The House of Quiet

Hutt News, Volume XXII, Issue 7, 28 July 1948, Page 12

The House of Quiet

'ATOMS AND US

(Contributed by I hi* Hull Valley .Ministers' Fraternal.) All acknowledge thai a now era in Hie world's history lias dawned. Th<? bomb con lain in ?. a very small "warhead" ol ! i",<;,lb of explosive that fell on the city of Hiroshima did more than devastate an Eastern city and hasten the end of the war; it brought a rleep disquiet to humanity throughout the world. The realisation of (he potentialities of this new weapon shocked a world that hart imagined itself to he almost shock-proof, .since then people have gradually become used to the idea. Bikini Atoll was no I completely annihilated as popular imagination had thought that, i' would be, and the sequel has heel! a gradual lulling of the fears that stirred mankind in the days immediately following Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Scientists have often warned the human race that at some titoe —no matter how far distant it may he—our planet, may cease to exist by explosion or collision, and that, if such- a catastrophe does not happen, the world will ultimately become a dead, frozen sphere incapable of supporting life as we know it. . Variously estimated as from five million to five billion years distant, this far-off doom of the earth, is sufficiently impersonal to cause the ordinary man no concern at all. He is, naturally, far more interested in ; -.iif> availability of petrol for his car. and .his wife more anxious about the supply of gas lor cooking the weekend roast.

What, then, is the implication for Die "ordinary man" of further development in atomic research? Does it simply mean that the time is perhaps to be anticipated by a few billion years when this planet would no longer sustain life? Among others Huxley has told of what he imagined 11„> end would be. He wrote ol the earth growing colder and colder, of deserts extending over its face, and the ultimate residue of human life represented only by a few naked skulls rolled over and over by cosmic winds —not a very pleasant picture. Can we believe that will be the end of man and of all human values.'

The Scriptures clearly indicate a climax of events upon this earth and a "Divine event to which the whole Creation moves." Unfortunately, "the end of the world" has been foretold in its time by some people in every generation, and the Biblical teaching concerning man's final destiny has thereby fallen into disrepute. The Biblical revelation does not disagree, with the scientist in His contention that life on our planet, will come to an end some clay, but it differs strongly with any who would suggest that such would imply the destruction of all values. Ultimate values are indestructible. Love, being stronger than death, does not allow of extinction. ' The three ultimate realities of the philosopher, truth, beauty and goodness, are found by the Christian in his God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is immortality?

Apart from Christian beliefs the most common belief in our society is that immortality is found in the memory of those who outlive one or in the continuing life of one's children and descendants. This is, surely, a poor substitute for the Christian view of immortality. What of the majority who are almost, completely forgotten within a generation, and what of those who have no children'.' Christianity gives content to the common instinct of mankind that death is not the end, and realises that no satisfactory basis for such belief can be found apart from Jesus Christ. The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is His guarantee of the immortality of those who believe in Him, and, to quote Arnold of Rugby, "the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the best-attested facts of human history." On his Lord's authority the Christian knows that death is not the end, and that even the end of this world would not be the end of human values. He believes, too, that when his turn comes to walk througlt'the Valley of the Shadow his Good Shepherd will be with him still, lighting the darkness of that experience with the shadow of His presence. These beliefs of the Christian are incapable of final proof until they are demonstrated in one's

own turn and in one's own experience. They are not., however, mere assumptions. They rest on the authority and promise of Him Who walked this earth in human flesh, the embodiment of the character and personality of Cod His Father. In the words of David Livingstone they are based on "the word of a Gentleman of the strictest honour," our Lord Jesus Christ, Who said, "Because 1 live ye too shall live," and "If 1 go I will, come again and receive vou unto Myself."