Will the world end in 2012? Will a catastrophic deluge of disasters cause a cataclysmic chain of events that end this age and start a new one?
The Mayan calender and the movie
The movie 2010 is out and I am sure it will be full of special effects and computer generated boomz. 21st December 2010 marks the end date of the Mayan Long count calendar. This calendar lasted 5,125 years and terminated on that exact date. Much speculation and interpretations, and thousands of pages, print and digital, have commented on this phenomenon. Archaeological, astronomical, and all other exotic and spiritual speculations have gone into this. However I only heard of it when Hollywood decided to make a movie based on the idea and its gargantuan marketing machine started to roll. For all the energy expended and trees felled, it could just be that the guy who did the calender had a mid-life transition and said, “Hell no, I am not going to spend the rest of my life doing calculations for this silly calender. I am gonna get a life.” Little would he have known that stopping then would result in such a tsunami on the internet and the movie world.
The Bible
What does the bible say about the end of the world? It declares unequivocally that there would be an extreme makeover of the heavens and the earth, what we know to be our world. Not only will the earth be torn down but a new earth will be built up: a renewal will take place. It also clearly says it is impossible to pinpoint the exact date when this will happen, though certain signs and events would point to the this final end of the age. Here are some quotations for you to read:
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be. You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:10,12,13)
“No one knows about that day and hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36)
Hi Kenny,
Movie 2010?? Anyway, this movie is a good opportunity to preach and teach about end times. In the liturgy, Nov.22nd happens to be ‘Christ the King’ Sunday. Some call it ‘Doom Sunday’. The whole idea is to be reminded through scripture readings and meditations about the 2nd coming, end of the world, Judgment etc. Some of these movies help us to address contemporary issues by raising questions about events that people normally do not think about. BTW, I have not seen the movie
Share This Resource From : Understanding End Times Prophecy by Paul Benware.
The ancient Mayans, based on star charting, prophesied that December 21, 2012 would be the end of the world (or at least some form of universal catastrophe). Meso-American star charting started around 680 B.C. by the Olmec civilization who were recording astrological patterns in the sky and eventually shared this information with the Mayans.
The Mayans had a long history of tracking the winter solstice (probably for planting crops) and creating calendars (at least 17 that we know of). At some point, they developed the belief that our sun is a god and that the Milky Way, called the “Sacred Tree,” was a gateway to the afterlife.
After learning from the Olmecs, they began keeping records of the stars’ patterns of movement and continued to do so for the next 200-300 years. The Mayans then developed their own calendar (The Long Count) ca. 355 B.C. They were able to use their observations and mathematical prowess to calculate the future movements of stars across the sky.
The result was that the Mayans discovered the effect of the earth’s wobbling as it spins on its axis. This wobbling rotation causes the stars’ patterns of movement to drift gradually in the sky (called “precession”) in a 5,125-year cycle.
The Mayans also discovered that once every cycle the dark band at the center of the Milky Way (called the Galactic Equator) intersects with the Elliptical (the plane of the sun’s movement across the sky).
During that year, the sun reaches its solstice (a brief moment when the sun’s position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the observer) on December 21 for the Northern Hemisphere and June 21 for the Southern Hemisphere.
That year, the solstice occurs at the moment of the conjunction of the Galactic Equator with the Milky Way. The year this occurs (in relation to our Gregorian calendar) is A.D. 2012, and happened last on August 11, 3114 B.C.
With Mayan mythology teaching that our sun is a god and the Milky Way is the gateway to life and death, the Mayans concluded that this intersection in the past must have been the moment of creation. Mayan hieroglyphs seem to indicate that they believed the next intersection in 2012 would be some sort of end and a new beginning of a cycle. The Mayans also believed that the blood of human sacrifices was what powered the sun and gave it life.
All the so-called “Mayan prophecies of 2012” are nothing more than wildly speculative extrapolations, which are based on the yet uncertain interpretations by scholars of Mayan hieroglyphs. However, the truth is that apart from the astrological convergence, there is little indication that the Mayans prophesied anything specific regarding the events of this distant future.
The Mayans were not prophets; they were not even able to predict their own cultural extinction. They were great mathematicians and accomplished sky watchers, but they were also a brutally violent tribal people with a primitive understanding of natural phenomena, subscribing to archaic beliefs and the barbaric practices of blood-letting and human sacrifice.
There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that would present December 21, 2012, as the end of the world. While that date is no less valid for an end-times event than any other future date, the Bible nowhere presents the astronomical phenomena the Mayans pointed to as a sign of the end times. It would seem very inconsistent of God to allow the Mayans to discover such an amazing truth while keeping the many Old Testament prophets ignorant of the timing of the events.
In summary, there is absolutely no biblical evidence that the 2012 Mayan prophecy / prediction of doomsday is in any sense valid or probable.
Accepting the Mayan 2012 prophecy logically requires acceptance of the following theories:
our sun is a god;
the sun is powered by the blood of human sacrifice;
the creation moment occurred at 3114 B.C. (despite all evidence that it happened much earlier);
and the visual alignment of stars has some significance for everyday human life.
Like every other false religion, the Mayan religion sought to elevate to the point of worship that which was created in place of the Creator Himself.
The Bible tells us about such false worshipers: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25), and “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
To accept the Mayan 2012 prophecy also denies the clear biblical teaching about the end of the world, because Jesus told us “…of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32).
“No one knows about that day and hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36)
The message seems plain but often wondered if we really “believe” as we professed.
Does not seem to have stop “theological gossip” about how and when the world will end by theological scholars, pastors or believers…..wonder if it the same gene that caused the original Adam-Eve dilemma?
“Theological gossip” sells books and attract crowds. Unfortunately there is a demand for such end time speculations and they never fail to pull in a crowd and sell the books. People feel falsely secure if they “know” God’s timetable.
Is it logical and holy to conclude that “eschatology” is either an exercise in futility or a “revenue generating, attention grabbing” new discipline in innovative theology or both?
A professional eschatologist perhaps?
“12 Reasons Why ‘2012′ is Another Delusional (D)upiter Effect”
Another waste of time and money watching another dumb doomsday delusion by Roland Emmerich, who’s exploiting the gullible Rapture crowd, then laughing all the way to his bank. Read more here:
http://www.twoagespilgrims.com/doctrine/?p=5522