AMAZON
science and the Bible by Bolton Davidbeiser, Chairman, Scianca Division, ■Ma CaWaga
MISSION
‘D oO H iA cU U f
F riday , the 13th of November, in the year 2026 A.D., will be doomsday, according to three scien tists at the University of Illinois. In the past, members of various cults have made the mistake of predicting the date of the return of Christ and the consummation of the age, ignor ing Scriptural admonition that no one can know the time, not even the angels in heaven. It is indeed un usual for scientists who are not inter ested in the return of the Lord to set a date for the end of human life on earth. Although the formula of these scientists points to this particular day, they grant a possible error of five and a half years .either way. This would put doomsday somewhere between May of 2021 A.D. and May of 2032 A.D. Thus it is expected to occur within the lifetime of people now liv ing. These scientists are not anticipat ing the destruction of the human race by atomic power and they believe that the technical problems involved in feeding an increasing population will be solved as they arise. Their doomsday is the day when the num ber of people on earth will become so large that it approaches infinity. As such a situation is impossible, it means the end of human life. So sure are they of the correctness of this calculation that they believe Napoleon, with the data available in his day, could have predicted this same doomsday with an accuracy of 30 years. Queen Elizabeth I of Eng land could have predicted it within 110 years. Even with the information available to Charlemagne over a thousand years ago, the scientists be lieve that he could have foretold it within a range of 300 years either way. Thus in the days of Charle magne it could have been predicted that if the Lord did not come first, the end of human life on earth would occur sometime between the first part of the 18th century and the early 24th century, with the most likely date about half way between, or be fore the middle of the 21st century. The formula works both ways and can be used to ascertain the number
of people on earth at any time in the past. It tells us that there were about 200,000 people a million years ago and about 15,000 people twelve million years ago. The scientists find that what they call the hypothetical Adam lived about 200,000,000,000 years ago. Of course this is quite ridi culous, for it is about 50 times as long ago as the time when it is as sumed the earth was formed in a state devoid of all life. It puts the be ginning of man about 400 times as far back as a time when there was no form of life on earth as highly devel oped as a fish, according to the views of modem scientists. However, this bit of inaccuracy is not considered particularly important, and the scien tists go on to discuss what can be done about the rapidly approaching doomsday. They say that the only thing to do is to decrease the birth rate. If that were done now, dooms day could be avoided by permitting an average of a little more than two children per family. If such a restric tion is not made now on a worldwide basis, the problem will soon be great er and families will have to be limit ed even more. The proposals to ac complish this are to heavily tax families which exceed the legal limit or to send them off somewhere into space. This latter proposal is not made as a jest, but it apparently as sumes that the technical and finan cial abilities to carry it out will be achieved in time, as well as the selec tion of suitable celestial real estate. Meanwhile Christians have various reasons for believing that the time of the Lord’s return may be near. In stead of proposing legislation which cannot be enforced, in a desperate ef fort to prevent the approach of doom, Christians are prepared for the im minent return of Christ and look for that day with joy and anticipation. Note: W ith the receipt of a long stamped and self-addressed envelope, a list of the articles which have appeared in this column during the past three years, together with a brief description of each, will be sent free. Address request to the Biology De partment, Biola College, 13800 Biola Ave., La Mirada, California.
sequences from the Upper Amazon — Living conditions and problems of indigenous missionary endeavor — Effectively us ed by missionary candidates or missionaries on fur lough itineraries 16mm COLOR SOUND
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FEBRUARY, 1961
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