Creation Is Only Afraid When Forgetting Our Creator

The flood at the time of Noah was a globally catastrophic event.  Since then, the earth has experienced many more disasters, ranging from volcanic explosions to earthquakes to hurricanes.  (Incidentally, NASA says that a single hurricane is the equivalent of 10,000 nuclear bombs; a volcano, 10,000 atomic bombs; and an earthquake, 42 tsar bombs— the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated.)  These frequently recurring disasters, each of which far surpasses any force of man, does not have the potential to wipe out all living creatures.  Yet today there is a very real fear that human-generated climate change could do what nature has never been able to.

While we can debate public policies, what cannot be ignored is the genuine sense of fear the younger generation feels.  As Greta Thunberg, a [then] sixteen-year-old climate activist in Generation Z, explained: “Adults keep saying: ‘We owe it to the young people to give them hope.’  But I don’t want your hope.  I don’t want you to be hopeful.  I want you to panic.  I want you to feel the fear I feel every day.  And then I want you to act.  I want you to act as you would in a crisis.  I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”

Generation Z (those born after 1999) has been declared the “‘post-Christian’ generation,” and statistics seem to confirm this: “the percentage of Gen Z that identifies as atheist is double that of the U.S. adult population” and less than 4 percent have a Biblical worldview.  Without God, this generation will not experience His promise that “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18 NASB).

God created this world and only He has the power to destroy it.  He made this clear in Job 38, and the Apostle Peter similarly affirms: “In the last days mockers will come ... it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.  But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:3, 5-7 NASB).

For believers, faith— not fear— should guide our behavior.  Fear is not God’s plan, but even if we find ourselves surrounded by it, we should remember His promise that “in the world you have tribulation, but take courage: I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NASB).

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel