J. Nelson Kraybill’s account of visiting the replica of Noah’s ark in Williamstown, Ky., (“Ark Encounters Modern Science”) was both sobering and hilarious. Imagine “juvenile dino­saurs” on the ark! Although the effort and money spent on this project was designed to convince visitors of a literal and un-scientific interpretation of Scripture, its true message lies elsewhere. Fundamentalists reassure us that God will never destroy the Earth with water again, but Noah’s story is a warning that we humans ourselves are destroying it by our reckless use of Earth’s resources and the attitude that climate change is a hoax.

I keep thinking of Jesus’ words in Luke 17:27: “They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them.” Scientists tell us we have only a few years to turn things around, or it will be too late. Part of the church’s mission to save the world is to do all we can to save the Earth.

Reta Halteman Finger
Rockingham, Va.