I was asked an interesting question recently, and it’s a two-part question: did God design us to live on other planets, and do we have the same responsibilities for Mars that we have for earth? The first question is far simpler: no. Mars does not have a breathable atmosphere, therefore we are not designed to live on the planet. Mercury and Venus are far too hot. The others are either far too cold or far too, well, intangible. We cannot live on a gas giant like Jupiter as we’d sink quickly through it and be crushed by the enormous pressure. We are physically designed to live in the conditions on earth, but I don’t think that was the question.
The question is more about purpose than physical design. In a sermon a few weeks ago I talked about the task given to Adam in the garden before Eve was created. In Genesis 2:15 we’re told God placed that first man in the garden of Eden in order “to work it and keep it”. Before there was sin in the world there was work! While work may feel like a curse at times, work is a necessary part of what it means to be human.
Productivity is not our primary aim in this world, yet producing is a significant and necessary part of being human. The idea that a human should just loaf around, living a life with no purpose and no aim is foreign to our design. When people win the lottery oftentimes they will return to the workforce, albeit usually in a different capacity, doing the sort of work they want to do. The lure of living in luxury all day and night, not needing to work in order to eat, is a false lure. It isn’t satisfying because it is contrary to our design and so lottery winners are often miserable.
Adam’s role was to work the garden and keep it. The idea of working the garden is that of serving it. Adam’s responsibility is to the garden, to work it in such a way that he brings flourishing to God’s good world. He is to leave the world better than he found it! Further, he is to keep the garden. The idea here is that of protection. He is to protect the garden.
In the pre-fall garden, there were no real dangers. There would be no natural disasters that would bring destruction. There would be no disease. There would be no drought; we’re told that a mist of some sort—perhaps a heavy dew—was sufficient for watering the ground. There was a river that flowed through the garden that provided all the water it needed. There would be no locust swarms and no fires. What on earth presented such a danger to the garden that Adam must protect it? It wasn’t the serpent, for the serpent, being a creature, was under Adam’s dominion—his authority. The danger in the garden was Adam himself.
Only Adam could bring death and destruction to God’s good world. When God first created him he gave him his instructions, his purpose:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:15-17 ESV
Only Adam possessed the ability to bring death into God’s good world. Though he and his wife would sin, Romans 5:12 tells us it was through the sin of one man that death spread to all humans. It was Adam’s sin, not Eve’s, that brought death to God’s good world. The warning in the garden was given to Adam before Eve was created.
After giving him this instruction, this warning, God showed Adam he couldn’t do this alone so he gave him Eve. He formed her from Adam’s own body and all subsequent humans would come from her body, showing the interconnectedness between them. Eve was given to Adam to be his helper, just as God himself is “a very present help in times of trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Together they would fulfill their purpose in this world. We read of that purpose in Genesis 1:28.
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28 ESV
Here we see the image of God in men and women being expressed. As those who represent God, being his image and likeness, they are to exercise dominion over the earth and its resources. They are to subdue it—bend it to their will. This is often called “the Cultural Mandate”. Adam, and therefore Eve and their offspring, are to work the garden and to keep it. They are to serve the world and they are to protect it. They are to improve it, demonstrating through the formation of culture what God himself is like.
We see in creation’s diversity what God is like. He is satisfied with more than 400,000 species of beetle! By caring for the earth and its resources and by using these resources to improve God’s good world, humans fulfill their ultimate purpose: they will reflect God’s glory to all of creation.
Here we see the basis for ecological concern: Adam is to protect the world from himself. The idea that humans can do whatever they want with God’s good world, even if the activity is harmful to the earth, is contrary to Scripture. In Genesis 2 in the midst of the creation account of God creating Adam and Eve, the area around the garden is described as being full of gold and bdellium and onyx stone. Gold is extremely valuable as it is quite malleable and useful for all sorts of things. Bdellium is used in perfumes and incense. Onyx stone is used in jewelry. These are natural resources that the very people created in God’s image can use in creating culture. The earth and its resources belong to Adam and Eve and their offspring, yet they, as God’s image-bearers, are also to seek to protect the world from themselves.
We see in this the harm brought by pollution and the exploitation of the earth’s resources. Because bearing God’s image means humans represent God, by exploiting the earth and bringing harm to the earth humans demonstrate that God is like this, that God exploits selfishly. This is a lie! God is good and generous and righteous! God sustains his good world. Sin brings harm and sin exploits selfishly and therefore sin, including the exploitation of the earth and its resources, is a lie about who God is and what he’s like. Theologian Millard Erickson wrote:
In Genesis 1:26, 28, the Hebrew terms כָּבַשׁ (kavash) [subdue] and רָדָה (radah) [have dominion] carry the meaning that the human was to exercise a rule over the whole of creation similar to the rule that in later times the Hebrew kings were expected to exercise over their people. The kings were not to rule for their own sakes, but for the welfare of their subjects. When Israel desired a king (1 Sam. 8:10–18), God warned them that a king would exploit them. For one person to dominate others is contrary to God’s will because it represents exploitation of the rest of creation.
Millard Erickson, “Christian Theology (3rd edition)”, p. 467
When we say that humans were created for, or were designed for the earth, this is what we mean. God created men and women to rule over his good world, using its resources to grow and develop and create new culture, so as to reflect God’s glory to all creation. Using the earth and its resources for selfish gain or in a way that brings harm rather than good is contrary to our purpose. It is to use the world in a way that is at odds with God himself. Human life and the earth’s resources belong to God and are to be used for his glory.
The truth is the earth is ours to do with as we see fit, so long as we bring flourishing and not harm. It is ours only in the sense of stewardship. As those created to represent God we are accountable to him for what we do with the world he has entrusted to us. We can chop down trees to make things, but we must also make sure we don’t run out of trees. They are a crop, a renewable resource, though they take decades for a harvest. We can mine gold and silver and iron and aluminum and such, but we must do everything in our power to not pollute the earth. We can raise cattle for food and plow fields and such, but we must seek to minimize ecological harm that may come from exploitative techniques of husbandry and farming. We must never become like Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, and begin to think we are accountable to no one.
We were created to be physical beings on a physical planet with physical resources for a very significant purpose: we are to represent God and his glory to all creation. We do this by reflecting his character through our pursuit of holiness and righteousness, and through our stewardship of God’s good world and its resources.
This is why the idea that “heaven” is our permanent home is a false understanding. “Heaven”—where God dwells—is a temporary place for God’s people while they await resurrection. The promise of Scripture, the outcome of salvation is the new heavens and new earth. When the Lord Jesus returns he will recreate the earth. This is a new creation in quality, not quantity. He won’t replace the earth; he will remake it. It will finally be free of its curse and death will be no more. Rather than walking around as spirits, however, we will have resurrected physical bodies to inhabit a physical world once again. We will eat and sleep and enjoy God in his fullness, for the Lord Jesus—who will forever remain God and Man—will dwell on earth with us forever.
But what about Mars? Do we have the same responsibilities toward Mars and Jupiter and asteroids? If humans ever step foot on Mars, they will still be God’s image-bearers. They will still bear the responsibility to reflect him in all his glory to all of creation—even on another planet. This means we, as God’s authoritative representatives, can mine asteroids and Mars and other planets. We bear the same responsibility however: the way in which we utilize resources must accurately reflect God’s glory.
Back to the question, then: did God design us for other planets? We are designed to represent God wherever we are, whatever we’re doing. This is why everything we do matters—even what we do in secret. Whether other humans can see or not, we are representing God to all of creation. This is why the apostle can claim whether we eat or drink we must do all to the glory of God. If this means traveling to Mars and establishing a colony on Mars, then we must do it for the glory of God.
Psalm 19 states, “The heavens declare the glory of God”. This means all of creation—the entire universe—declares the glory of God. You and I are part of the universe, therefore we exist to do this very thing. The heavens, the earth, the sun, moon, and stars, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and even tiny little no-longer-a-planet Pluto all exist for his glory. You and I exist for his glory. We were designed for this—wherever we are.