| News and Views | December 1945 |
Atomic Energy in the New World
AS LONG ago as 1934, The Advance of Science magazine published an article in which it was estimated that smashing the atoms contained in one pound of water would create enough energy to heat one hundred million tons of water from freezing to boiling temperature. A breath of air, it was said, would operate a powerful airplane for a year continuously, and a handful of snow would heat a large apartment house for a year.
It was also theorized that the atomic energy contained in the pasteboard of a small railroad ticket would run a heavy passenger train several times around the globe. All of this means that if atomic energy is made fully available for general use, which now seems possible, every other form of energy will be antiquated, and electrical Transmission lines will be as useless in the atomic age as the horse and buggy is now.
Visionary? So was Sir Isaac Newton when he forecast that one day people would be able to travel as fast as fifty miles an hour. A hundred years ago anyone would have been thought visionary had he attempted to predict the five-hundred-mile-an-hour airplane; sound pictures and color photography; the radio, television, and radar; plastic glass; ladies’ stockings made from milk; and the thousand and one other uncanny marvels of our day. Already, scientists have attained practical success in splitting atoms and releasing their almost boundless energy. At present, the cost of acquiring this energy prohibits its general use, but at least the possibilities have become apparent.
Many students of the Bible already have found what they allege to be prophecies concerning the marvels of atomic energy; and it would not be surprising if the Word of God does make some mention of such an outstanding development in the affairs of men. It is certainly true that in the discovery and use of atomic energy we have a much more marvelous fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the “increase of knowledge” than in any of the previous advances which have been made along scientific lines.
It is also true that the possibilities of destructive warfare by the misuse of atomic energy have dwarfed all our previous conceptions of the prophetic “time of trouble”—a trouble foretold to be “such as never was since there was a nation.” Each spasm of the great “time of trouble,” beginning in 1914, has been more distressing upon the world of mankind than anything ever before experienced. But even the terrible devastations wrought by the second global war will apparently fade into insignificance in comparison with the destruction to both life and property that will result from the next spasm.
Many have wondered concerning the fulfillment of the Master’s prediction concerning this “time of trouble” in which he said that unless “those days be shortened” no flesh would be saved. Despite all the horrors of the second global war, the total population of the earth was probably larger at its close than at its beginning; at least it was no real threat of annihilation to the race. But with the releasing of atomic energy, the world is being told that there IS now a danger of the human race destroying itself—that possibly no flesh will be saved. This should give us more confidence in the promises and prophecies of the Bible. Just because it is beyond our ability to understand the manner in which some of the prophecies will be fulfilled, is no reason for supposing that they will not come true.
The releasing of atomic, or nuclear energy, as it is scientifically described, has helped to reveal how false is the wisdom of this world. Atheists, infidels, and modernists have long held and advocated the theory that whatever occurs in the experiences of mankind is largely a matter of history repeating itself. There always have been wars, revolutions, social disturbances, depressions, famines, plagues, etc., it is claimed. Holding to this theory these scoffers have been ready to make light of the prophecies of the Bible, ridiculing the idea that the events of our day are in any sense a fulfillment of them.
But the atomic bomb has blasted this theory! Even as noted a historian and writer as H.G. Wells admits that he is forced to change his mind on this point. He finds, according to a news dispatch from London, that the orderly recurrence of events which he once believed to be a “primary law of life” is no longer true. He is quoted as saying:
People are discovering a frightful queerness has come into life. Even unobservant people are betraying, by fits and starts, a certain wonder, a shrinking, fugitive sense that something is happening so that life will never quite be the same. Spread out and examine the pattern of events and you will find yourself face to face with a new scheme of being hitherto unimaginable by the human mind.
Commenting further on the situation, Mr. Wells is reported as saying that philosophical minds are seeking “some way out, around or through the impasse,” and then adds, “Writers are convinced there is no way out, around or through the impasse. It’s the end.”
How perfectly this harmonizes with the prophecy of Jesus concerning the end of the age. He said that there would be “upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear.” The Greek word used by Jesus and translated “perplexity” in our English version of this prophecy, is taken from a word which means “no way out.” So we see that nineteen centuries ago Jesus foretold what the wise men of today are just discovering.
No longer will those who scoff at the Bible’s prophecies be able to say that nothing new or different is happening in the world. The discovery of atomic energy is fundamentally new, in the sense that it marks the beginning of an era in which the sources of all needed energy, whether for light, heat, travel, cooking, or any other purpose, will be everlasting. Up to now, marvelous as our inventions have been, most of them could not continue to serve man forever because their sources of energy would ultimately become exhausted. For example, some of the most baffling diplomatic problems confronting the nations today are those which have to do with controlling the world’s dwindling oil supplies.
It is claimed by science that not since the discovery of how to produce fire, has anything so fundamental come into the hands of man as this dawning knowledge of atomic energy. For example, the invention of the steam engine was merely another application of fire. Fire, with all its extravagant consumption of raw materials, was essential to its operation. The nearest approach to freeing energy from the need of fire has been the harnessing of water power, but at the best this could serve only small sections of the earth as compared with the whole.
The marvelous inventions of these “last days” have, of course, all had their part in the scheme of things during “the day of His preparation.” Without the limited knowledge of electricity available to the scientists, they would not have known how to split the atom. But now it appears that all previous discoveries and inventions have been but rounds in a ladder to make possible the attainment of this pinnacle of knowledge concerning the use of the fundamental source of energy.
This is indeed an increase of knowledge, as foretold by Daniel. (Dan. 12:4) When Sir Isaac Newton concluded, upon the basis of Daniel’s prophecy, that a time would come when people would be able to travel as fast as fifty miles an hour, Voltaire, the noted French infidel of that time, made light of his faith in the Bible. But today, when travel at several hundred miles an hour is common, and when it is being forecast that the time is not far distant when travel across the Atlantic Ocean in half an hour will be possible, Newton’s forecast of fifty miles an hour is conservative indeed.
But whether it be travel, labor saving machinery, or other inventions which mean so much to the world today, energy supplies are essential, and not until the discovery of the way to release atomic or nuclear energy, could any of these inventions be considered as of a permanent character; that is, permanent in the sense of being everlasting. Now to the man of the world who knows nothing about the Bible, and nothing of God’s plan therein revealed, this might not seem significant, but to the believer it does.
The Bible reveals that it is God’s plan to restore man to live forever upon this earth. All the prophecies pertaining to the end of the age focus upon this period in which we are living, showing it to be one of transition into a new “world” of righteousness and permanency—a “world without end.” The foretold increase of knowledge, represented in science, invention, and general education of the masses, is first of all contributing to the overthrow of the old order. Think of the wreckage of cities, institutions, theories, and standards of the old order already wrought, and the end is not yet.
Atomic energy will doubtless first of all—because of man’s selfishness—be misused to accelerate the destruction of the old world. But in the divine economy, there is also a preparation for God’s new world being accomplished. And it is significant, we believe, that discovery of the very power which threatens the destruction of the entire race might well be the beginning of the fundamental knowledge humanity will need in order to live forever.
We are not implying that atomic energy is a life principle, or that God will permit man to discover the secret of life. Everlasting life itself is a gift of God, and will be available only to those who accept it through Christ and obey the laws of the Messianic kingdom. But those who live forever will forever have needs; and it is significant that at the dawn of the new day, man is permitted to discover this inexhaustible supply of energy—and just long enough in advance of “restitution” blessings for it to be used in helping to complete the destruction of the old order.
And it is worthy of note, too, that the first real use man is able to make of nuclear energy is for destruction. Splitting the atom has thus far been much like the child who, given a hammer and a watch, smashes the watch and causes the mainspring to fly out and hit him in the face. Scientists as yet know little about controlling the “mainspring” of atomic energy. They are merely as children playing with something about which they know little. But they have learned how to release the “mainspring,” even though they are very much afraid of what it will do to the human race before they bring it under control.
It seems probable that atomic energy will eventually be utilized for the good of man—to do for the race what hitherto has been done by other sources of power. Estimates of how long it will be before this change comes vary from five years to a generation, or more. But the fact that it is coming is already influencing the outlook and planning of the world. Living conditions as of today are not to continue. Even before Christ’s kingdom takes over, tremendous changes will be made.
World trends toward socialism, communism, and other forms of governmental ownership and control of business and industry are bound to be accelerated by the incoming use of atomic energy. The masses are aware of the dangers of permitting private ownership and control of that which may become so fundamental to human existence. It will undoubtedly hasten the death of the old capitalistic system which was the basis of the civilization now dying.
All of these changes won’t materialize over night; but they are in the offing. It was a far cry from the first use of fire to the five-hundred-mile-an-hour airplane, but it won’t take that long to develop the possibilities of atomic energy. All the accumulated knowledge of the centuries, and particularly of this generation, will be brought to bear upon the problem, so that the heating and lighting of homes, cooking, cultivating the land, harvesting crops, etc., may become independent of present supplies of energy within a remarkably short time.
Observers declare that if and when atomic energy is developed for general use it will be as cheap as “free air” is now at service stations. Factories operated by it, in which robots will do most of the “work,” will turn out a mass production of goods unparalled by anything in the production line thus far. It is feared that the unemployment problem thus caused will make our worst depressions seem like busy periods by comparison. This, of course, is predicated on the idea that no change in the social system will be made to keep pace with the development of atomic energy.
But changes will be made. Whether for better or for worse, changes will at least be attempted; although the Scriptures indicate that selfish man will not be able to solve this problem any better than he has been able to solve the lesser problems created by the increase of knowledge. This will mean increasing chaos—a time of distress which will be alleviated only by the manifestation of Christ’s kingdom. Reverend Robert I. Gannon, President of Fordham University is quoted as saying sarcastically of atomic energy:
Such power of destruction would have been a social hazard even in the civilized thirteenth century. Our savage generation cannot be trusted with it at all. It is a triumph of research, but unfortunately it is also a superb symbol for the Age of Efficient Chaos.
Yes, undoubtedly atomic energy will contribute to the destruction of the old world in more ways than through its explosive powers in bombs. It will lead to chaos even if not another bomb is dropped. It cannot be otherwise as long as human behaviorism is controlled by selfishness. Truly, as Mr. Wells says, there is no way through, or around or out of this dilemma, so far as human wisdom is concerned. This is becoming increasingly apparent, as indicated by the following, from the pen of Howard Vincent O’Brien:
“Sovereignty” has become a word without meaning. Brotherly love has ceased to be a copybook platitude. It has become the cornerstone of practical politics. Being our brother’s keeper is no longer a philosophical ideal. In the explosion of Hiroshima it suddenly became as essential to existence as air and water. We can no longer amuse ourselves of a Sunday morning by speculating on how nice it would be if we did unto others as we would be done by. It is Faith, Hope, and Charity—or extinction.
Sixty days ago, it was only visionaries who took the Millennium seriously, and really believed in the coming of a Messiah. Now, even the hardest boiled concede that without a chastening of the spirit, we shall surely perish.
What we face is no mere surface alteration of life. It is a reconstruction so vast and deep as to be almost beyond our powers of imagination.
And our fate is not at the disposal of warriors, statesmen, lawyers or scientists. We cannot be saved by weapons or statutes or forms of government. Our only defense against this new thing, at once so terrifying and so full of promise, is an attitude of soul. We can muster no force which will avail us against force itself. The Master of the Show has tipped the hoard over; and all the pieces are on the floor. We have to learn a new game, and there is little time for the learning.
Similar thoughts to the above are being expressed by many writers and educators. The plans and calculations of the worldly wise have indeed been upset. Today there is a Hand shaping human destiny which will brook no interference on the part of those who imagine they can hold the world together and continue to run it without God. Man has reached his extremity. Some are beginning to recognize this and are voicing the opinion that the only salvation for the race is to turn to God.
This does not mean that the time is actually here when we may expect “many nations” to say, as foretold by the prophet, “Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” (Micah 4:1-4) It does reveal, however, that as the situation becomes more acute, and the nations as a whole come to realize what individuals even now discern, they will be glad to acknowledge their need of divine help, and will want to be taught the Lord’s ways.
While many are already urging the adoption of moral and spiritual control over the people, none have the slightest idea how such a plan could be put into operation. And it is too late now for the world to devise such an arrangement, even if human selfishness would permit it. However, God, who created atomic energy, and who knew that the time would come when he would permit it to threaten the annihilation of the race, long ago began to prepare his kingdom agencies to assume full control. The spiritual Christ is already present, shaping affairs for the acceptance of his kingdom. For nearly two thousand years since his first advent, those who are to reign with him have been undergoing their training in righteousness that they might be equipped for the task in hand. During the ages prior to Christ’s first advent, the human representatives of the kingdom received their training.
The God of all power has made a plan which calls for the resurrection of both these classes of specially trained ones in order that they might be ready at the right moment, together with Jesus, and under his direction, to intervene in world affairs before all flesh is destroyed. From then on nothing will be permitted to hurt nor destroy, the prophet assures us. (Isa. 11:9) To whatever extent divine wisdom permits humanity then to utilize atomic energy, it will be for their good, helping to provide that abundant life foretold by the prophets. Of this we can be certain, the Creator of all energy will fulfill his every blessed promise of life, and through the Redeemer, give to all the opportunity of living forever on an earth made free from sin and death.