The eCrozier

In 1942 I would have bet the British would be speaking German in 2019. Now they can’t even speak Brexit. – Duo Dickinson

Whenever I’ve encountered someone on a street corner holding a sign saying something like “The End is Near,” I’ve always wanted to approach them and ask: “To which ‘End’ are you referring?” In this fantasy interaction, I’d also press them to be more specific about just how near they mean when they say “near?” I mean, do I have time to sell my house, deposit the proceeds, and blow all the money on some wild ride? Or, is the “near” to which they refer a bit more imminent? I’ve always wished Jesus would’ve returned in glory before all the “revenue sharing” Kelly and I had with colleges and universities on behalf of our children’s education. It would’ve been nice to blow the college fund before having to share it with those various institutions.

Nils Bohr, the famous Danish Nobel laureate in Physics once said: “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” And yet, we give too much time and attention to people who offer prognostications on what’s next. When all 448 pages of the Mueller report (minus those pesky redactions) was finally published, people across various media could’ve had their predictions boiled down to one of two possibilities: “This is the beginning of the end,” or, “this is the end of the beginning.” Only one of those will be true. Both can’t be. My hunch is some people make predictions hoping that in doing so, they’ll influence the outcome of the future, as if predicting a certain future might make it actually come true. If there’s any left in the world, modesty should lead us to conclude otherwise; as should skepticism about anyone’s claim to a crystal ball.

We should be wary of anyone who’s certain about what’ll come next. For example, take all those people who now say they correctly predicted the economic crash a decade ago. There may have been a few outliers who warned what might happen, but for the most part, like lemmings, we all followed the financial geniuses over the cliff. Those geniuses, of course, didn’t go over the cliff themselves. That well-known socialist, George W. Bush, had the government bail them out while the rest of us who were less well-connected lost our shirts. But I digress.

There are still others who’ll tell us that Jesus is returning in glory soon, while also having stocked-up canned goods, life insurance policies, and 401Ks to hedge their bet. I’d take such people more seriously if they didn’t have those three things salted away. They need to decide whether they believe themselves before asking us to believe them. Some people want us to believe that they know more about the “Second Coming of Jesus” than Jesus seems to know about the “Second Coming of Jesus.”

While trusting in God’s Providence, we’d be wise to have a deep skepticism of any person who promises us certain things will happen in the future. Except don’t be skeptical of me. I predict the Cincinnati Reds will win the World Series this year. You can trust me. I know what I’m talking about. I’m always right about the future.

+Scott