In our day there is much concern about issues of air pollution and global warming. It seems that the more we learn about the earth’s atmosphere and its design, the more impressed we have to be with the intelligence of the Designer. Let’s examine just a few of the many design factors.

The thickness and density of the atmosphere are just right. Compared to the diameter of the earth it's paper thin, yet it's dense enough to burn up the 10,000 plus meteors that strike the earth every year. It is also dense enough to scatter the cosmic rays and x-rays from space so that we are protected from this dangerous radiation.  Yet, it's just thin enough to allow light to penetrate to give plants the ability to grow.

The chemical composition of the earth’s atmosphere is just right. It contains the proper blend of gases for all living things to use. Our air has enough oxygen for animals and people to survive. It has enough carbon dioxide to produce what is called "the greenhouse effect." This allows the rays of the sun to reach the earth, but does not allow the heat produced by these rays to be radiated back into space. The heat is trapped at the surface of the earth in the way heat is trapped by the windows in your car. The trapped heat in our cars makes them unbearably hot in the summer. However, our atmosphere has just enough of this greenhouse effect to keep us warm, but not so much to overheat us.

To add to the delicate balance that makes life possible, there is a layer of a gas called ozone high in our atmosphere. This ozone layer absorbs ultraviolet rays from the sun. Without it, people, animals and plants would be essentially cooked.

There are many more factors, but the point is that even in our blue sky we see the mind of God. With so many variables that are "just right" any attempt to explain the earth's atmosphere in terms of accidental cause and effect are doomed to failure. There is no way the structure and function of our atmosphere can be explained without admitting to the fact that an Intelligence designed it.