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New and Old in Early Warning Systems

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A new research centre has been established at Newcastle University in England, which will improve our ability to predict earthquakes.

Instruments at this centre, which are firmly imbedded in the earth, will be able to gauge small movements in the earth's crust.  As the earth moves, specially designed antennae move with it, relaying the change via global positioning system satellites.

While these high tech approaches to detecting movement in the earth's crust have great potential in forecasting disastrous events, some still prefer nature's low tech warning system.  There are many reports of animals somehow sensing an impending earthquake.  Incidents like dogs howling, rats climbing onto telegraph wires, horses becoming greatly agitated in their stalls, have been reported in the period immediately preceding an earthquake.

Many scientists who prefer high tech approaches, dismiss these claims, because animals can become agitated for many different reasons.  Nevertheless, some Asian scientists are seriously studying animal behaviour as a potential early warning system.  Japanese scientists report that catfish behave abnormally before eighty-five per cent of detected tremors!

So next time you read about a new high tech early warning system, consider the possibility that nature's low tech system may be just as reliable.

MOVING BEYOND MATTER
with Ron Hughes

Warnings come in many shapes and sizes.  Labels on medications outline the potential hazards that advise people with some conditions to avoid, for example.  Most of us are so used to these everyday warnings that we hardly pay any attention, if we notice them at all.  

All warnings have one thing in common at least at a superficial level.  They are normally given in an attempt to contribute positively to our well-being.  They inform us of the potential hazard so we can avoid it.  It might be something as significant as the deadly effects of mixing some medications, or as inconsequential as being a bit late getting home from work.  Admittedly the vast majority of everyday warnings don't have such serious consequences that our life would be endangered by just letting them go by.  However there is a danger in getting into the habit of treating every bit of advice as "just someone else's opinion."

Every once in a while, a truly important warning is given.  If we treat it with the same level of disinterest as we do the everyday warnings we encounter we could find ourselves in big trouble.

In the Bible, we find warnings which exceed all others in significance because they do not affect merely the quality of our life, or even the length of our life, but what we have to face after our natural physical life is over. 
Because these warnings require us to have faith in the credibility of the source, some of us find them easy to dismiss, perhaps even with scorn.  This is especially true if the admonition runs counter to the prevailing culture.  

Every time a warning comes our way, we have to decide whether to heed it or ignore it.  One way or the other we will act on it.  Some warnings we encounter in everyday life may be ignored without much of an impact on us.  However, if it turns out that Biblical warnings are indeed valid as they claim, the stakes are very high indeed.