Doomsday Prophecies

Editor's Note:  This was originally published in 2012.

So I've about had it.  This week, while sifting through the news, I have come across SIX articles, all claiming that we humans are going to single-handedly wipe out life on earth.  Through ocean acidity, climate change, and a host of other "evils," we're the reason Wall-E is going to exist.

Enough, already. 

There are many ways to view theology, but they all boil down to two essential rules of thumb:  there is a Supreme Being, or there isn't. 

Now, if there isn't, then you're pretty much resigned to atheism.  If there is, then there's a whole host of religious options available to you.  Now here's the thing, if you happen to subscribe to a particular religion - and at this point in the conversation, it doesn't matter which one - then the end of the world is spelled out for you.  I'm willing to bet, dollars-to-doughnuts, that your god is scheduled to return to earth.

Let's take Christianity, for example.  In Revelation, John writes: 

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.  With justice he judges and wages war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.  He has a name written on it that no one knows but he himself. . . .

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army.  But the beast was captured and with it the false prophet . . . The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. . . .

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.  The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.  Another book was opened, which is the book of life.  The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.  The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.  Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.  The lake of fire is the second death.  Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away . . . He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"  (Revelation 19:11-12, 19-20; 20:11-15; 21:1,5).   

Scary stuff, some of it.  Notice, though, that the earth isn't destroyed by carbon gasses, nuclear war, or a lack of Twinkies.  In the Christian worldview, Jesus returns and gets rid of evil, permanently.

"But I'm not a Christian!  I'm Hindu!"

No problem.

According to the Kalki Purana, "One of mud will be born" on earth.  He will be the Avatar of Visnu, Kalki.  Coming on a white horse, he will slay Kali, the demon-god who incites evil on earth.  Thus will end the Kali-Yuga, and an age of purity will begin.

"But I'm not a Hindu!  I'm Muslim!"

No problem.

In Surah Al-Furqan, we read, "The Day the Heavens shall be rent asunder with clouds, and angels shall be sent down descending (in ranks) - that day, the dominion as of right and truth, shall be (wholly) for (Allah) Most Merciful:  it will be a day of dire difficulty for the Misbelievers" (24-25, trans. Yusuf-Ali).

The end of the world will be one in which the heavens are torn open and Allah reveals Himself, to the dismay of all non-Muslims.

"But I'm a Latter-Day Saint, not a Muslim!"

No problem.

In Doctrine and Covenants, the LDS church states:  ". . . [Jesus] now reigneth in the heavens and will reign till he descends on the earth . . . which time is nigh at hand . . . but the hour and the day no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor shall they know until he comes" (49:6-7).

"I'm not a Mormon, but a Buddhist!  What do you have to say about that, jerk?!"

No problem.

In his Sermon of the Seven Suns, the Buddha proclaimed that over the course of several years, seven suns would eventually appear in the sky.  Each sun would bring with it a cataclysmic event, similar to the cataclysms outlined in other faiths.  Eventually, the sheer multitude of suns in the sky will burn up the earth and cause it to explode.

"Excuse me, but I'm an atheist.  I believe in a random process of evolution that has been going on for millions of years.  None of this hocus-pocus religion interests me."

No problem.

Michael Chrichton penned a remarkable dialogue concerning what should be the evolutionists view on mankind and the fate of earth in his novel, Jurassic Park.  While I could certainly sum it up, he does a much better job:

"'Let me tell you about our planet . . . Our planet is four and a half billion years old.  There has been life on this planet for nearly that long,  Three point eight billion years.  The first bacteria.  And, later, the first multicellular animals, then the first complex creatures, in the sea, on the land.  Then the great sweeping ages of animals - the amphibians, the dinosaurs, the mammals, each lasting millions upon millions of years.  Great dynasties of creatures arising, flourishing, dying away.  All this happening against a background of continuous and violent upheaval, mountain ranges thrust up and eroded away, cometary impacts, volcanic eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving . . . Endless, constant and violent change . . . Even today, the greatest geographical feature on the planet comes from two great continents colliding, buckling to make the Himalayan mountain range over millions of years.  The planet has survived everything, in its time.  It will certainly survive us.'" 

"Hammond frowned.  'Just because it lasted a long time,' he said, 'doesn't mean it is permanent.  If there was a radiation accident. . . .'

"'Suppose there was,' Malcolm said.  'Let's say we had a bad one, and all the plants and animals died, and the earth was clicking hot for a hundred thousand years.  Life would survive somewhere - under the soil, or perhaps frozen in Arctic ice.  And after all those years, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would again spread over the planet.  The evolutionary process would begin again.  It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety.  And of course it would be very different from what it is now.  But the earth would survive our folly.  Life would survive our folly.  Only we,' Malcolm said, 'Think it wouldn't.'

"Hammond said, 'Well, if the ozone layer gets thinner -'

"There will be more ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface.  So what?'

"'Well.  It'll cause skin cancer.'

"Malcolm shook his head.  'Ultraviolet radiation is good for life.  It's powerful energy.  It promotes mutation, change.  Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation.'

"'And many others will die out,' Hammond said.

"Malcolm sighed.  'You think this is the first time such a thing has happened?  Don't you know about oxygen?'

"'I know it's necessary for life.'

"'It is now,' Malcolm said.  'But oxygen is actually a metabolic poison.  It's a corrosive gas, like flourine, which is used to etch glass.  And when oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells - say, around three billion years ago - it created a crisis for all  other life on our planet.  Those plant cells were polluting the environment with a deadly poison.  They were exhaling a lethal gas, and building up its concentration.  A planet like Venus has less than one percent oxygen.  On earth, the concentration of oxygen was going up rapidly - five, ten, eventually twenty-one percent!  Earth had an atmosphere of pure poison!  Incompatible with life!'

"Hammond looked irritated.  'So what is your point?  That modern pollutants will be incorporated, too?'

"'No,' Malcolm said.  'My point is that life on earth can take care of itself.  In the thinking of a human being, a hundred years is a long time.  A hundred years ago, we didn't have cars and airplanes and computers and vaccines. . . . It was a whole different world.  But to the earth, a hundred years is nothing.  A million years is nothing.  This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale.  We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try.  We have been residents here for the blink of an eye.  If we are gone tomorrow the earth will not miss us.'" 

Now, I'm not advocating evolution, or any other religion, for that matter.  Jesus claimed to be Lord and God, He raised Himself from the dead to prove it, and when He says He's coming again, I believe Him.  But the point, folks, is this:  no matter what you believe, no matter what faith you follow, no matter what god you believe in (or don't believe in), human beings are not going to be responsible for the end of the world.  To assume that we have the power to wipe out all life on earth is simply arrogant.  I am not suggesting we dump oil in our oceans, stop recycling, or waste resources.  What I AM suggesting is that we relax a little bit on all of this nonsense that we're ultimately going to destroy this planet.  No major religion suggests it, and evolution renders our planet hardier than we think.

So why are we so worried?  Oh, and, if you want another bright spot, we can now safely rule out the Mayan predictions.  There you go, one less thing to worry about, right?  :-)