Deacon Tam Tran

LIFE IS PRECIOUS

Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27

This foundational verse explains that human beings have inherent dignity because they are created in God's image, making life precious. The Bible teaches respect for life by stating that all people are created in God's image (Genesis 1:27), making life inherently valuable and deserving of protection from its beginning to its end. This passage also highlights God's intimate involvement in the creation of a person from the earliest stages of development, emphasizing the value of life from conception. Exodus 20:13: "You shall not murder" is one of the Ten Commandments, and it serves as a direct prohibition against taking human life, underscoring the divine commandment to protect and preserve life. which describes God's reinforce the sanctity of life. 

The current narrative “my body, my choice” completely disregards the sanctity of life and dignity of God’s creation. This reminds me the work of NASA regarding her mission to Mars and the discovery of possible life in Mars.

When you look up the sky on a clear night, you may see a little bright red star, it is Mars. After many failed attempts, NASA finally and successfully land a spacecraft – the size of a table – on Mars and the trip to Mars is about 6 months from Earth.

Earth is the third planet from the sun, and Mars is the fourth. Imagine two cars on a racetrack, and one is always on the inside while the other is on the outside. Earth is on the inside track, and so it gets around more quickly. Sometimes it is close to Mars, when it is making a pass, and other times it is far away, at the other side of the track.

The minimum distance from the Earth to Mars is about 34.1 million miles. The farthest apart they can be is about 250 million miles. The average distance is about 140 million miles. The minimum-energy launch windows for a Martian expedition occur at intervals of approximately two years and two months (specifically 780 days, the planet's synodic period with respect to Earth).

Landing on Mars is hard. It takes skill, focus and years of preparation. Consider the speed at which the spacecraft has to hit Mars’ atmosphere, and then, in a very short time, slow down enough to land. When NASA’s spacecraft hits the top of the Martian atmosphere it will be traveling at 12,300 mph. During its descent through Mars’ atmosphere, it needs to slow down to 5 mph – about human jogging speed – before its three legs touch down on Martian soil.

That extreme deceleration has to happen in just under seven minutes, a timeframe known to NASA engineers as - seven minutes of terror. In those seven minutes, the spacecraft has to deploy its parachute and landing legs, spot the surface with radar instruments, and fire 12 engines to slow it down. All of these actions must be preprogrammed because, even with the speed of light, NASA engineers cannot make changes to the procedure if something goes wrong. They cannot even track the descent in real time.

In fact, sending signals from the spacecraft to earth at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), still need about eight minutes to reach Earth. That means by the time NASA engineers – and the rest of us – learn that spacecraft has reached the top of Mars’ atmosphere; it either landed safely or crashed.

There is direct evidence for possible life on Mars obtained by the Viking and subsequent missions to Mars. On February 13, 2019, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said we might find microbial life on Mars based on the following indications:

• Surface water sufficient to sustain microorganisms was found on Mars.
• Complex organics, which could be of biological origin, have been reported on Mars.
• Evidence that the ancient Martian environment may have been habitable.
• Methane has been measured in the Martian atmosphere and microbial methanogens could be the source.
• Formaldehyde and ammonia, each possibly indicative of biology, are claimed to be in the Martian atmosphere.

In summary, NASA have positive results from a widely used microbiological test and duplication of the LR (the likelihood-ratio test) results at each of the two Viking sites; there is possible life on Mars.

We spent billions of dollars with all of our skill, technology, and many years of preparation to prove that there is an indication of life on Mars. We not only accept this indication without doubt but we celebrate, treasure, and protect it with all of our power.

On the contrary, we completely deny, refuse, and conveniently destroy the real life in the mother’s womb. This sinful denial leads to the narrative “my body – my choice” and abortion-on-demand that causes great suffering, destruction, and distress. What’s a tragedy!

Life MUST be respected at the moment of conception to the natural death. Amen.