Oops! Sorry about that!
“Watchman” mentioned an abortive, once-upon-a-time “plan to blow up the moon,” and a certain boyhood memory came roaring back to me. It must be said that back in 1958 there really was a plan to detonate a nuclear weapon on the moon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_A119). It was called Project A119, under the aegis of the Air Force. The Russians had a similar plan. The purpose of both was to stage “a show of force.”
And it was supposed to be a secret, only acknowledged in 2000 after 45 years of denial.
Cut to Edgar School playground, 1958: I’m nine years old, and my friends and I are discussing–in tones of awe and quiet fear–you guessed it!–“a secret plan to blow up the moon.” And I said, “Every time they talk about it, there are these dubular clouds that appear on Mars.” I have no idea what a “dubular cloud” was supposed to be, and no memory of how I’d ever come to hear about it.
But a secret? What kind of top military secret is bandied about by 9-year-old kids on the playground? My wife, a little older than I, says everybody knew about it–and flat-out didn’t like it, not a bit. Which is why the project got canceled, according to Wikipedia.
What were these Air Force willies thinking??? Did they have any clear idea of what would happen if they did this? Not bloody likely! Thank you, O God, that cooler heads prevailed. As in “Oops! Big chunks of the Moon are now hurtling toward the earth! Gee, who knew that would happen?”
A study of history will reveal an inexhaustible supply of wackos in high places. If the Lord were not in charge, we wouldn’t last a week.
I actually did the math on this, and the largest nuke ever built would have about as much effect on the moon as a gnat would have on me, if I struck one while riding my bike at top speed. Obviously, foolish ideas can be had, even by people that should know enough to realize that their plans are impossible.
I don’t think they realized, in 1958, that an A-bomb on the moon would do minimal damage. Even so, there was absolutely no reason to take the risk.
It would do zero damage to the moon.
Not to mention that sometimes that kind of “show of force” really freaks out the enemy and prompts him to do something rash.
Craziness has been fashionable for a long time.
Your last point is so true; if God isn’t in charge we would be destroying ourselves a long time ago