I finishing up my last paper of the semester, writing about the Italian movie L'Eclisse (The Eclipse) and how the paranoia of the closing montage is fed by the present (for the 1960s) fear that people could destroy the whole world.

Since the world began it was God's to destroy, apocalypse meant that God would be bringing the world to an end for a purpose: judgment, the kingdom, joy, a feast, no more crying, eternity, etc. There are lots of perspectives on the end of the world, but the big picture is that it means God is doing something new or in full---bringing the world to rights as N.T. Wright describes it.

Now comes nuclear warfare and humans begin to realize that we don't need God for apocalypse, we can end the world ourselves just fine.

That's a scary thought.

I think it calls God's sovereignty into question. If some lunatic in the White House or Kremlin decides to blast us all to Hades that seriously questions God's sovereignty and proves just how "free" our free wills are. But then again, we couldn't think about it theologically, because we'd all be dead.

The "man-made" apocalypse also points out that God is sovereign because he hasn't allowed us to nuke ourselves, but then that questions our ability to be completely free, and thus Calvinism v. Arminianism is cast in a new light:

Do we have the potential as humans to launch a pre-emptive strike on Revelation?
Can we beat God to the punch?
When we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done, what does that mean when we have gained the ability through technology and weaponry to thwart God's kingdom?