William Booth's Mount Purity: The Six Stages Of The Climb

According to astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross, there are 122 constants that allow for life to exist on planet Earth. And if even one of these constants were adjusted, there would be no life on Earth.

Let’s look at a few of those constants. First, oxygen. 21% of our atmosphere is oxygen. If it were 25% fire would erupt spontaneously everywhere. If it were 15% we’d all suffocate instantly. It’s the same with the carbon dioxide levels, up or down, and we’d either burn up or suffocate.

Water vapor. If water vapor levels were even slightly different, no life.

Jupiter. Did you know the planet Jupiter acts like a cosmic vacuum cleaner, attracting asteroids and comets away from Earth? Without Jupiter, no life on Earth. We’d be annihilated by space debris.

The Earth’s crust is also at just the perfect thickness, just right amount of oxygen is transferred to the crush, and it’s thick enough to prevent excessive volcanic activity.

The 24-hour day. If the Earth’s rotation took longer than 24 hours, temperature differences between night and day would render life impossible.

Earth actually rotates on a crooked axis tilt, at 23 degrees. If it were even a little different, by a single degree, surface temperatures would fluctuate too much for life to exist.

Lightning. If there was no lightning, no life. Seismic activity. If there were no earthquakes, no life on Earth.

Gravity. If gravity was only slightly different in our solar system, there would be no sun. No life. If the gravitational force were altered by 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent, no sun.

There are 122 constants all at play that allow life to exist on Earth, if any were changed even a little, there would be no life. Amazing isn’t it?

The Bible says the universe is a reflection of the glory of God. The heavens declare his glory. The expansiveness of the universe is an expression of the infinite nature of God. Which is why we praise God.

1st Peter 1:3-9 NIV says: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

I like that part where it says, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Even though you don’t see him now, you believe in Him.” That’s the hard part of Christianity isn’t it? It’s believing in Jesus, even though we’ve never met him. I’ve never personally looked into the eyes of my savior Jesus. I’ve never given him a hug. I’m never listened to him tell a story. It’s challenging, to believe in that which we can’t see.

We can reason from science that there seems to be a great order to the universe. We can reason that the complexity of human and animal life is evidence for God. We can look at the historical Jesus, and the manuscript evidence for the Bible. But at the end of the day, we have to dare to believe, and to trust in Jesus.

Many of us think of religion as trying to be good so God will accept us. That is not Christianity. For a Christian, we come to Jesus Christ, this historical figure, who was crucified on the cross, and rose from the dead. We come to Jesus, whom we believe is God who came to Earth. We come to Jesus where we are, in brokenness, in sin, and we ask Jesus to make us new. Then Jesus causes us to be born again, born a second time, but this is a spiritual rebirth. Then we are changed by Jesus, and we join a spiritual community, to grow in our relationship with Christ, be set free from every sin we struggle with, and to serve Jesus. When we do that, we have the promise of eternal life. Even after death, Jesus will resurrect us, just like He resurrected. And we'll live forever. It's not about trying to be good for God, it's about Jesus coming into us, removing our sins, and giving us a new pure life.