Hourglass and revelation

Thank you for printing Mr. David S. Wixey's letter (April 8, 1997: Comet Hale-Bopp) in response to my letter (April 4, 1997: Comet's coming) on the hourglass illustration of the three highlights of world history; the birth of Abraham, the Father of the nation of Israel, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his second coming, all preceded by significant comets.

I'm not at all surprised that Mr. Wixey vigorously opposes any "smack of apocalyptic evangelism," and "giggles among the more rational people." From his excellent writing style I assume that Mr. Wixey is more rational, intelligent, and better educated than I. I make no boast of human wisdom. I thank him for suggesting a "beginner's guide to scientific cosmology." It just so happens that this past week I have been studying some basic books on both astronomy and ancient history. Hopefully they may suffice as homework Mr. Wixey has assigned me to do. However, so far I have found nothing that would indicate that the hourglass model is "moronic." On the contrary, the dates given for the previous comets cited confirm their close proximity to their historical counterparts.

Mr. Wixey need not feel threatened by the fact that the beauty, simplicity, order and symmetry generally observed in nature should also be discovered in history (my hourglass), and confirmed by science. Some "rational" people pride themselves in being "autonomous," and "captains of their own fate" not believing in God and serving no one but themselves (I don't pretend to know enough about Mr. Wixey yet to say for certain, though the usual symptoms of classic rationalism are clearly already in evidence).

The dates for the comets were established by science and coincide with the dates of important births cited in the hourglass diagram. Surely our faith rests upon Revelation, and not on comets, or the "coming Millennium" syndrome, which Mr. Wixey makes reference to and mistakenly applies to me. All time indicators of the Bible concerning conditions surrounding Christ's return appear to be close to being fulfilled. The world's present political conditions demand it as the only solution to problems such as the Middle East, the worldwide inequality of wealth, nuclear waste and the rampant destruction of the Earth's environment. This is to name only a few of the problems that man's wisdom is incapable of solving without divine help. The faithless and weird characteristics of man's thinking, prophesied to appear just prior to that great event, are evidenced by both Applewhite's thinking and actions.

But Applewhite and Mr. Wixey may have more in common than the latter realizes. They both probably reject the divinely inspired verbal revelation of the Bible as a basis of knowledge and morality. They both are probably rationalistic and humanistic. And probably, they both have chosen to find their own way, rather than choose to follow the one who said He is "the Way, the Truth and the Life." To follow any other shepherd leads to spiritual and physical death, as Applewhite's life and death clearly prove.

DAN ADAMS

Jakarta