A diminishing number are old enough to remember when human beings last visited the moon, which was in December of 1972 [1]. Even fewer remember the historic voyage of Apollo 11 in July of 1969, in which astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first to walk the lunar surface in what he called “one giant leap for mankind” [2]. One marvels at so much that characterized that chronologically recent yet culturally remote era, when most telephones were confined to the kitchen, the Internet was technology beyond the horizon, Wikipedia didn’t exist, and the Heritage Singers still sang, “I’ve Got Good Reason to Be Happy and Gay.”
On February 22, 2024, “Odysseus” (Odie), a lunar landing craft manufactured by Intuitive Machines, became the first space vehicle to land on the moon in more than fifty years [3]. NASA, but one of many customers on this unmanned mission, was able to assist a malfunctioning instrument on Odysseus by using two lasers which enabled the craft to land successfully [4]. Even though it tipped over in the hours after its landing on the moon’s south pole, it has still been able to send data back to earth [5].
The long-term plan is for the establishment of a base on the moon from which further exploration of the solar system and beyond might take place [6]. The south pole of the moon was the destination of Odysseus because of the ice found there, from which hydrogen can presumably be utilized to fuel future space launches [7]. According to the plan, the six NASA payloads aboard Odysseus will be used for future exploration of the moon under NASA’s ongoing Artemis program [8]. Both the U.S. and China have planned missions to the moon’s south pole [9].
The Limits of Science and Technology
Lately some have gone so far as to predict the establishment of space colonies on the moon and Mars—complete with orbital stations around the same—before the end of the current century [10], as well as space-based agricultural programs and space-based solar power ]11]. But as the fragility of the Odysseus craft bears witness, countless questions emerge with a technology of such a remote and risky nature.
For starters, the average temperature on the moon (at the equator and mid-latitudes) varies from -298 Fahrenheit (-183 degrees Celsius) at night, to 224 degrees Fahrenheit (106 degrees Celsius) during the day [12]. On Mars temperature swings vary from -105 degrees Fahrenheit (-75 Celsius) to 42 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) [13]. One is led to wonder what kind of agricultural system—or for that matter, human existence—could be sustained under such conditions.
Regarding travel beyond our solar system, throughout the Milky Way galaxy and further, one cannot fathom how such journeying is possible in terms of human science or technology. Even if one could travel at the speed of light, it would take between 548 and 1,300 years to reach the brightest stars in the constellation Orion (in our galaxy, no less) [14], and over two million years to reach Andromeda, the galaxy nearest our own. [15].
The Most Insurmountable Limitation
But the most challenging limitation of all is posed, not by science or technology, but by the human character. While both China and the U.S. have lunar missions planned [16], a U.S-led effort to establish a set of principles for moon exploration and the use of its resources—called the Artemis Accords—has 27 national signatories [17]. Notably, China and Russia have not signed [18].
If human beings can’t get along on their planet of origin, what guarantee is there that harmony would exist between them on some distant sphere? In his sequel to the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Advise and Consent [##19|Allen Drury, Advise and Consent (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1959).##], the highly-acclaimed A Shade of Difference [##20|——A Shade of Difference (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1962).##], the late Allen Drury sketched a future of international tensions in which the balance between the superpowers was gradually lost, with nuclear war looming. At one point in the story, the American ambassador to the United Nations urged peaceful, even loving co-existence between Earth’s contending nations, with the following warning:
Though we fly to the moon and far beyond, we shall carry with us what is in our hearts, and if it be not pure, we shall slaughter one another where’er we meet, as surely on some outward star as here on earth [##21|Drury, A Shade of Difference, p. 584.##].
The corporate human experience has certainly not improved since the above words were penned. No wonder Ellen White so strongly upholds the Biblical imperative of character perfection for those who enter God’s kingdom—because if this imperative is not met, the security of God’s universe would be compromised:
God, in His wisdom and mercy, tests men and women here, to see if they will obey His voice and respect His law, or rebel as Satan did. If they choose the side of Satan, putting his way above God’s, it would not be safe to admit them into heaven; for they would cause another revolt against the government of God in the heavenly courts. He who fulfills the law in every respect, demonstrates that perfect obedience is possible [##22|Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, July 21, 1891.##].
God will accept nothing less than unreserved surrender. Halfhearted, sinful, professing Christians would spoil heaven, were they permitted to enter. They would stir up a second rebellion there [##23|——The Upward Look, p. 197.##].
Without perfection of character no one can enter the pearly gates of the city of God, for if, with all our imperfections, we were permitted to enter that city, there would soon be in heaven a second rebellion. We must first be tried and chosen, and found faithful and true. Upon the purification of our character rests our only hope of eternal life [##24|——Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, p. 294.##].
Unless we understand the terms of our salvation, and are willing to be wholly obedient to the word of God, we can never be admitted to the city of God. Could this be possible, and those who refuse to comply with the conditions of salvation be admitted to the home of the redeemed, they would introduce their own unsanctified ideas into the heavenly family, and a second rebellion would be created [##25|——Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 147.##].
Without Christ, it is impossible for [man] to render perfect obedience to the law of God; and heaven can never be gained by an imperfect obedience, for this would place all heaven in jeopardy and make possible a second rebellion [##26|——Signs of the Times, Dec. 30, 1889.##].
Conclusion
Many years ago there were earnest Christians who didn’t believe God would allow human beings, because of their sinfulness, to set foot on other worlds, including the moon. (Though I was only a child when the original moon landing occurred, I remember distinctly hearing church members doubt that God would allow such a landing, though I can’t presently find documentation of any such statements from that era or previously.) Even today one can find conspiracy theories purporting that the moon landings half a century ago were faked [27].
But one must defy the simplest rules of evidence to embrace such theories; the fact that human beings have walked on the moon is frankly undeniable. But equally undeniable is the fact that God’s eternal kingdom is inaccessible to all but the pure and sanctified (Eph. 5:27; I Thess. 5:23; II Peter 3:10-12; I John 3:2-3; Rev. 14:5), and that persons lacking such moral integrity would simply transmit the pain and struggles of earth to other worlds, should they be able to reach them. Whatever advances human science and technology make in the realm of space travel, we can praise God that eternal life is reserved for those who by grace meet God’s conditions for the same.
REFERENCES
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
3. Elise Hammond and Jackie Watties, “Odysseus becomes first U.S. spacecraft to land on moon in over 50 years,” CNN, Feb. 22, 2024 https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/nasa-odysseus-moon-landing-intuitive-machines-scn/index.html
4. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Galaxy
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Allen Drury, Advise and Consent (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1959).
20. ----A Shade of Difference (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1962).
21. Ibid, p. 584.
22. Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, July 21, 1891.
23. ----The Upward Look, p. 197.
24. ----Sermons and Talks, vol. 2, p. 294.
25. ----Manuscript Releases, vol. 10, p. 147.
26. ----Signs of the Times, Dec. 30, 1889
27. https://discussions.godandscience.org/viewtopic.php?t=43486
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan