Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

Distress, Perplexity, Fear

What, then, was to characterize the nations? BR-ASI9 221.1

“Distress of nations, with perplexity.” Luke 21:25. BR-ASI9 221.2

Note.—James S. Stewart speaks of “this immensely critical hour when millions of human hearts are besieged by fierce perplexities; when so many established landmarks of the spirit are gone, old securities wrecked, familiar ways and habits, plans and preconceptions, banished never to return.”—Heralds of God (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1946), p. 12. BR-ASI9 221.3

What attitude is manifested among men today? BR-ASI9 221.4

“Men’s hearts failing them for fear.” Luke 21:26. BR-ASI9 221.5

Note.—“Today the world is sick with . . . a many-dimensional fear,” summarized a noted science editor in the first year of the Atomic Age: “On the surface we find the fear of the old Army men: that the other fellow will get an atom bomb before we can perfect our own defense. But against the atomic bomb there is no defense. Just below the surface lurks the Diplomat’s fear: if we give away the atomic power secret we will lose our bargaining power. But there is no atomic power secret. Again, . . . the Industrialist’s fear: will this new power source upset the economic structure of the country and my private apple cart? This new power is a discovery at least as great as man’s discovery of fire. Who can predict what will come of it? . . . To the scientist, . . . the blackest fear of all [means] not to be allowed to seek the truth wherever it leads him. . . . Death to science . . . means death to our great civilization, whose foundation is knowledge and whose goal is liberty.”—Helen M. Davis, editorial in Chemistry, November, 1945. BR-ASI9 221.6

One noted atomic scientist, Harold C. Urey, said, “I am a frightened man, myself. All the scientists I know are frightened—frightened for their lives—and frightened for your life.”—“I’m a Frightened Man,” The Saturday Review of Literature, Aug. 7, 1948. BR-ASI9 221.7

What is it that men fear? BR-ASI9 221.8

“Men’s hearts failing them . . . for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Luke 21:26. BR-ASI9 221.9

Note.—The prophecy specifies fear for the future. BR-ASI9 221.10

“The devastation that could be wrought by an Atomic Age war is too appalling to be fully realized. The vision stuns our imagination. But if present trends continue it is only a question of time before such a war will come.” BR-ASI9 221.11

“But time is short. Looking at the destruction already wrought, at the materialism growing on every side, at the increasing bitterness and unrest throughout the world, at the tremendous power of our latest weapons, a realist might well conclude that many of us now living will see the start of a war which will end in more dark ages.”—Charles A. Lindbergh in Reader’s Digest, September, 1948, pp. 134, 138. BR-ASI9 222.1

The editor of the Christian Century observed: BR-ASI9 222.2

“Despair is creeping up on us—on the best of us most of all. The stars of promise have all but faded from our sky. We are on a road that leads to destruction, and destruction is drawing close.”—November 19, 1947, p. 1391. Used by permission. BR-ASI9 222.3

What has become of the plans and predictions of many of our great men? BR-ASI9 222.4

“The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?” Jeremiah 8:9. BR-ASI9 222.5

Note.—We of the present disillusioned generation have learned that “not much is left of the theory of automatic progress. . . . Indeed, the splitting of the atom, which represented the furthest reach of the new physics into the mysteries of matter, also annihilated the last of the nineteenth-century notions of an inevitable millennium.”—Fortune, October, 1948, p. 112. BR-ASI9 222.6

“The great tower of Babel,” says James S. Stewart, “has crashed, and the world is littered with the wreckage of disillusionment.”—Heralds of God, p. 17. BR-ASI9 222.7

What does the Bible point to as the cause of the world’s peril? BR-ASI9 222.8

“In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5. BR-ASI9 222.9

Note.—The trouble is with man himself. “It is not the weapon so much as it is the human beings who may wish to use it that constitute the real danger.”—Raymond B. Fosdick in The New York Times Magazine, Dec. 30, 1945, p. 29. BR-ASI9 222.10

“Scientists themselves now proclaim that their science has reached the point in its development where it becomes imperative to do something about man. They prophesy doomsday unless their warning is heeded. . . . BR-ASI9 223.1

“When we talk about the nature of man, we are standing on ground that has been pre-empted by Christianity. On this ground, science and Christianity now meet face to face. With one voice they declare that the future is precarious, and with one voice they declare that it is precarious because of man. Christianity puts its finger upon that in man’s nature which science now gravely fears may cause his destruction and the destruction of the earth with him. Science and Christianity are now looking at the same thing in man. Science has no word for it, but Christianity has. That word is sin. . . . BR-ASI9 223.2

“Sin, says Christianity, is inherent in man’s nature. Unless something is done to destroy the power of sin in the heart of man, his existence in a scientific world will always remain under the shadow of imminent self-destruction.”—Charles Clayton Morrison in The Christian Century, March 13, 1946, pp. 330-332. Used by permission. BR-ASI9 223.3

What prophetic passage of Scripture once ignored now bursts into prominence and is quoted by men of the world? BR-ASI9 223.4

“But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, . . . wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved.” 2 Peter 3:10, 12. (See also Isaiah 13:6-11.) BR-ASI9 223.5

Note.—“Within the pages of the New Testament,” says Winthrop S. Hudson, “one is forever stumbling upon passages, long ignored, which suddenly speak directly to the mood of the hour. From utter irrelevance they become luminous with meaning. The closing lines of 2 Peter [3:10-13] are a case in point. A year ago they were completely foreign to our thinking, but listen to them today!”—The Christian Century, Jan. 9, 1946, p. 46. Used by permission. BR-ASI9 223.6

What do all these admonitions and warnings mean to you and me? BR-ASI9 223.7

“Since all these things are thus on the verge of dissolution, what sort of men ought you to be in all holy living and godly conduct, expecting and helping to hasten the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens, all ablaze, will be dissolved, and the elements will burn and melt?” 2 Peter 3:11, 12, Weymouth. BR-ASI9 223.8

What may we expect to follow this destruction? BR-ASI9 224.1

“But in accordance with His promise we expect new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, as you are expecting this, earnestly seek to be found by Him, free from blemish or reproach, in peace.” 2 Peter 3:13, 14, Weymouth. BR-ASI9 224.2

To what are many Christians looking forward in this atomic age? BR-ASI9 224.3

To the coming of Christ. BR-ASI9 224.4

Note.—“In the event that the present turbulent period is prolonged by nations’ successfully retaining their tenuous sovereignty, we face increasing tensions, fears and spiritual blight until goaded beyond endurance, . . . others than Christians will also begin to cry, ‘O Lord, come quickly!’ ”—Wesner Fallaw in The Christian Century, Sept. 25, 1946, p. 1147. BR-ASI9 224.5