The Columbia and Psalm 115
 
Moshe Ben-Chaim
 
 
Reader: Does Psalm 115 ( "the heavens are God's") infer that we should not interfere with the heavens and that there is no life outside our earth? I ask this in view of what happened to Columbia.
Mesora: You mention two questions, 1)whether man may interfere, and 2)if there is life outside earth. I see no indication from this Psalm about life outside earth.

This Psalm states that man has been given domain over the earth and the heavens remain God's domain. Perhaps this teaches that the heavens are so great and vast, that man can never control them, and thus, the heavens serve the exclusive role of impressing man with God's wisdom through creation. They are an object of study, not of usage.
 
I also see no relevance to the shuttle explosion. But I would not understand God's statement that "the heavens are God's" as meaning we cannot attempt to understand and make use of the heavens.

 

 
 


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