Earth Day 2000 is Saturday, April 22. As a supporter of all efforts to safeguard our fragile planet, I applaud those who 30 years ago founded this special day. This year I noticed that Earth Day is sandwiched between Good
Earth Day 2000 is Saturday, April 22. As a supporter of all efforts to
safeguard our fragile planet, I applaud those who 30 years ago founded this
special day.
This year I noticed that Earth Day is sandwiched between Good
Friday and Easter Sunday. The irony struck like a bolt of lightning.
Think
about it. Earth Day – the worldwide celebration of our living planet –
juxtaposed against the apocalyptic ideology of Christianity. While the former
seeks to protect and preserve the Earth, the latter promises to destroy
it.
According to Genesis, God allegedly caused a catastrophic flood that
rose until “the mountains were covered [and] all flesh died that moved upon the
earth….”
In Matthew 24:29, Jesus reportedly threatened, “… the sun
shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven….
Absurdities aside, the Bible is replete with threats
of environmental destruction.
According to the Book of Revelation, Jesus
will return soon to orchestrate the final destruction of Earth. Chapter 16
describes in detail how Jesus and his angels of death will “turn the rivers and
oceans to blood” and how the Earth and its inhabitants will be “scorched with
great fire.”
Chapters 19 and 20 describe how Jesus will come with “the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” and ominous threats that billions of
people will be “cast into the lake of fire.”
This Earth Day, I ask
Christians to examine their faith. Would an all-powerful, all-loving God turn
the oceans to blood and cast billions of people into a lake of fire?
As we
enter the second century of the nuclear age and religious wars rage around the
globe, humanity should recognize the frailty of life on this tiny planet and
work to protect our world from further harm.
Mitchell Kahle
Honolulu,
O’ahu
