God Arises
Nature and Science Speak about God
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would then be prolonged to ten times their present
duration. The heat of the summer would become
scorching and would reduce the entire vegetation of
the planet to ashes during the day time, and
whatever survived the heat would be shrivelled up
by the severe cold during the excessively long
nights. Just one change in one set of conditions
would bring total devastation in its wake. Other
changes could do the same. The sun, which is now
our source of life, could become the most terrible
scourge if, for example, the distance between the
earth and the sun—approximately 95 million
miles—were reduced by half; then its 12 thousand
degrees Fahrenheit surface temperature would
cause this paper to burst into flames. Conversely, if
the distance were doubled, the earth’s surface
would become too cold to allow any life to survive.
A star, ten thousand times bigger than the sun,
would keep the entire earth roasting hot, like an
oven. The earth’s inclination in space at an angle of
23 degrees is one of the greatest of marvels to man,
because that is what causes the seasons, making the
greater part of the earth habitable and providing a
greater diversity of plant life. Had the earth’s axis
been perpendicular, there would have been
