The Tick Tock of the Doomsday Clock

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is not my go-to publication for calculating the world’s immediacy to “The End.” But I do find the discourse of physicists enticing, especially when the brainy guys and gals pontificate the fate of the modern world. The great thinkers should know when the planet is about to blow, so it’s only fair that they take time to warn us annually by moving the hands on a clock.

The Doomsday clock debuted in 1947, on the cover of the premiere issue of the Bulletin. Designed by artist Martyl Langsdorf, the timepiece of terror first placed the minute hand at seven minutes until midnight. Martyl was the wife of Alexander Langsdorf, one of the physicists who helped develop the atomic bomb for the Manhattan Project. From it’s inception, the clock has advanced or recoiled according to the predictions of people who might be the ones to literally bring about Doomsday. The simple rendition of a clock with its dots, hour hand and minute hand has given report as to the nearness of the end of life as we know it from that first magazine issue until today. Last week, on the cover of the Bulletin, the smart people moved the minute hand to a new position: two minutes until midnight.

The clock has taken this position before, in 1953 with the advent of the hydrogen bomb. In 1991, the countermove to seventeen minutes until midnight purported the safest year since the clock began ticking out it’s predictions. Overall, the countdown has brought us closer to Doomsday than it has to worldwide security.

This latest forward motion toward destruction was based on “the failure of President Trump and other world leaders to deal with looming threats of nuclear war and climate change.” Of course, Trump will take the heat for…whatever. I agree, along with the people of Hawaii who were wise enough to take cover in the recent misidentified drill, that somebody might drop a bomb one day. But I’m not convinced that what used to be called global warming has any real chance of ushering in the apocalypse.

The magazine, the scientists, the clock, the bombs, the weather—that’s all interesting and it brings a bizarre sort of excitement to our mundane lives. I’m guilty of pouring literary fuel on the theoretical fire with my own novels. But only one publication offers substantial vision for the future of us. In the scriptures, a thrill-seeking end-timer might get pumped up when prophecy and current events collide. As for me, it’s where I find peace and security. Not the kind the world seeks, but true rest in the knowledge that God has things under control. Bombs have already been deployed to annihilate human life. The earth has already survived periods of life-altering change. And we are still here to live or die according to God’s plan.

Now, were closer than we were yesterday to “The End” if that’s what you want to call it. Perhaps as close as two minutes. Something’s going to happen. Life as we know it is going to change. I’ll agree with the scientists in that regard. I might even help sound the alarm. The clock is ticking. But I won’t cower in the darkness or succumb to the anguish. My Deliverer is coming!

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28

The Quantifiable Gospel

Little games present themselves on a popular social media site—one I’ll not name. It’s the site where some people scroll at length when they ought to have their face in a book instead. No, I’m not bashing social media. It offers valuable information, contact with friends, opportunities for marketing, videos of adorable animals, and glorious pictures displaying the splendor of our world. It also provides a platform to share our convictions, whatever they may be.

But back to those games—innocent little quizzes designed to help you learn more about yourself. They’re laughable and rarely accurate. Nobody’s gullible enough to take them seriously. I admit I’m more an observer than a participant, so I’ve never clicked on such a quiz. But I have been amused by the results quantified for some of my friends. Then I scroll on and snicker at a kitten smacking a Rottweiler’s nose. I don’t like Rottweilers.

Neither do I appreciate it when a simple game meant for entertainment perpetuates a common misunderstanding of the gospel. So, I wasn’t amused when I noticed a quiz titled, “Are you Going to Heaven or Hell?”

One of my online friends had taken the test and the results totaled about 120 deeds under “sins” and 500,000 or so “good deeds.” This meant my friend was well prepared for eternity. Good outweighed bad and the gates of Heaven were opened.

Promptly considering my own life, and the lives of the Christians in my real-world circles, I concluded 120 sins was probably a low number, and 500,000 good deeds seemed a stretch. Using these quantities, 4,166 good deeds were needed to cancel out one sin. Of course, it’s not to be taken to heart. Christians who know anything know their salvation is not based on works, but on the finished work of Christ. But that harmless little quiz might give somebody the idea their long-held belief that good people go to Heaven was right after all.

Before I’d moved past my indignation over the “Heaven or Hell” quiz, another post shared on social media muddied the matter even further. This one came from a teacher of the Word, from a supposedly trustworthy site aimed at Christian edification. The quiz—however misleading it might have been—was just for fun. But this devotional piece was meant to reach into the minds of God’s elect, the ones saved by grace.

The lesson of the day: your salvation is not assured. If you sin, you need to get saved again. Do we live a cycle of sin—repent—get saved—sin—get unsaved—repent— get saved—sin—get unsaved, and on and on until we die? If this is how to quantify the gospel, then on any given day I could get hit by a bus and go to Hell because I sinned just before stepping into the street and I didn’t get a chance to repent.

That’s not the gospel I know. It carries the same fallacy as the quiz. One suggests your good deeds will get you into Heaven. The other claims that even though you've been redeemed, your bad deeds might keep you out of Heaven. Both hang on the deeds of the one seeking salvation, rather than on the unmerited favor of the giver of salvation. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8,9

I’m not very good at math, so I’m sure I’d get it wrong if I tried to cancel out my bad deeds with good ones. And while I know when I’ve sinned it might take me a few minutes, or longer, to allow the kindness of God to lead me to repentance. And a bus might hit me. I’m glad the gospel is quantified in the simplest terms. The good deeds and the bad don’t figure into the equation. Neither does the up-to-date repentance ledger.

That doesn’t mean I can forget about good works and confession. It means my good works grow out of love for my savior. It means I confess with thanksgiving because the price for my sins was paid once and for all. To add to the gospel is to subtract from it until all you have is a knock-off. An imitation. Here’s a calculation shared among Christians who meet in the cyber world and in the church building, and if the gospel must be quantified, this is the only solution:

Jesus + nothing = everything.

Contemplate the good and the bad going on in your life. God cares and so should you. Repent of your sins as soon as you can. That’s what you’re supposed to do. But don’t give up your freedom in Christ to live in fear of not bringing enough to the equation, because there is nothing you can bring. If you’re His, He’s got you covered.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment,                                but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24