Matt W Cook

I usually have a few buttons pinned to my jacket. I like them. This is one of them.

In 1947 the board of directors for Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created this clock, called the Doomsday Clock, as a method of gauging how close to utter, nuclear destruction the human race is. Since 1997 it has stood at five minutes to midnight. Midnight, of course, being when we all evaporate in a cloud of radioactive smoke.

So I wear it. Why? Because I agree that we are a mere five minutes to midnight, though I think the source of our danger is a much more powerful and all-permeating thing than nuclear war.

We can all agree on one thing: Nobody’s perfect. But we fail to realize what a huge problem that is. I think it may be the only problem we really have. Novels and books come up with all sorts of ideas on how we can save the world. The Watchmen has one of the most interesting and original ideas. But in the end, all the ideas are bunk. True peace can never come and last because we, as a race, hate each other. We are inclined to spite and malice and hate. We may put our hate away for a moment to pursue another goal, but it will always come back. The Taint forces us to kill each other.

And it will always be like that until we recognize that Jesus is the only one who can change us.

So I wear the button. I think the whole human race is at five minutes to midnight. But I don’t think that reducing the nuclear stockpile will ensure peace (though I certainly think it will help). It’s not the nukes that make me nervous. It’s the sin. Without Jesus we’re all doomed.