Could this newly discovered planet support life?

Astronomers have announced the discovery of a nearby planet. Named Ross 128 b, the planet is only eleven light-years away from Earth. It is about the same size as our planet and could have a similar surface temperature.

Could it support life? Scientists believe that water could pool on its surface and radiation from its star would not threaten its environment.

The new find joins a long list of planets discovered in recent years. Humans have always been fascinated with life on other worlds. Perhaps the quest for extraterrestrial life is appealing in part because life on this fallen planet can be so difficult.

It seems we have two options. We can focus on this fallen world as an end in itself, which is reason for great discouragement. Or we can focus on the world to come, using this life as merely a means to an end.

Recently I have been contemplating a third option, one which values both the present world and the world to come.

A different view of life

Consider this statement by C. S. Lewis in The Great Divorce: “Earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, a region of Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.”

Is he right?

John 3:16 famously states that whoever believes in Jesus “should not perish but have eternal life.” Our Lord did not say that the believer “will have” eternal life but that he has such life now. Then, the moment his body dies, he is with his Lord in paradise (Luke 23:43).

By the same token, the lost are destined for separation from God (Matthew 7:23). At death, they move immediately from earth to hell (Luke 16:22-23). Both heaven and hell are permanent (Luke 16:26; Revelation 20:10, 15).

In other words, eternity has already begun for each of us.

Why eternity matters today

When we see people as living in eternity now, what changes?

One: We treat evangelism with greater urgency. Scripture teaches that “now is the day of salvation” (2…