Wait a minute! There’s something wrong with that title! The Bible declares, “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). Who would ever be so arrogant as to claim that “with man, nothing is impossible”?

Well, this is the exact statement I heard when I visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in November! As we traveled around the center as part of a guided tour, I was frankly impressed at the achievements scientists have made.

What an awesome feeling it was to see the huge Saturn rocket that was responsible for launching the spacecraft that took man to the moon. This is said to be the most complicated machine ever made.

You could hear the gasps from the tourists as we also observed the massive machine that takes the space shuttle out to the launch pad. And it was an awe-inspiring sight to see the space shuttle on the launch pad ready for its next trip into space.

But as we listened to the narration in various places on the tour, over and over again we heard man praised for his achievements. At one place, after hearing about some of the things these NASA scientists have achieved, the narrator then said that with man “nothing is impossible.” Because of the technology that man has developed, and the knowledge gained, NASA boldly makes the claim that ultimately man can do anything he sets out to do.

In fact, one of the astronauts who narrated part of the tour said, “Whatever we can conceive, we can achieve.”

Now, where have we heard such an arrogant statement before? (It’s as if man thinks he is a god who can do anything he wants to.)

As I listened to these statements, an event in history came to mind:

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do (Genesis 11:4- 6).

At the time of the Tower of Babel, people arrogantly thought they could achieve whatever they wanted. However, God judged their rebellion and scattered them over the whole earth.

Why does NASA have this same philosophy that they think that nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do?

Remember that not long ago, the headlines in newspapers and lead stories on television news programs declared that NASA scientists had found evidence of life on Mars from a so-called Martian meteorite found on Earth? At the time, a number of scientists were very skeptical—but NASA was adamant. Millions around the world were led to believe that NASA had found evidence of life on Mars. As a result, the president of the United States pledged more funds for NASA.

Even though the media have by and large not reported it, the scientific world has actually now rejected this supposed find. One article that appeared in Science magazine (Issue 20, Nov. 1998) had the headline “Requiem for Life on Mars.”

The underlying reason why NASA scientists “observed” evidence for life on Mars was because they so wanted to find evidence for evolution. As you read through the material produced by NASA (e. g., look up their web site at jpl.nasa.gov and find its “Origins” page) you will find it permeated with evolution. The material makes it clear that the main reason for NASA’s very existence is that they want to find evidence for evolution—they already accept it as fact.

For instance, read the following statement from NASA’s own material to see what your tax dollars support:

This discussion paper reports the findings of three dozen biologists, planetary scientists, astronomers, and cosmologists assembled by NASA and the National Research Council at the request of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. They met in Washington, DC, on October 28-30, 1996. In a workshop format, the group considered emerging directions in space science and identified origins as a unifying them for future initiatives…

The study of origins follows the 15 billion year long chain of events from the birth of the universe at the Big Bang, through the formation of the chemical elements, of galaxies, stars and planets, through the mixing of chemicals and energy that cradled life on Earth, to the earliest self-replicating organisms and the profusion of life…

Discoveries in just the past few years provide the first scientific basis for believing that life may be widespread in the universe, in our solar system and beyond. We also have a new comprehension of the development of the universe, its constituent galaxies and stars, the number and variety of planetary systems, and the processes that shape them. For the first time in history, we have achieved the level of understanding and technical capability necessary to fill in “missing links” along the chain of origins by exploring on the Earth and outward in space, in the present and backward in time. To do so, we need to understand more about the processes leading to the origin of life, about habitats suitable for life, and about the origins of the building blocks of the universe. Answers to these questions are within reach.

Major advances over the next 15 years can be realized by continuing and building upon the multidisciplinary programs that have brought us to this point. The current and planned space science programs of NASA begin the next steps in the quest for origins and pose the technology challenges needed for subsequent steps…

Notice carefully that “origins,” totally from an evolutionary perspective, is seen as THE unifying factor of the space program.

Ever since the temptation in the Garden of Eden, when Satan said, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5), man has been in rebellion against God, trying to be god himself.

And because of the rebellion and arrogance of the people at the Tower of Babel, God brought judgment upon the Earth.

The philosophy of NASA sadly reflects the philosophy of America as a whole. There are some Bible- believing scientists at NASA. But I can’t help thinking that as NASA continues to shake its fist at God, believing it can accomplish whatever it wants to in the name of a philosophy of origins that defies His Word, God is going to judge this program (and the nation) for its arrogance. ♦

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* Reproduced with permission from the “Answers In Genesis” newsletter January 1999, vol. 6, No. 1. Ken Ham is the executive director of AiG.