Seriously? We must endure this madness once again? I mean, how many times will the world end anyway? It’s already ended so many times. And will end again… today. Or is it next year? I can hardly keep up.
Theories abound, apparently, as to why we become obsessed with doomsday scenarios. The most logical are the concepts that when there is turmoil, economic, political, or extreme uncertainty about the future, beliefs arise regarding the end of time. But while this theory sounds logical, the beliefs are as illogical as they come. Ignoring for the moment that while the world will one day end and we’ll never predict it, and possibly never even see it coming, most mainstream religions agree we shall never know the day or time of the end anyway. Yet here we go, with a sect, extreme in their beliefs, claiming the world will end, Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 6:01 PM. (By the way, is that Eastern Standard Time? Mountain? London? Crimeney! The implications are endless.)
I’ve already expressed my opinion about the whole December 21, 2012 thing. And if I find it unlikely the Mayans, sophisticated as they were, could determine the time of our destruction (if indeed they were), I find it even more unlikely a man who already made a false claim, has discovered the secret so many others have failed to find. Never mind he said he used the Bible to calculate the date. (As Bill Maher so humorously pointed out, it must be true. The Bible guarantees it!) That very same Bible says you shall not know the date. No one knows, only the Father. And let’s not forget all the other ‘signs’ of the Apocalypse so eloquently laid out in Revelations. This prediction seems to ignore all those stories. And so on and so forth. How interesting. The true believers seem to be able to pick and choose what shall be ignored in their sacred book. As usual.
Really though. Why are we wasting our time on this? I live in New Mexico. It’s 3:56 PM as I write this. I’m watching the Preakness. No announcements saying a major earthquake has hit New Zealand. No interruptions saying the rapture has happened. Nope, they’re getting ready to go to the post. I predict… the race shall be run. The sun shall set tonight in the west, further north than true west. It shall rise tomorrow. Tonight I’ll be watching Farscape and working on my next novel. Tomorrow I’ll raise a cup of coffee in toast to the end of the world… that still hasn’t happened.
Phew! All this waiting is exhausting. I think I’ll watch the Preakness instead.
GA Lanham
