We Are Recyclable

The Universe is recyclable. At the beginning of time, when God created all things, there was just hydrogen, the simplest molecule. And God said it was good, and made lots of it. When molecules heat up they get energetic and move around, bouncing away from each other. But in the cold blackness of space, hydrogen with a little help from static electricity, started to clump together. At some point all of these molecules in close proximity created enough gravity to attract more and more hydrogen. Pressure increased and the molecules started to heat up. They moved around and bounced off each other, but gravity kept them in place. Soon, so much hydrogen gathered together that the pressure at the core created tremendous amounts of heat. That combination of pressure and heat caused the molecules to combine or fuse. And God said, let there be light, and a star was born.

Over time the fusion process of most stars produce heavier and heavier elements. A star the size of our Sun will create all of the elements of the periodic table up to and including iron. Some of these heavy molecules will sink to the core of the Sun. Others will circulate throughout the outer layers of the Sun through the process of convection. Eventually our Sun will grow old and lose containment of its outer shell. A good portion of all of the elements that our neighborhood star has produced in its lifetime will drift off into space. Out in the blackness, the molecules our Sun produced might be pulled into a gaseous molecular cloud. If this cloud can pick up enough stray molecules, it will condense and form another star. The end of our star will help to create another.

Larger stars don’t just let their outer shells float away, they explode. The pressure and heat that results from a Super-Nova creates every element on the periodic table. An explosion like this is a cataclysm for nearby planets, but a big plus for the rest of the galaxy. The elements created in the explosion are shot out away from the old star until they start to clump with other elements floating around and the cycle of star and planet creation starts all over.

Everything we are and all that is around us is made from remnants of dead stars. The bodies we inhabit consist of recycled materials.

In Genesis 3:19 it says;

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return”. God created our bodies from His magnificent creation, and then reuses the elements to keep the creation going.

Paul even touches on the subject of recycling in 1 Corinthians 15:35-36;

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

Paul says that only through death, can life be renewed. Yet he goes on to say, that we do not return to life in physical bodies. God blesses us with spiritual bodies. And so God’s plan for our future is linked to the cosmic recycling plan. We move on to that mansion with many rooms, while our bodies turn to dust and are reformed into new life. In this way, God allows the universe to constantly renew itself, and to allow an endless number of beings to share His creation with Him.

The creation recycles itself, and God said it is good.

God bless you,

Pastor Bill