, Virginia.