There was a time when twin babies were killed in some parts of Nigeria out of superstitious ignorance. The babies were thought to be evil and were cruelly murdered while their mothers were driven from their homes to die in the jungle. That was until Mary Mitchell Slessor of Aberdeen, Scotland brought enlightenment and stopped the barbaric act.
There was also a time when men thought that the world was flat. The erroneous belief was also held by some religious clerics and became religious dogma. Eventually, overwhelming evidence proved that the earth was spherical.
Contrary beliefs or opinions to widely held tenets or doctrines were sometimes punishable by death in ancient times.
We should be able to discard prejudices and inherited antiquated ideas, no matter how dearly we hold them, especially in the face of superior logic or overwhelming evidence.
I've received some Facebook, SMS and BlackBerry messages from friends that got me worried lately. They insist I should forward some messages advocating that the end-time has finally arrived because of the earthquake in Japan. The quake also triggered a tsunami that made it to the shores of California, Oregon and Seattle. The 30-foot-high tsunami brought catastrophe to thousands of people.
The messages I received, point at increasing technology and natural disasters happening everywhere, wars and rumours of war. And that Jesus may be on his way back, possibly riding on a chariot of fire. We just have to be on our toes, they warn!
But even as Christians or believers, the scriptures advise that even the angels in heaven do not know the date nor the hour of the second coming of Christ. And clearly states that this coming will be like a thief in the night. I doubt they will be any electronic advance warning via SMS or BlackBerry.
What exactly is going on then in Japan? Is it not a sign that doomsday has finally arrived?
Historical facts and figures show that earthquakes have always happened around the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The Ring of Fire is a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that encircles the basin of the Pacific Ocean. It is shaped like a horseshoe and it is 40,000 km long. It is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, island arcs, and volcanic plate movements. It is sometimes the circum-Pacific seismic belt.
90% of the world's earthquakes and 81% of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. Tsunamis come when the quakes occur under the ocean and the earth’s crust or tectonic plates collide. Sliding past each other they sometimes get stuck. The problem occurs when they try to become unstuck. The quake in Japan was as a result of the Pacific plate crashing into the Eurasian plate.
In summary, Japan lies on fault lines of the earth. Japan's worst previous earthquake was of 8.3 magnitude and killed 143,000 people in Kanto in 1923. A magnitude 7.2 quake in Kobe killed 6,400 people in 1995.
In 1923, the news of such devastating earthquake would not have shocked the entire world in mere seconds as it has done in 2011. Those in neighbouring countries may have felt the vibrations but would not have known what exactly occurred. Different versions of the event will eventually be relayed as oral folklore as time went by.
We are actually able to view pictures of the devastation, in real time, thanks to technology. More people are now able to access information about such disasters that were previously unavailable until weeks, months or even years after the event.
Earthquakes have always happened along that fault line but we just have more access to information and news travels faster to a global audience. Countries sitting on the circum-Pacific seismic belt are bound to experience earthquakes. We are fortunate that our dear country Nigeria isn't on this belt. But we do have the mid-atlantic ridge threatening our coastlines such as Port Harcourt, Lagos, especially around the Lekki environs. What should probably trigger the doomsday warning bell is when the unusual starts occurring. When, for instance, catastrophic earthquakes inexplicably start happening in countries that are not sitting on fault lines, then we should be worried and possibly go to town with end-time predictions. That indeed will be a mystifying, fearful event and a great sign from heaven.
There are probably not more earthquakes happening recently as end-time or doomsday prophets may aver. It is just that we hear about them instantly now. Some religious persons have even attributed the catastrophe to the "sins" of the Japanese people.
Please let's reach out to the people of Japan in these difficult times and set aside the unfounded religious supposition and false innuendoes.
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