Written by John Mark Adkison
With the release of Roland Emmerich’s latest blockbuster, “2012,” we have been informed that planet earth has been given an expiration date. That date is 12/21/2012.
In fact, we have under 1120 days remaining before the earth decides to bid farewell and human life as we know it comes to an end. It could end any number of ways: The sun could shoot off a solar flare that fries the earth’s surface; the polescould shift, causing entire continents to move; a black holecould open in the center of the earth; or my favorite, earth could collide with an invisible planet.
The scariest thing, however,is that people are actually buying into this tale. And as 2012 is coming ever nearer, the number of believers is growing larger.
People have been waiting for the earth to end for centuries, a paranoia that has increased with the invention of the nuclear bomb, the advancement of artificial intelligence and the poor treatment of earth’s atmosphere and environment. It seems we as humanity cannot wait to find newer and better ways to blow each other up, and so we hold our breath in anticipation to see the sky fall.
2012 is the latest, and currently most popular, belief for how the world should end. The idea comes from none other than the Mayans. According to their calendar developed 2,000 years ago, time will end Dec. 21, 2012, give or take a day.
Archaeologists have known about this theory for years, but now that we are well into the 21st century, 2012 is looking a lot more interesting.
Movies such as “2012” and other apocalyptic, big-budget films are also feeding the hysteria and proving that Hollywood never takes a break at cashing in on mass population fears.
This date, however, is merely a frightening idea rooted in assumptions and guesswork. Our culture is taking too much interest in this date, and it will be to our detriment.
It is not so different from the infamous Y2K scare, when everyone feared every computer-controlled device would shut down once the clock chimed 2000, causing wide-spread havoc. And what happened when we entered the new millennium: a great, massive explosion of nothing. Most likely, the same thing will happen after 2012.
To begin with, the end of the Mayan calendar does not mean the end of the world. To the Mayans, it meant the end of a major era and the beginning of a better one.
“It’s the time when the largest grand cycle in the Mayan calendar—1,872,000 days, or 5,125.37 years—overturns and a new cycle begins,” said Anthony Aveni, a Maya expert and archaeoastronomer at Colgate University, in an interview with National Geographic. “The idea is that time gets renewed, that the world gets renewed all over again … the same way we renew time on New Year’s Day or even on Monday morning.”
The prophecies may not be concrete, but the fear is all too real. NASA has had several questions concerning 2012 flooding on their “Ask a Astrobiologist” Web site. And what they have received has been alarming.
“I’ve had two teenagers who were considering killing themselves because they didn’t want to be around when the world ends,” said David Morrison, senior scientist with the NASA Astrobiology Institute, also in an interview with National Geographic. “Two women in the last two weeks said they were contemplating killing their children and themselves so they wouldn’t have to suffer through the end of the world.”
This is the sort of effect the belief in 2012 will have. If people are already considering suicide, then you can be sure that people are considering quitting their jobs and overturning their lives in preparation for something that has a much bigger chance of not happening than actually happening.
Most likely the world will not come to an end Dec. 21, 2012. If God wanted us to know the specific date of when He plans on sounding the trumpets and saddling the four horsemen, he would have told us. As the good book says, not even the angels or even Jesus himself know the day and time when God decides to end our world. What makes us think he let the Mayans in on his big secret?
The truth is, that day may be tomorrow, or it may be the following day. It could be a thousand years from now. The point is, the world could end on any given day, not just Dec. 21, 2012. So, forget about worrying when the world will end. Instead, be concerned with what happens after the world ends, when you’re standing before your maker. Instead, follow that old mantra of living like every day is your last.
