The Institute for Creation Research staff recently had a sneak peek at the ICR Discovery Center’s planetarium show that will soon be open to the public. As I sat there gazing up at the dome “sky” and witnessing things in space we don’t normally see when we stargaze on a backyard blanket, I was overwhelmed by the majesty of our Creator.
I wonder if that’s how Abram felt when the Lord told him to look at the sky and count the stars (Genesis 15:5). While God often reveals mysteries by telling us about them, He loves to teach us by showing us His work. God doesn’t just put words in a book and say “learn this important stuff.” He shows us! He told Abram to look.
The planetarium show, Creation in the Solar System, features up-close looks of the planets, the sun, the dwarf planet Pluto, and other wonders in space. Viewers experience a sense of awe as they witness the sun’s fiery surface churning right before them, observe evidence of recent creation with the magnetic fields of Earth, Mercury, and Jupiter, and dive into the misty-looking rings of Saturn to find they are actually boulders that reflect design and order as they circle their planet.
The message is one the viewer won’t hear at a secular planetarium: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). We see how the sun is perfectly calibrated to support life on Earth and how planets and moons demonstrate God’s creativity. The film underscores the foundational theme “The more we explore the solar system and find evidence for a young universe, the more we discover that the creation account in Genesis is true.”
The planetarium is another way for ICR to bring creation truth to a world that isn’t always eager to embrace the idea that science and the Bible are in harmony. Most science classes, museums, and textbooks present science through the eyes of humans who often do not acknowledge God as the Creator of the universe. And they get the science wrong because they base their teaching on presuppositions that deny the existence of a Creator—they follow their imaginations rather than good science methods. They fail to observe His handiwork and therefore don’t really see the truth.
In this month’s feature, ICR founder Dr. Henry M. Morris reminds us to “use the Bible to interpret scientific data rather than using naturalistic presuppositions to direct our Bible interpretations” (“The Importance of Recent Creation”). Though Dr. Morris went to be with the Lord in 2006, his legacy lives on. ICR scientists remain true to these convictions in every Acts & Facts article as they examine the latest scientific claims in the light of Scripture.
God’s design in the universe is always on display...we only need to look up.
God’s design in the universe is always on display, even without the advantage of a state-of-the-art planetarium. We only need to look up. That blazing sun didn’t get there by accident, and neither did the orbiting moon and twinkling stars. We can align what we see with what we know to be true in Scripture—it’s all the work of His hands.
* Jayme Durant is Director of Communications at the Institute for Creation Research.