HOPING
IN A SENSELESS WORLD

Topics: Church; Culture; Despair; Discouragement; Emptiness; Hope; Human Condition; Limitations; Lostness; Ministry

References: Matthew 16:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:25

The nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima prompted Kurt Vonnegut to write Cat’s Cradle to explore the technological ability of the human race combined with its stupidity. The main character, John, wants to write a book about the day the world ended. In the process of his research and travels, John comes across a chapter in a book related to his new religion. The title of the chapter is “What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?” It doesn’t take John long to read this chapter, because it consists of only one word followed by a period: “Nothing.”

Vonnegut’s book reveals what many in our world today think—there is no hope. Incidents like the tsunami in Southeast Asia, the genocidal activity found in many countries in the last couple of decades, and the daily death rates of HIV patients cause people to question where the hope is. Does Christianity have anything to say in this situation? Does the church have a message of hope in the apparent hopelessness?

—Terry G. Carter, Preaching God’s Word (Zondervan, 2005)