I predict, without fear of error, the world will not end tomorrow by any divine act of destruction. I do not need some crackpot’s reading of an apocryphal text written by superstitious, or maybe even, malicious fabulists.
How is it I am so atheistically certain?
I can see the world. I have seen it for 78 years and am well into my 79th year. I trust the rhythms of the world I have seen.
In the world I know there is an autumn every year. It has its more subtle forms in some places, but still, it is autumn, an in-between-time of rest and reflection.
Winter comes, at times fierce and thrilling and even brutal. But it always comes. And it always goes.
It is followed by spring. In some parts of the world, it seems like there is always spring. It is this world at its best and most exciting.
And in some parts of the world, it is always summery, just as in other parts it is always wintery. But never is it totally one or the other.
Yes, there are occasional disturbances. There is, at times, violence. There is fear and alarm and pain. But even those disturbances are part of that persistent rhythm. We fit perfectly into this world and this world perfectly fits around us.
And only man will break the rhythm.
Only man will destroy this world. Only man will spoil the seasons. Only man will poison the ground so there will be no spring. Only man will make all places into a permanent, furious summer and boil away the oceans. Only man will make all places a permanent, global winter locked in a profound death.
How we doing, so far?
\\y