With Russia's old computer systems, isn't there a good chance that one of there nuclear missiles could be launched accidentally at 2000? This concerns me more than anything...Are computers going to start World War?..Will this be the demise of mankind? Forget about us surviving individully, will the world survive in one piece? If you go by the bible "Revelations" and now the new book "Bible code"...We could be instore for the worst thing to happen to mankind ever....

-- Charles Shepherd (chipshep@aol.com), July 21, 1998

Answers

The Bible does indeed talk about great tribulation and suffering in the end times. However the Bible also says that many people will be alive when Jesus returns to earth. God is in total control. Nothing will happen that is not in His plan. If you want to know how to be saved and go to heaven when you die, go to www.gospelcom.net/gf/dw/dw-level2.html

-- sarah (samay@usa.net), July 21, 1998.

Charles,

If you are referring to Drosnin's book, don't waste your time. However, Jeffry Satinover's book "Cracking the Bible Code" is a seminal work.

Also, don't worry about that which you cannot affect. There is plenty happening with Y2K that you can DO SOMETHING ABOUT. It is very therapeutic to focus that way.

Will

-- Will Huett (willhuett@usa.net), July 21, 1998.

Here we go again!! a gentleman asks a serious question about an issue that concerns him very much, and sure enough the "bible thumpers" pounce like harpies.

I will try to answer your question as best I can Mr. Shepherd.

Russia is very far behind in computer technology, and the US government shares your concerns too. In an effort to avert any misunderstanding when y2k hits, our gov. will offer to share advanced warning technology with Russia, so as to avert any imagined nuclear attack.

Russia has already stated that they will do little or nothing prior to y2k, and will make repairs after 1/1/2000.

I would also be concerned about their aged nuclear plants, as there are many like Chernobyl still in operation, and add to that, the fact that some despotic third world ruler may use y2k to launch some sort of offensive against Russia when they will be in total chaos.

Hope this helps George

-- George (gwhite@usa.net), July 21, 1998.

Apparently George didn't notice that the man mentioned the Bible in his question. I'd rather be a Bible thumper than a Christian basher. :)

Blessings!

-Pastor Chris

P.S. Y2K is not a spiritual issue, nor is it a religious issue. It will, however, turn into one.

Y2K is happening due to the shortsidedness of man and his incredible ability to paint himself into corners. Y2K could have been averted years ago if mankind looked further down the road than the end of his nose. Man has done a good job of "ordering" his world. Charles' question deals with this: Man is in for a rude awakening. Now, I'll retire and continue thumping my Bible 'till I fall asleep.

-- Pastor Chris (chrisbr@ptinet.net), July 22, 1998.

Here we go again!!

A Bible thumper utters a sentence and suggests a site and the Bible thumper bashers start bashing.

Glad to be a Bible thumper Vic

-- Vic (Light_Servant@yahoo.com), July 22, 1998.

The bible - If you can't thump it, don't knock it. I think there is enough of a subset of people here in this community that want to know what Christians think of this issue...if you're not one of them then hit the "next" key when you see the word "Bible" or "God" and move on. That's what I do when I see something I don't like.

_____________________________________________________ WARNING! THE REST OF THIS POST MAY CONTAIN RELIGIOUS OPINIONS PERTAINING TO THE BIBLE. If you are offended by that, now is the time to BAIL OUT!!! _____________________________________________________ In response to the original post, I have been thinking about that a lot in the last week. I read somewhere about Rev. 6 referring to two times where the population of the earth will be reduced by famine, death and war...then in Rev. 8 it sounds like nukes will be used... Now this all depends on if you use a literal interpretation of Revelation. I see nukes as a possibility. I heard that our gov't tested some missles by setting the date ahead and found that half would have locked up and half may have fired. Now we know Russia's attitude "We don't have a problem until something fails (see Gary Norths site about how they are going to wait to fix their nuclear reactors). If they have the same missle set-up, I would think it would be *possible* (not necessarily probable) that some could accidently fire. Nonetheless, I'm ready to go home, whenever.

-- Kay P. (Y2kay@usa.net), July 22, 1998.

The bible: If you can't thump it, don't knock it! WARNING : RELIGIOUS VIEWS AHEAD

I've been thinking about the same thing after I read someones view that the tribulation will begin with 1/4 and then later 1/3 of the earth's population destroyed. And don't forget HOW (famine, wars and wild animal attacks). And we know that China, Russia(?), Israel, and some African nations and Europe will still be around after that to do their appointed deeds. Of course, I'm just stating an opinion-I have looked into other views on eschatology and they would differ. I think it's Possible (but not necessarily probable) that Russia could take a "Wait and see" attitude with their nukes and some could accidently fire. Russia is in bad shape now and it is easy to see how they could even "non-accidently" do some shenanigans to take the peoples eyes off their internal problems.

-- kay p (y2kay@usa.net), July 22, 1998.

The bible: If you can't thump it, don't knock it! WARNING : RELIGIOUS VIEWS AHEAD

I've been thinking about the same thing after I read someones view that the tribulation will begin with 1/4 and then later 1/3 of the earth's population destroyed. And don't forget HOW (famine, wars and wild animal attacks). And we know that China, Russia(?), Israel, and some African nations and Europe will still be around after that to do their appointed deeds. Of course, I'm just stating an opinion-I have looked into other views on eschatology and they would differ. I think it's Possible (but not necessarily probable) that Russia could take a "Wait and see" attitude with their nukes and some could accidently fire. Russia is in bad shape now and it is easy to see how they could even "non-accidently" do some shenanigans to take the peoples eyes off their internal problems.

-- kay p (y2kay@usa.net), July 22, 1998.

Ultimately, only time will tell. However, there is one thing to consider.

The American style of dealing with these systems has always been to make them terribly difficult to fire. There are a whole slew of operational and physical checks and balances before a missle can be fired off. I'm certainly not an expert on defense systems and won't try to pretend that I am, but I would expect any systems problems to make the process of firing missles less likely, not more so. In other words, even if every procedure is followed to the letter, they still might not take off.

The Russian military strategy has been even more paranoid about central control than America's going back hundreds of years. Local commanders have generally not had nearly the autonomy of their American counterparts. It would be reasonable to assume that this centralized control spilled over into the design of their nuclear systems as well, implying that the number of checks and balances on these systems is at least as high as on ours. If this is the case, then it might also be possible that their missles wouldn't fire even if they tried should there be rollover related problems in the control systems.

Again, I have no direct knowledge or experience with these systems, but I think this possibility is at least as likely as the one where missles will be deployed automatically or accidentally.

-- Paul Neuhardt (neuhardt@ultranet.com), July 22, 1998.

Check out the July 17 Forbes article dealing with this issue at:

http://www.forbes.com/tool/html/98/jul/0717/feat.htm

Doesn't sound too good...

-- Nabi Davidson (nabi7@yahoo.com), July 22, 1998.

Yes, I read that ridiculous article. It states that if some figure were divided by 00 that it would produce an arbitrarily high value which would indicate that there was a high probability that a blip on the radar screen was an incoming missile. First of all, what possible reason could you have for dividing by a year? I saw the same misconception in the Wired article. Second of all, dividing by zero is a common programmer mistake and leads to an error message from the operating system in every language I've ever used, not to an arbitrarily high value. Articles like this do more harm than good.

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), July 22, 1998.

Scary stuff. China just produced 6 brand new ICBMs; I think it is the opportunistic use of these that should concern us more than the inadvertant firing of Ruskie nukes. As for the bible, I find the teachings of jesus inspirational, and I respect the prophetic writings of all cultures. I do not believe that jesus died for my sins. But I find that "saved" people have a great deal of insight to bring to this sort of discussion, as do native americans(though they are less vocal), buddhists, and other people who have not abandoned the search for values that transcend self-interest. Of course, some bible-thumpers are just that, and claim a monopoly on truth to shore up their self-esteem; but these are in the minority, and ought to be ignored, not baited. Most of the christians on this board are to-the-point, polite, and have a great sense of humor. Let 'em thump.

-- E.Coli (nunayo@beeswax.com), July 22, 1998.

E-Coli

I don't wish to start an argument with you. I only wish to clear up a point. I do claim to know Truth, but it is not to "shore up my self esteem." Jesus Himself claimed to be the Truth (John 14:6). Now if you choose to believe that Jesus was a liar, that is your privilege. God has given us all freedom to choose. As a follower of Christ, I believe what He said.

-- Sarah (samay@usa.net), July 22, 1998.

Amen, Sarah! And we Christians are sinners who are smart enough to know we need Jesus!

-- Holly Allen (Holly3325@juno.com), July 22, 1998.

"are sinners who know we're smart enough..."

Gosh, I thought Jesus had a problem with people who stood in the "public marketplace" (I think the Internet probably qualifies) and proclaimed their goodness and holiness. The Christians who impress me are the ones (and they are remarkably few) who demonstrate Christianity in humble, discreet and quiet ways. Unfortunately, most of them seem to get a charge of proclaiming how "they" are smarter, holier, etc. than all those other "infidels".

Christianity is, yawn, a Johnny-come-lately, opportunistic religion who had a good marketer in Paul. At any rate, there are plenty of places for you all to go pat yourself on the back and rejoice in your superiority -- could the rest of us get back to Y2K please?

-- Chana Campos (chana@campos.org), July 22, 1998.

Amen...Chana! hee-hee

-- Connie L. (Cofkee@aol.com), July 23, 1998.

Play nice, children.

As if y2k wasn't enough, you think we have nukes to worry about too????

Actually, yes. While I don't know much about Russian command and control of strategic nuclear forces, I have heard that their satellite network has essentially died and that they've moved their forces to full alert status on a continuing basis. Interesting news if indeed it's true. There are high level defense related talks going on between Washington and Moscow to help make sure no one (with a finger on a mushroom button) gets jitters if weird things happen. We can hope this helps as far as deliberate launches are concerned.

I think "accidental" launches due to some sort of digital/mechanical failure are unlikely on any side. But I could be wrong there too. For sure, if I were looking for the millenium's best opportunity for a 'sucker punch' I think it would be hard to find a better time/date than 0001:010100. There are lots of people in the world with lots of agendas, and some of 'em have nuclear weapons too.

So, when you get tired of worrying about y2k, you can pick back up on worrying about nuclear annihilation. That one has stood us in good stead for about fifty years now, and it has a few more good decades worth of worry left in it. That's why some of us old timers have a bit more perspective, perhaps. If you're planning a new house, dig it and mow the roof. That's what I'll be doing. Should help on the electric bill a lot too... .

Bilbo

-- Bilbo (Bilbo@Baggins.com), July 23, 1998.

Hey Bilbo, love your handle! We forgot about those missing nuke suitcases. Hmmm! Revelation 18? I think I'll let my goats mow my roof for me.

If you don't know Christ, you got worse problems all!! Your Creator just wants you to love Him back.

-- Ramsay (ramsay@instanet.com), July 28, 1998.