The year is 2012. After successfully rounding up the entire population of Longport, you all head towards the cliffs on the outskirts of town. When all 6000 of the citizens have reached the rugged rocks, you start to count down. “TEN….NINE…..EIGHT,” Mothers are grasped to their children, crying, while Fathers are chanting prayers with rosaries wedged between their icy fingers. “SEVEN…SIX…FIVE,” Friends are huddled in groups, while family pets are trying to nudge their way into the warmth of their jackets. “FOUR…THREE…TWO” Everyone stands up, putting their differences aside, and, finally, accepts one another as one community while they await their fate. As the final numeral rolls off of your lips, a powerful force shrouds over you. It is not darkness nor light, not greed nor terror, nor even the feeling of relief. Your cheeks turn rose red, your hands begin to sweat, and you feel like a complete @$$ as you realize that it isn’t the end of the world, but the end of your life. The world will not end in 2012. For starters, this isn’t the first time geniuses believed that the end of the world is on a certain date. Moreover, the Bible says that only God knows when life will cease. Last but not least, the reasons for believing 2012 to be Judgment Day are preposterous. The writing is on the wall; it’s your choice whether to read it or not.
First and foremost, new visions of when the world will end appear every decade. If I were to ask you, “How many documented claims have there been on when the world will end?” what would you say? Maybe you would guess 10 or 20, or maybe be optimistic and blurt out 30. According to Wikipedia.com, there have been 372 documented hypothesizes on the last day of existence. These dates range from 75 BC to 2215 AD and all of them have been wrong so far. This means that, within a 2300 year time period, almost 400 different guesses have been made about the end of mankind. That’s more than a Doomsday guess every six years! Whether these people wanted attention or were actually legit crazy, they are going to have to realize that the secret to our final day on Earth will forever be shrouded in mystery.
Moreover, the end of the world is God’s secret. Besides wondering if Judgment Day is 2012, the second most important question that we should is, “How do you possibly know one of the Universe’s largest mysteries?” True, many people have speculated and even affirmed specific days as the last day. However, the failure of these prophecies alone teach us at the very least to be wary and skeptic of such predictions, and that no one has the power to see what others can’t. In a passage of the Bible, the apostle Peter addressed when the last day would occur: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."( II Peter 3:10-13) If you reread the words I have underlined, you will see “…as a thief in the night.” When does a thief rob your house? The answer is… you don't know! It happens suddenly and unpredictably. Jesus was also asked this question by his apostles. Please listen to the similar answer: "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming, But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." (Matthew 24:36-44) Jesus clearly speaks about the last day being similar to a thief breaking into our house. The analogy is again the same; we do not know when a thief will break into our house. Research shows that,with this information, it becomes difficult, even impossible to believe that someone can predict the occurrence of Judgment Day. We do not know when it will occur, so we must be ready at all times.
As you hide behind the Public Library, you arm your laser pistol, and ready yourself for a battle. On the count of three, you dart out from you hiding spot, and aim towards the skies. Trying to stop the alien invasion, you shoot into the clouds, revealing a large unidentified flying object. The spacecraft starts to glow, looks you in the eyes, and attacks with what seems like a fireball the size of the heavens. As heat and fire surround the air, you realize you are only dreaming, wake up from your slumber, and understand that those events could only happen in a Sci-Fi novel. Last but not least, what people believe to be the reason for the end of the world is only logical in the dreams of children. According to TIME magazine, studies show several scenarios for the end of the world, which include galactic alignment, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, a geomagnetic reversal, collision with Nibiru or some other interplanetary object, alien invasion, earth being destroyed by a giant supernova, and the moon exploding. According to a recent poll from the University of Philadelphia, only 4% of all students on the campus believe in Apocalypse theories. If someone came up to me and claimed that, because a 2000 year old civilization didn’t finish a calendar, the world will end in a month, I would grab my cell phone and dial 9-1-1 so fast that this freak would be in a fluffy white room wearing a special jacket before he finishes his sentence.
It is a fact that the world will eventually end, but it fiction that anyone can know when. For starters, there have been over 200 past guesses as to when the world would end, and all of them have been wrong. In addition, God hasn’t even told the angels when the world will end, which means He’s not going to tell you. Furthermore, the events that are expected to happen on 2012, such as a giant meteor crashing into the moon, are just plain stupid. If you want to ruin your life by thinking that you only have a year left to live, be my guest. But, if the thought of ruining the dreams of a child by telling them that they have nothing to live for even crosses through your distorted mind, then believe me, your world will end in a much shorter time than a year. Perhaps the terror of the entire idea of Judgment Day is not that the world will end 2012, but maybe that it won’t, and that it won’t for a long, long time.