Published on 10/10/2006

To some minds, North Korea's claim to have tested a nuclear device is a worst-case doomsday scenario. If the Communist nation possesses the capacity to launch a nuclear missile against South Korea, Japan, or even the United States, the world immediately becomes a far more dangerous place. But there's possibly good news in the bad news.

Commentary

One: we don't really know what the North Koreans have done. The Wall Street Journal describes the blast as small by nuclear standards, perhaps four percent the force of the atomic bomb dropped by U.S. pilots over Hiroshima 61 years ago. This morning's New York Times reports that the blast was so small, some wonder if it was a nuclear test or if the North Koreans fabricated an explosion to convince us they have nuclear capacity.

Two: China and Russia are unified with the West in opposing the test and any further progress toward North Korean nuclear capacity. China called the act a "flagrant and brazen" violation of international opinion and says it "firmly opposed" North Korean's conduct. Russian President Putin said, "Russia absolutely condemns North Korea's nuclear test." Such unanimity may be crucial to resolving the crisis.

Three: experts doubt that North Korea is yet a nuclear threat. They may have enough radioactive material for 13 bombs (the U.S. owns more than 9,000 warheads of various types). They do not appear to have a nuclear weapon which is small and light enough to mount atop a missile, or a missile to deliver a warhead against a distant country.

But there is much bad news in this development as well. Kim Jong-il is apparently willing to take steps even his closest allies cannot prevent. And there is great fear that the North Koreans would proliferate nuclear weapons. They have sold missiles and other weapons to Syria, Iran, and Pakistan in the past, and have threatened to sell nuclear weapons as well. This test, if it is real, may signal a new chapter in the ongoing and terrifying story of the nuclear age.

Several theological questions come to mind immediately. Is this the beginning of the "end times," a possible means by which God will bring human history to its close? If so, what are we to do now? If not, why would the Sovereign Lord of the universe allow (or even cause) this frightening development? How can Christians be salt and light in such a dark world, agents of transformation in a world gone mad? How are we to find inner tranquility in days of such global conflict, as we face terrorist threats every time we board an airplane? This week let's talk about peace in a time of terror, beginning tomorrow.