It was astounding – an offhand comment from the president that Iran could take out LA and San Diego, and that this would be an acceptable loss. I have read some commentaries about it, and there are mixed ideas about what he meant. Some think he was offering up two cities to be destroyed, while others felt that he was making a confusing statement about our vulnerability if we were to stop participating in the war with Iran. People in southern California were understandably concerned; their state is the focus of a lot of vitriol from the Trump administration, and their governor has been forceful in his confrontations with the president himself. As with so much of what Mr. Trump says, these comments are confusing and bizarre.
I often hear comments that these are the end times, and the president has, on occasion, alluded to this as well. He is being given “spiritual” counsel by a number of “religious” people who believe that Jesus is coming in our lifetime, an idea that isn’t new, but is also not biblically sustainable. That doesn’t mean there aren’t passages in scripture that support this idea; it means that are some counter concepts as well. There is no doubt that the Bible can be confusing and contradictory. The biggest problem I see with believing that Armageddon is just around the corner is that some people – like Sec. Hegseth – are doing things to support and promote the apocalyptic vision they hold so dear. It is one thing to believe that God will bring a cataclysmic end to the world, but it quite a different issue when people offer their assistance.
End of time thinking is a threat to us all. It allows us to ignore the growing threat of climate catastrophe because that can be blamed on God’s plan. It allows for our participation in endless wars, excusing our bloodlust as being tools in God’s ongoing story. It allows terrible behavior to be explained as God’s will. None of us knows the future – none of us has a clue what will happen tomorrow. My theology believes that God doesn’t know either; if God did, that would mean it is all planned out. All of this feeds a belief system that allows for destruction and suffering that might be avoided by our actions. It allows us to say that it’s part of God’s plan, so changing it would be attempting to subvert God! I don’t know about you, but that scares me. For me, humanity is meant to make the world better, not watch as Rome burns. To do otherwise threatens all of us.
Prayer – Holy God, thank You for the continued opportunities to fix what is broken, so that people’s lives might flourish. Amen.
Today’s art is “Armageddon” by Melody Horton Karandjeff.