A careful read of the Bible and the context of that time period will show that 2000 years ago people were expecting the end of the world to come very soon. According to the Bible, Jesus was the Harold Camping of his day. This week’s Washington Post “On Faith” topic is: May 21, 2011: the end of the world?
Family Radio evangelist Harold Camping believes that he has calculated the exact date of the rapture: May 21, 2011. While many are laughing at the suggestion, Camping’s followers are taking him seriously, bringing his message of impending doom to billboards and public spaces around the country. May 21, 2011: the end of the world?
Let’s be fair to Harold Camping, he is not the first to predict the end of the world and he won’t be the last either. Every so often there is talk about some end of the world prediction seemingly made by Nostradamus, the Mayans, or someone else. In 1999, the focus was on a computer glitch that would end the world on New Years.
It isn’t just religious extremists like Camping’s followers either, many normally fairly rational people get sucked into the end of the world hysteria. If something is repeated enough times, people start to take it seriously even if then only take it slightly seriously. You would be surprised to find out how many people actually entertain the idea that the Mayans had predicted the end of the world to be 2012. Believe it or not, some of your friends and family might even take some kind of moderate precaution like stocking up on canned foods or making sure they have a full tank of gas in their car… just in case. Not that either of those options would actually get them anywhere if there was some kind of huge natural or supernatural disaster or world ending event.
In a way, I think there are a lot of people who subconsciously wish for the end of civilization on some level. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think these people want to die or desire the death of others necessarily, but it does seem that society loves to predict and believe that the end of the world is coming soon. What is the appeal for this type of thinking? Why is it that we love to watch post-apocalyptic movies?
I think we are too comfortable in our lives. We live in a time where thanks to science life is actually pretty good. Human beings no longer have to risk our lives to scavenge for food, our shelters generally protect us pretty well against nature and predators, and while disease is still a problem we have far better treatments for many illnesses which once claimed the lives of so many. Few people wake up in the morning seriously thinking that they might not see tomorrow.
These are all good things, but there is a price. Life for many people has become routine and in some cases a little dull. When we think about excitement, we think about a world in which all our comforts are taken away and our routine is disrupted. This is what the end of civilization means. To some extent, people crave post-apocalyptic excitement.
For Camping and his followers, it also means that they are special. They know the secret message rom God and they have a divine purpose in life to spread that message before it is too late. Without the Rapture, they see themselves as their routine occupation. But the Rapture has made them special and has given them purpose.
I don't think there is anything wrong with being entertained by the idea of a post-apocalyptic world without our comforts, but we should be glad we live in a world in which we no longer have to worry that tomorrow we all may die. It is good to plan for a future and I don’t think we need to wish for a Rapture to feel special. Just because our jobs may be routine, doesn’t mean our lives have to be. Life is what we make it to be and our purpose is what we choose it to be.
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