Dr. Brian Toews’ Blog

I just finished reading The Martian Chronicles written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1950. It is a collection of episodes about human colonization of Mars. Instead of creating a utopia, the human colonists destroy the Martian culture and civilization while back home earth is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. The books ends with a reflection on how humanity turned out so wrong. This is definitely a biblical theme, especially demonstrated in how the Lord gave Israel the land, a king, a temple, and peace, but in the end all was lost. Unlike the end of The Martian Chronicles which sets up a repeat of the same story, the Old Testament looks forward to a second "Adam" who will not repeat humanity's sin and self-destruction. On the contrary, this second Adam will solve humanity's penchant for self-destruction by taking on sin and conquering death. So we wait in hope unlike so much of the world which has no such hope.