In Their Own Words XIV: Dark Side of The Moon

The main themes that will run through the next two post are space travel, astronauts and apostasy (falling away from God). I will break the two posts apart based on the theological views of their subjects. The first post (this one) will be from the vantage point of a non-believing astronaut who has a non-biblical view of the reality  and the universe (the dark side). The second will be seen through the eyes of an astronaut that tries his best to adhere to the principles and truths laid out in Scripture (the light side).

1 John 1:5 ~ "...God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

Ephesians 5:18 ~ “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”

Isaiah 5:20 ~ “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

John 3:19 ~ “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

It will not be your atypical post here on my blog but come to think of it...when have they ever been?  I suppose you will understand this study in contrasts when it is complete. In these posts we see a bridging of years and technology. We will see that it takes unsaved humanity centuries and centuries of technological advances to prove out scientifically what God knew all along as did those that had faith in Him.

This is an exceedingly strange development, unexpected by all but the theologians. They have always accepted the word of the Bible: In the beginning God created heaven and earth… [But] for the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; [and] as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” ~Robert Jastrow (God and the Astronomers [New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1978], p.116)

They are truths that unbelievers should’ve just trust in God for. Truths He told mankind about a long time ago. We will see that it is often the unspiritual man’s intellectual arrogance and spiritual stubbornness that will often prohibit him from seeing the truth of Scripture. To really launch into this post I present to you a quote from an astronaut on the Apollo 14 mission.

“When I went to the moon I was a pragmatic test pilot. But when I saw the planet Earth floating in the vastness of space the presence of divinity became almost palpable and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident.” ~ Edgar Mitchell 

Edgar Mitchell was a NASA astronaut. He piloted the Lunar Module for Apollo 14. As the pilot that landed on the Moon’s surface he spent nine hours working on the lunar surface in the Fra Mauro Highlands region, making him the sixth person to walk on the Moon. It is ironic the Fra Mauro area is named after a 15th century map-making monk. During that time it is clear he had a rather vivid view of the Earth from the Moon based on his statement.

Edgar’s statement about the earth floating in the vastness of space echoes the book of Job.

Job 26:7 ~ “He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.”

We see something remarkable in Mitchell's quote adjacent Scripture. We see the bridging of millennia. The Bible said the Earth hangs on nothing and Mitchell observed this first hand. He was able to see with his own eyes that the things of Creation are beyond our minds to fully absorb and grasp. Can anyone really explain what gravitational force is? I suggest that Mitchell's Christian upbringing, science and his own observations led him to see the universe in a more vast light. Sadly, I also believe that as soon as Mitchell moved beyond his Christian up-bringing he appears to have gone off the rails theologically and spiritually. He knew enough to to realize that the vastness of the Universe couldn’t have been an accident but it is also clear he didn’t believe in the God he had been raised with.

In an interview for Hinduism Today he is also quoted as saying:

I was raised as a scientist, to assume that the fundamental organization of the universe was accidental. But my religious training, which was fundamental Christian, accepted the divine origin, or blueprint. Those two ways of thinking are not compatible. I now describe our universe a little differently; as evolutionary, intelligent, participatory and continuing to learn. What we call God is the mind of the universe, and what we experience as physical reality is the body of the universe, if you want to anthropomorphize. The creative force behind the universe is the same creative force we experience within ourselves. The atman and brahman aspects of consciousness have to be put together in order to create reality. Edgar Mitchell-Hinduism Today, Web Edition, October 1993

At the time of this comment, Mitchell has essentially become an adherent of New Age Pantheism laced with what appears to be hints of Universalism. It is clear that he believed in a god that is intrinsic to the Creation and this is not the God of the Bible. In Mitchell we see a patchwork of ecumenical pagan theology. He has become syncretistic in his beliefs. Although he was raised Christian, he is talking to a Hindu magazine. What he describes in his responses is more New Age Mysticism than Christianity or Hinduism. If we read a little farther in his interview we see that he might even be a Universalist. Regardless, he is clearly no longer biblical.

I have talked and studied with spiritual teachers from virtually all religions and found that, at the core, we're saying the same thing in different languages, different interpretations. But essentially, we're reaching for the same point. Edgar Mitchell-Hinduism Today, Web Edition, October 1993

What we really see in Mitchell is essentially what we saw in Solomon. We see spirituality and faith that has been cut adrift because of the spiritual contamination of multiple indiscretions with pagan beliefs. I believe this is why God often uses the analogy of harlotry when Israel chased after other Gods. Here in Edgar Mitchell we see a modern version of the same. He was raised (like Solomon) with a fundamentalist belief in God but through exposure to larger than life experiences and other spiritual contaminates he merged and syncretized worldviews. His beliefs now are clearly far wide of Scripture.

1 Kings 11:3-4~ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

When Mitchell is asked what his view of God and the soul was he answers the question correctly but incompletely from a Christian viewpoint. His answer lacks a mention of Jesus or the God of the Bible. His answer totally sidesteps and fails to grasp or incorporate the Gospel. His answer is clinical and devoid of both hope and a meaningful purpose other than just existence.

Hinduism Today: What is your definition of God and soul? 

Mitchell: I define God as the intelligent function. The soul would be that residual aspect of self that is eternal. I believe that the purpose of the universe is to organize itself and to experience physical reality, of which we're a part of in creating that.

I guess it is ironic that Mitchell’s life parallels sayings and people from millennia past. In Mitchell we see the eyewitness account of a man who has left the gravitational sway of Earth and got a God’s eye view of Earth from space. Not many get the opportunity Mitchell got on this side of the grave. He saw that what Job 26:7 said was true. This is further amazing from a historic and literary standpoint because Job might be one of the oldest books in the Bible. Sadly, because of Mitchell's spiritual harlotry he has also left the gravitational sway of God's word and turned aside to worship the Creation itself. By doing this he has misinterpreted what he saw.

This view will be contrasted in the next post with another Apollo astronaut. After reading about both astronauts you will see that the difference is like night and day.

[Concluded in Next Post]