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100 million Americans are said to believe in Armageddon as per the Book
of Revelation. They look for a fiery last battle at which they believe
history ends and Christ returns. This is the year, many say. It has to
do with the millennium (assuming you don't figure the true millennium ends—or
begins—at 2001). |
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No matter that John the mystic, writing his revelations from that island,
gives no clue about when to start the millennial countdown. The actual
date (if you insist on being a literalist about it) passed maybe
four years ago. |
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These Armageddon believers sound unusually happy at the idea of the fiery
end of history. They get caught up into Heaven while the rest of
us enjoy eternity with our best friends in you-know-where. They are
locked ball and chain to their literal reading of the Bible, something
that shows what a poor job we clergy have done of teaching biblical scholarship. |
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They don't know that humans have already stoked the coals for burning
up the world. We don't need God to do it at Armageddon. We're doing it
ourselves. Get hold of Bill McKibben’s article in Christian Century
of 12/8/99, “Climate Change and the Unraveling of Creation.” He says, “We
are engaged in the swift and systematic decreation of the planet we were
born into.” |
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Ridicule Al Gore about his global warming warnings if you want, but our
dependence on carbon emitting fuels is cooking our planet. We've signed
treaties and pledges to make reductions while continuing to increase emissions.
One of the protest groups in Seattle wanted WTO to address the issue. Nobody
cares…yet. So far, living high is more important than a livable planet. |
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So, if you want to see a glacier in Glacier National Park you better do
it soon, because they don't expect to have any glaciers left after 2040.
Don't read what our scientists are saying if you want to be happy about
the new century and new millennium. No matter that this past century is
without doubt the best century in which to have been alive. No matter the
contributions to longevity and well-being among humans. The fact
is that we're overpopulating, overusing and over-warming this beautiful
creation. |
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It's Creationists, for God's sake, who are biggest fans of Armageddon.
They want school children to believe that God created everything.
Then they want us to believe that God's going to burn it all up.
I wonder if they're sending out “Happy Armageddon!” cards? |
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Hell! (To use an out-of-date expression we may have to revive). It's
not God that is assaulting the world. It's us! I'll bet these folks
won't pass laws in Kansas, or anyplace else, to teach kids that their parents
and grandparents are cooking this planet, not to mention destroying its
soils and eco-systems world-wide. We should have things pretty much wiped
out before Armageddon Day. |
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This is the last blue sheet of the decade, century, and millennium.
I just want my grandkids to know that I'm sorry for greed and waste of
my generation during the last century. I'm not afraid of Armageddon.
I'm afraid of those who look forward to Armageddon. I'm not afraid of God
raising hell on earth. I'm afraid of us not being afraid of the hell we
are raising on earth. We should raise some hell about that! |
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I'm hearing a song as I write: “Joy to the world…let earth receive
her King…let heaven and nature sing…while fields and floods, rocks, hills,
and plains, repeat the sounding joy.” Somehow I don't see any
joy in hoping for an Armageddon. But I like the hope of heaven and nature
singing from the same page. We need to join that song.
—
Art
Morgan, Dec. 1999
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