Big Bang? Not Likely.

Yesterday, millions of Americans watched the eclipse either via television coverage or personally. I took several pictures and marveled at the diversity of responses from friends, acquaintances, television personalities, really just people in general.

According to the American Astronomy Society, total solar eclipses are very rare events and conditions must be exact for one to occur. Take, for example, the 200 moons orbiting 6 planets in our solar system alone. Of those, exactly 1 is the right size and the right distance from the planet and sun to perfectly obscure the source of light and reveal its wispy corona – that’s the Earth’s Moon. Even more dramatic is the fact that, of those 200 moons and 6 planets, exactly 1 contains the conditions that allow life forms to enjoy such an eclipse – again that’s the Earth and Moon.

Technical details (https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america/how-why): the “Cosmic Coincidence” by the numbers. The Sun’s diameter is about 400 times that of the Moon. The Sun is on average 400 times farther away from Earth than is the Moon. This “truly remarkable coincidence” allows Earthlings to see the Sun’s truly dramatic corona during a total eclipse. Further, at New Moon, which is the only lunar phase possible for a total solar eclipse, the Moon is usually not aligned with the Sun at all. “Given all the variables, it’s almost surprising that we see eclipses at all.”

Not to me. As Kathy noted yesterday “Isn’t it awesome how the Moon and the Sun are perfectly shaped and sized for an eclipse?”

Yes, Kathy, it is awesome, and we don’t have to read very far into the Bible to understand why. In Genesis 1:16, “God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.” And on August 21, 2017, millions of people marveled at God’s handy work as the Moon passed perfectly between the Earth and Sun, the temperature cooled, the light faded, and Creation sang.

What are the odds such perfect conditions were created by chance? I probably have a better chance of winning the lottery.