by Richard A. Swenson, M.D., 1999
Wayne read this book; I only read the last chapter (at his instruction) and skimmed some of the other chapters. It’s an interesting theory – as we “Progress,” we also increase the “fallenness” in our world: “Because our world is fallen there is at least something wrong with everything.” We are hurtling toward oblivion, the line on the graph going up and up and up, growing closer and closer and closer, faster and faster toward an ultimate end point. There is a “Threshold of Lethality.”
Here are the last 2 paragraphs of the 9th chapter in the sub-heading, The End:
Simply stated, each of the following factors are increasing exponentially without any demonstrable commensurate diminution of the fallenness problem: the power of weaponry, technology, communications, information, mobility, money, speed, and population. You do the math and draw your own conclusions.
Are we then to collapse in despair, move to the mountains, install perimeter fences, stockpile ammo for our Uzis, and put Prozac in the water? Hardly. Our only hope is that God is still God–and that He’s still interested. But then, that has always been our only hope. It’s just that the conditions of the present are clarifying what progress has otherwise tempted us to forget.
page 120
Here are the opening paragraphs of Chapter 2, Profusion Through Progress, written in 1999 and only confirmed over the last two decades until Covid-19 hit:
Imagine two CNN reporters approaching your house to conduct an interview. The topic under investigation concerns the many changes in our modern world. In the midst of the interview, they ask the following question: “If you could use only one word to describe all that is happening in the world, which word would you choose?”
If such a question were put to me, many possible choices would present themselves. But a word that would be high on my list–and possibly at the top of the list–would be the word more.
No matter where we look–it makes no difference–there is always more. No matter what topic we consider–it makes no difference–there is always more.
Obviously there are more people–lots more people.
There are more cars traveling more miles over more roads, and more airplanes carrying more passengers on more flights. There are more televisions broadcasting more programs over more stations. There are more computers, more books, and more magazines, all processing and distributing more information–lots more information.
There are more businesses offering more services and making more products–lots more products. There are more buildings, more restaurants, more medications, more telephones, and more money. Lots more money.
There are more activities and commitments, more choices and decisions, more change and stress, more technology and complexity.
There is, in short, more . . . of everything. Wherever we look, we are surrounded by more. Always.
Pages 31 and 32
From chapter one, here are the main threats that doomsayers worry about (this is before 9/11 in 2001 and COVID-19 in 2020):
- World Hunger and Overpopulation (leads to widespread famine and war)
- Ecocatastrophe (global warming, desertification, deforestation, acid rain, toxic waste, nuclear power plant accidents, ozone holes, species extinction, and resource depletion.)
- Infectious Disease “Still other experts worried about widespread infectious pandemics due to urban crowding, poverty, and unprecedented international travel…”
- Weapons of Mass Destruction “…nuclear, chemical, and biological–whether from superpowers, rogue nations, or terrorist networks.”
Wayne liked this quote from Margaret Mead: “We have nothing in the history of human societies that suggests that any system can be depended upon to correct itself rather than perish.”
The things that will trigger lethality are: Economics, Politics, Religion; Tribalism, Ethnicity, and Nationalism. (“Perhaps nothing is more divisive in American life than political ideology: not religion, not race, not gender.” Remember, this is written in 1999: pre-9/11, pre-Trump, pre-COVID-19!)
In the face of all this doom and gloom, how are we to live? We are to live with authenticity.
Wayne likes this, under ‘On Living Ready:’
If death came today and knocked on our doors, most of us would be inclined to respond: “Give me a month to get ready.” Get ready for what? To straighten out priorities? To begin living consistent with our beliefs? If that is what we need a month to prepare for, then why wait for death-or the end of the age? Why not get ready now? Why not live ready?
from page 122
He says to live authentically. “Authenticity might be defined as the congruence between what we believe and how we live.” We are to have ‘authentic vision,’ ‘authentic values, ‘authentic relationships,’ and ‘authentic lifestyle.’ Under ‘Authentic Relationships:’
Love is not the road to authenticity–it is authenticity. Love is not just a good idea–it is the only idea. Love is not just the first step–it is the alpha and the omega.
To love is the central commandment of all eternity. To love God, ourselves, and our neighbors should be the first guideline for all life decisions and actions. Until we love, we are not permitted to go any further. If love is not right, nothing that follows can be right. Without it we are nothing, and we gain nothing. Christ’s Great Commandment reduces to one concept: love…
…Authenticity, then, means that we cherish, nourish, and protect our relationships: to God, to self, to others. Such relational authenticity, based on the truth of Scripture and the love of God, will survive the fire to come and will transcend the end of the age without fear.
from pages 126 and 127
Wayne likes this from ‘Never Despair:‘
It is a great day for faith. Yes, perhaps the twilight of a great era is upon us. Perhaps the road ahead will carry us through unprecedented disruption and suffering. Nevertheless, God’s kingdom is on the move in a powerful, unstoppable way. The gates of hell will not prevail. The outcome of the cosmic battle is already known. The opportunities for ministry have never been greater.
from page 128
Here is a beautiful paragraph about God in the last chapter of the book:
As a part of this vision, we will see God clearly, understand that He is good and that He is Love. We will understand that He is a God who cares, who changes hearts, who redeems pain, and who works in history. We will understand that He is drawing all people; He is reconciling the world to Himself; He is building His church. We will understand that He holds both our present and our future; He has given us a foundation on which to stand that is unmovable and unshakable.
from page 124