Evolution
The Moon
The moon, Earth's only natural satellite, is our planet's closest companion. It is a dark body and is seen by reflected sunlight. The Bible says, "God created the moon to be "the lesser light that rules the night" (Genesis 1:16). This is one of many essential duties served by the moon. Earth is the only planet with a moon large enough to light up the night sky. Our moon is 100 times larger than the average sized moon in our solar system. With an average sized moon, our evenings would be 20 times darker.64
The Bible in Genesis 1:14 says the moon was also created "for signs and seasons and days and years." Meticulous records demonstrate that the moon has remained in a stable orbit for 3,000 years. This stable and predictable orbit has allowed people to accurately predict eclipses many years in advance.64
The moon’s diameter is 2,159 miles. Its surface area is slightly greater than Africa’s surface area. Its mass is 1/81 that of earth. It is nearly a perfect sphere; its diameter differs by no more than 1% in any direction. Due to its lower mass, the moon's gravitational pull is 1/6 that of earth.64
The moon is God’s maid for this earth. It cleans up the oceans with its tides. Without the tides, all shores and bays would be filled with billions of tons of rotting garbage and stench. It mixes up the oxygen with the water in the waves breaking on the shore. This allows air to be brought into the water that is taken up by the plankton that provides the basis of the whole food chain without which we would all die.67
If the moon were any closer or larger the tides would destroy the coastlines.72
It's the right size and in the right place and right distance from the earth.67
The average distance from of the moon from Earth is 240,000 miles; the average distance from the Earth to the sun is approximately 93 million miles.78 And yet both the moon and the sun appear to be the same size when viewed from the Earth. What an odd "coincidence!"
The moon is either
a result of:
a) Chance
events that occurred over a long period of time.
b) A plan by an intelligent designer.64
Those who reject the idea of an intelligent designer have several theories about the moon's origin.64
The Capture Theory proposes that the moon was once a planet traveling around the sun in its own orbit and that the earth captured the moon. How could the earth capture the moon from the sun which has a much stronger gravitational pull? It would require a catastrophe that has never been observed in this orderly solar system.64
The mathematical probability of such an event is extremely low. For the Capture Theory to occur, the moon would have to be dislodged from its original orbit around the sun and them brought near the earth in just the right direction at the right speed - or else the moon would either crash into the earth or it would drift off to space.64
The Fission Theory: For nearly 100 years, people speculated that the moon was ripped from the Pacific Ocean and spun off from the earth. Beside the miracle of the mass being in a perfect orbit with the earth, the earth would have had to spin at an incredible rate to allow the fission. The theoretical spinning would have generated heat to result in a temperature of 4500 F! There is no geological evidence the earth’s crust ever was subjected to his heat. Also, what caused the earth to slow down? Lastly, the composition of the moon rocks is different enough from the earth to render the Fission Theory as "hopeless."64
The Accretion Theory proposes the earth and moon accumulated from the same original cloud of dust and gas. However, small particles do not bind together to form large particles. There is no known explanation of what caused all this dust to get together and form the earth and moon. Also, the moon is composed of lighter materials than earth. Two bodies formed from the same area of the same cloud should have the same or similar composition.64
The Impact Theory proposes a planet the size of Mars smashed the Earth (near its edge) and parts of the Earth and the mystery planet broke away and these fragments formed the moon. It is extremely unlikely that fragmented masses formed a single mass and then found a perfect orbit with earth. The broken pieces would have either fallen back to earth or escaped its gravitational field entirely.64
Any naturalistic explanation for the moon’s origin is logically unsound. However these theories are still disseminated since many people do not like the ramifications of admitting there is a designer much more powerful and intelligent than us.64