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Is Earth The Best Place To Live?
The Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1, NKJV). However, a recent news article titled, "Earth Is Not the Best Place to Live, Scientists Say" reports the following:
"Earth is not necessarily the best planet in the universe for life, a new study has found. Researchers have found some 24 planets that are 'superhabitable', offering conditions more suitable for life than they are here on Earth. And some of them even have better stars than our own Sun, the researchers said ... The study identified 24 of the 'superhabitable' planets. They are all 100 light years away, making them difficult if not impossible to ever see up close, but research with future telescopes could give us much more information about those worlds...'With the next space telescopes coming up, we will get more information, so it is important to select some targets,' said Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a professor at Washington State University and the Technical University in Berlin, who led the study...'It's sometimes difficult to convey this principle of superhabitable planets because we think we have the best planet,' said Professor SchuizeMakuch" (Andrew Griffin, The Independent).
In response to these astounding assertions, please consider the following:
1. Earth is a divinely designed place to live. Having created the earth and all that is in it in six days, the Bible says, "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day" (Gen. 1:31). God created and arranged the earth so that it would be the ideal environment in which man could live. Upon creating the first man and woman, the Bible says, "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth'" (v. 28). Earth is the best place to live because it was divinely designed and created for man.
2. Earth is the only place in the universe to live. Earth is not just the best place to live in the universe; it is the only place to live! In spite of the conjecture put forward by scientists who, admittedly, cannot actually view these planets with any degree of certainty that are one hundred light years away, none of these so-called "superhabitable" planets is a suitable habitation for man. The apostle Paul spoke of our An 1ehasmadfromonb1ood-everynationofmewtodweII orralt the
face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation" (Acts 17:26). There is no better place in the universe to live than on earth because the earth was specifically created to serve as man's dwelling place.
3. Earth is not a permanent place to live. With respect to the physical universe, Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matt. 24:35). The apostle Peter writes, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (2 Pet. 3:10). When the Lord comes again, the earth will be burned up, along with all the so-called "superhabitable" planets and all those "better stars than our own Sun," which are mentioned by the researchers. Ultimately, neither the earth, nor anywhere else in the physical universe, is a permanent place to live.
Conclusion
Rather than look to the heavens for some better place to live, faithful followers of Christ look to heaven itself, where God dwells. Paul writes, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself- (Phil. 3:20-21). While there is no better place to live in this universe than on earth, we must prepare to live eternally in heaven. Are you ready?
