During break, I’ve watched way more T.V. than I should have. One of the trends I’ve seen is an increase in programming about the “end of the world” especially on the History Channel. This confuses me since history is generally stuff that already happened, but whatever. Today I watched an episode of Brad Meltzer’s Decoded (awful show, I haven’t seen an episode yet that was logical and drew any sort of conclusion) about end of the world prophecies. Most of the popular theories currently date the end of the world as happening on December 21, 2012 while there is a cult claiming to be Christians who received a special revelation from God that the world will end on May 21, 2011 (see http://www.wecanknow.com/). Well, let’s examine the evidence.
This could be a brief post. I could say everyone’s wrong, that Jesus said Himself that only the Father knows when Christ will return (cf. Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32). However, that’s not the point of this post. It’s to show the sensationalism surrounding TV specials and movies about the end of the world, then I’ll deal with the “Christians” later.
Let’s face it, the end of the world makes for good television and film. There’s something innate in humans that knows the world is going to end one day (for a great post on this see this post: http://bit.ly/gNZsnZ). One end of the world special I watched even said that the end of the world is the only thing that religions agree on. I would disagree with this. While most religions do have some sort of end of the world myth, all of them differ on how it will happen, when it will happen, and what happens after the end of the world. Christianity is often credited with a great end of the world myth in the Book of Revelation. (Side note, notice I said Revelation, not Revelations. Pet peeve of mine is when Bible “experts” say book of Revelations. Even the most novice Biblical scholar knows it’s a singular word, not plural. Even Wikipedia gets it right.) However, while there are many chaotic and violent predictions in Revelation, the Bible does not predict an end to existence. The Apocalypse does not mean total destruction of the world. In fact, after the destruction is finished, God renews all things. So according to Christianity, the world will not end, it, along with everything else in Creation, will be renewed. In Revelation 21, we see God wipe away the devestated earth and make it new. “Behold I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). The Kingdom of Heaven is established on the New Earth. But let’s be honest, the renewal of all things by a loving God isn’t all that exciting to non-believers or apocalypse junkies (unless you add in all that pesky stuff about sinners burning in Hell for all eternity, seperated from that loving God, but that’s just too depressing and obviously fantasy, right…?).
Now, on to the “Christians” who claim “secret knowledge” revealed to them from God. Well, this is nothing new. There were these guys back when Christianity was a wee little tot called Gnostics. If you ever don’t know the answer in a theology class when asked about a heresy, go to Gnosticism, they’re pretty much the major Bad Guy in early Christian history. Without getting too in-depth, Gnostics believed in a “secret revelation” to a select few enlightened ones. If you go to the cult website, you see many verses taken out of context claiming that God reveals knowledge etc. While it’s true that God does reveal Truth about Scripture to Christians, He cannot contradict Himself. His Word is Scripture, and Scripture should be our authority. Any “revelation” we get that contradicts what He has already said (remember Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32) must be suspect. Therefore, the Christians are contradicting Scripture and adding to the words of God, which is clearly warned against (cf. Revelation 22:18).
So, in conclusion, the end of the world is sexy. The real version of the end of the world is a glorious truth for believers and terrible news to those living in rebellion. Revel in the truth found in Scripture, that one day we will be reunited with Christ in His Kingdom established on a New Earth. We have nothing to fear of the “end.”
P.S. The best book I’ve read about the Christian version of the end of the world is N.T. Wright’s Surprised By Hope. Get it here
