This Sunday, I remembered. After Mass, we stopped at a friend's for a couple of beers, a hero sandwich, and watched football. I did get home before the evening game, and before tuning in the game or cooking dinner, I took time to write this Sunday reflection or sermon. It is about the end of time...
The Bible says the universe will grow old like a garment, and the stars will go out. Cosmologists agree the Universe will age with galaxies colliding and stars burning out. It seems to me the Bible predicts there will be billions of years into the future with the growing old like a garment prophecy. What will happen on Earth as billions of years go by?
The Earth's star will go red giant, and the planet will be consumed by the giant fireball our sun turns into. That is the scientific report. Fire will consume the planet. The Earth will perish in flames. Sounds Biblical? We have time to react to this prediction. With knowledge comes power. We have plenty of time, but a lot of that time may be needed to research space engines to discover a fast way to colonize the near stars and beyond our galaxy...
Science fiction portrays space travel possibilities beyond our current science level of potential to duplicate. Faster than light ships, warp factor speeds, stargates... Science fiction has in the past predicted submarines and rocketships before these were possible for humanity to produce. Who knows what future discoveries will put within humanity's reach!
While we do our research and learn our options, we should start an "ark project" or begin a mission to preserve the genomes of all known life on our planet, so we can steward them to the stars with us on our fantastic voyages in God's Creation outer space area. The Earth provided a suitable nest for life for millions of years. Still, we will have to vacate the planet in a few billion years, or all our accomplishments and hopes and dreams will burn along with us and our planetary neighbors, nature's children.
Of course, colonizing the near stars and traveling the galaxies, we will need new behemoth ships. Ships that are equipt to carry citizen/soldier colonists and all they will need on a journey that may take lifetimes. Ships that can serve as a colony traveling through space. Ships that can serve as our first home when we arrive at the near stars...
Colonizing the moon and Mars are great first steps in the adventure. Especially because these acts provide an opportunity to test our life support systems and develop comfort living "off the world." This provides areas to build space drydocks where the colony ships can be assembled in orbit without the gravity holding back the potentials in size.
Of course, we need to give ourselves a pat on the back. We have left the nest. We have learned to travel in space. Now we need to learn how to live there and get about out there as fast as possible to develop within our capacity. Space is huge but a nonrenewable resource, so we need to follow the resources where our abilities make it possible. Like our ancestral roaming hunter-gatherers, it is our best interest to explore space and find all we can of the things we need for life... Who knows, maybe we will find other intelligent beings God created?
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