September 24, 2004

[Rev. Doc]

God's Creation

"In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands."
Psalm 102:25

On September 26, 1991, the first crew of Biospherians, 4 women and 4 men, entered Biosphere 2. Located in the Sonoran Desert about 30 miles north of Tucson, Arizona, Biosphere 2 was a 7.2 million cubic foot enclosure built at the cost of $200 million. This enclosed 3-acre ecological laboratory had a controlled habitat that had a rain forest, savanna, desert, marsh, ocean and agricultural area with all the factors to thought to be necessary to sustain life. The original crew was to remain in this airtight container for two years. However, after the first year, oxygen levels had fallen to the point that oxygen had to be added from the outside. Nineteen of twenty-five vertebrate species placed in the unit became extinct. All the species that could pollinate the plants became extinct, as did most insects. Water and air pollution became acute and temperature control was a problem. The crew lost so much weight that food was smuggled through the airlocks. With all the intelligence put into the design of Biosphere 2, it couldn't be made to work, yet some scientists still insist that the wonderfully integrated ecosystems of Earth supposedly just happened without intelligent design.

Prayer: Thank God for what He has created and the fact that He continually sustains it.

"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called Lord God." - Isaac Newton