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Are Our Times Really Different?

DESCRIBING the present world situation, American economist Peter F. Drucker stated: “No one needs to be told that our age is an age of infinite peril. No one needs to be told that the central question we face with respect to man’s future is not what it shall be, but whether it shall be.”

What are some of the problems that cause many people to wonder if mankind has any future? What dangers distinguish our times from preceding generations?

Pollution

The air in many large cities has become a health hazard. Seas, lakes and rivers are polluted by industrial waste, contaminating the fish we eat. The protective ozone layer is threatened by waste gases. With good reason pollution is a cause for international concern. An OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) meeting was reported on in the French daily Le Monde: “From 1965 to 1975 the environment suffered severe damage. Even if we count on economic recession greatly slowing down [industrial] growth, the natural environment will continue to deteriorate in the years to come if protection is not reinforced.”

Some claim that pollution is nothing new. If that were true, why is it that monuments that have stood for millenniums are suddenly imperiled? “Day by day the polluted atmosphere of Athens is succeeding in destroying what Turkish troops failed to destroy during their 400-year occupation of Greece. Little by little the marble is being eaten away.”​—Paris Le Figaro.

Overpopulation

Other factors further complicate the situation on a worldwide scale. France’ scientific monthly Science et Vie (Science and Life) had this to say on the subject of population growth and the expansion of deserts: “The world population will increase from four to six billion by the year 2000, whereas arable ground will possibly be reduced by 30 percent over the same period, due to overcropping . . . and urbanization. The simultaneous character of these two tendencies is preparing the way for an explosive situation.”

True, population growth has declined in certain Western and Third World countries. Yet, according to experts, overpopulation will persist until at least the middle of the next century, for in many lands the growth rate is increasing and will continue to increase. The vast majority of developing countries are among the world’s most highly populated lands. Overpopulation marks our times as really different from the past.

Weapons

You may be well aware that many are alarmed over the arms race. Millions of Europeans are uneasy about living within reach of missiles based in Eastern-bloc countries or about having U.S. missiles on their soil. But no matter where you live on earth there is reason for concern over laser- or particle-beam weapons, biological weapons or dangers launched from satellites or orbiting space platforms. Furthermore, some experts regard some of these weapons as a new stage in the balance of terror. The feeling of vulnerability they produce may lead a nation to consider it advantageous to attack first.

Ask yourself: Did preceding generations have such power to destroy most of earth’s inhabitants in just a few minutes? Or is this an element peculiar to our day?

Dangers such as we have mentioned produce various reactions, especially in industrialized countries. Some citizens form committees to fight pollution; others seek security at all costs by arming themselves, building shelters or even taking refuge in isolated areas. Commenting on this latter category, the International Herald Tribune stated: “Small but growing bands of Americans are arming themselves and learning how to kill because they are convinced that the social order is crumbling and that they will have to fend for themselves to survive.” Private individuals in other lands, too, are training with weapons​—women as well as men.

But there may be another sort of danger that is even harder to escape or deal with​—economic collapse. There are millions of unemployed in the Western world, while Eastern-bloc nations have other economic problems. Do you not see the effects of economic turmoil where you live? In late 1980 ex-prime minister of France Raymond Barre said about the world’s economy: “This is . . . a world crisis. It is neither short-lived nor superficial, but lasting and deep-seated.” Economist Samuel Pisar stated: “Everything goes to bear out and testify to the fact that we are on the brink of a new collapse. Our problems have nothing in common with those of 40 years ago, and this only increases our apprehension.” So where can you turn in these times that are so different?

Long ago Jesus Christ spoke of a time that would be characterized among other things by “anguish of nations, not knowing the way out.” (Luke 21:25) Confronted with these different events, we have to admit that his words fit our times, times that are so different from any before. However, if Jesus was really referring to our day, what does it mean for us? Do all these things truly indicate that a radical change is near? The following article will help you answer these questions.

[Pictures on page 3]

Pollution

Overpopulation

Weapons