Editor’s note: Whatley shares a perspective on the intersection of science and faith, discussing the discovery of exoplanets and implications for understanding God’s sovereignty and man’s free will, as well as his personal journey towa rds faith.
A little more than 440 years ago, an Italian philosopher named Giordano Bruno suggested that space was filled with “an infinity of worlds of the same kind as our own.”
In the summer of 1991, a team at the Jodrell Bank Observatory detected a planet in orbit around a pulsar, the dense remains of an exploded star. That planet, lying outside our solar system is called an exoplanet.
That team retracted its findings at the American Astronomical Society in Atlanta in early 1992. The next speaker at that conference was Aleksander Wolszczan, who reported finding at least two planets orbiting another pulsar named B1257+12. It was the first confirmed discovery of an exoplanet.
In 1995, an exoplanet was detected for the first time around “51 Pegasi,” a star much like our sun. There are now around 5,000 exoplanets that we know about and they’re still being discovered.
Among them are some the size of earth where water neither boils nor freezes, but can exist as liquid, making them “habitable zones,” meaning they could possibly support life.
Now we’ve been talking about God’s sovereignty and man’s free will, and we’ve come to Romans Chapter 11 talking about God’s chosen people the Israelites and those of us who are Gentiles, and where we all fit into God’s plan. But suddenly, out of the blue, Paul stops and remembers where all this started — with the God who created the heavens and the earth.
So, he closes this chapter — and our discussion — with a proclamation:
“Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.
“Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice? Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes.”
— Romans 11: 33-36
My own journey started in a small boat filled with scientific equipment and surrounded by thousands of dead fish in the middle of Bayou Texar in Pensacola, Fla. Every hour I’d test the pH, temperature, and visibility of the water for a marine microbiology class while at the University of West Florida.
During the day I was a medical chemist for the Pensacola Naval Hospital and at night I’d sit in my little boat and take my readings.
Until the night I began to consider the implications of God’s creation and man’s sin asking Paul’s questions, “Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?”
It was the turning point in my walk of faith!
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
