Stories of Destruction?

Stories of destruction seem to be all around us these days.  No sooner do we get past Harold Camping’s prognostication for end of the world last May and then again in October, before talk turns to the Mayan calendar and the end of the world on December 21, 2012.  If reading the Bible is any indication, stories about the destruction of the world are almost as old human civilization itself.  A few short chapters after the beginning of Genesis, we get the story of Noah and the Flood. There are several things to note, however, about these stories of destruction. 

Most of the stories of the end of the world often serve a personal agenda.  Harold Camping made his fortune, and it is a substantial fortune, through his radio broadcasts.  While not wanting to question the sincerity of his Christianity, one has to wonder what has the greater influence in his broadcast money or faith.  When he began to predict the end of the world how many listeners began to send him even more money? 

When talk turns to the Mayan calendar the agenda becomes even more evident.  According to respectable Mayan Scholars the Mayan calendar doesn’t actually predict the end of the world.  Instead the Mayan Long calendar has a cycle 5,126 years.  If archaeologists have correctly identified the starting date of that cycle (there is at least some disagreement over the starting date) then the end of the cycle will be December 12, 2012.  But the calendar does not actually predict the end of the world on that day, but the beginning of a new cycle.  To finish a cycle and to begin a new cycle was actually seen as a day to be celebrated.  Unfortunately days of celebration seldom sell many books or result in block buster movies.  Stories of destruction, however, sell lots of books and generate attendance at movie theaters. 

Unlike these other stories of destruction, the story of the flood ends in remarkably different way.  After the waters recede, God shows remorse for what has happened.  God realizes that s/he has made a mistake.  And so God makes a covenant with Noah to never again to destroy the world.  As a reminder of this covenant both for Noah and God the bow is set in the clouds (Gen 9.12ff).  We may be able to explain scientifically why we see rainbows, but that does change the fact that for the writers of Genesis they came to symbolize God’s promise to Noah, and through him, all humanity to never again destroy the world.  It is symbol that is often forgotten because stories of destruction or much more profitable than stories of new creation. God’s promise is never one of destruction, but of renewed life for humanity and all of creation.