Speaking of the first manned orbiting of the moon last Christmas Eve, Captain Frank Borman observed in a magazine article: "The view of the earth from the moon fascinated me—a small disk, 240,000 miles away. It was hard to think that that little thing held so many problems, so many frustrations. Raging nationalistic interests, famines, wars, pestilence don't show from that distance." And he added, "From out there it really is 'one world.'" Life, January 17, 1969;
How can we discover, beyond the human divisions, the spiritual basis for mankind's unity? To a world torn with essentially the same bitter hatreds as today the prophecy was made, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."Isa. 9:6;
These words of Isaiah filled the hearts of his people with expectancy and hope for a king that would rule them justly, rid them of oppression, and establish peace among them. And so, when the Magi of old looked up at the star, they envisaged the reign of this Prince of Peace who would establish justice. The simple shepherds, bathed in radiant glory, heard the angel promise of peace on earth, goodwill to men. Centuries later astronauts, having looked out from moon orbit and seen the shining beauty of the planet Earth—the "one world"—brought us the urgent message that "the destinies of all who lived on it must inevitably be interwoven and joined."
