Doomsday: Today’s is religious; tomorrow, back to science fiction

_{Denyse O'Leary

May 20, 2011

Cosmology, Culture}

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Do doomsday scenarios bore and frustrate you? Here, in “The draw of doomsday: Why apocalypse aficionados look forward to the end, and how they hope to survive”, Stephanie Pappas (MSNBC News (5/17/20) observes,

Camping [Rev. Doomsday, tomorrow] has made this prediction before, in 1994 — it didn’t pan out — but the thousands of failed doomsday predictions throughout history are no match for what Lorenzo DiTommaso, a professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal, calls the “apocalyptic worldview.””It’s a very persistent and potent way of understanding the world,” DiTommaso told LiveScience.

While religious doomsdays attract more ridicule, the growth area is secular doomsdays:

Rawles started SurvivalBlog in 2006. Since then, he said, his readership has shifted from mostly conservative Christians and Orthodox Jews to “Birkenstock-wearing, liberal greenie-types.” The Japanese earthquake and nuclear meltdown brought him more readers across the political spectrum, he said, and he now gets more than 260,000 unique visitors to his site each week.

Some think that science-based doomsdays don’t get nearly enough ridicule. How many times has all life on Earth ended in the past 50 years?

Comments

“Agreed. So if only God knows the day and hour, there is a day and an hour when the event will in fact happen.” This is referring to the “day” of God, or Armageddon, not the rapture. “Agreed again. So The New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem are in fact future realities, not present.” The ‘new heaven’ refers to God’s Kingdom, which has been established in heaven. The ‘new earth’ is the society of people who will be subjects of that kingdom and inherit the earth, as Jesus noted. (see also Psalms 37:20, 21) “Rapture” comes from the Latin. The Greek word harpázo? translated in English as “caught up” in 1Th 4:17 when translated in Latin is “rapiemur” which is anglicanized to “rapture”: Here is 1TH 4:17 from the Latin Vulgate: I Thessalonicenses 4:17 (Biblia Sacra Vulgata) 17deinde nos qui vivimus qui relinquimur simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus. It might have a Latin etymology, but the concept of rapture as believed by Camping and others is a misapplication of scripture.Barb_{May 22, 2011
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MedsRX at 6: "it begins at 6pm PST with an earthquake starting at the Equator (i believe) and spreading across the entire world." Well it's now 7:05 PST and no earthquake. I'm very disappointed. :(CannuckianYankee_{May 21, 2011
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Barb: however, the Bible explicitly states that as far as doomsday (Armageddon or whatever you want to call it) goes, only God knows the day and the hour. Agreed. So if only God knows the day and hour, there is a day and an hour when the event will in fact happen. No. That [Satan hasn't been bound for the past 1000 years] would be obvious to anyone who’s ever read the Bible. Agreed again. So The New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem are in fact future realities, not present. Those are two points you might then care to exegete for Mung. The word “rapture” is understood by Camping and a few other fundamentalist groups to refer to 1 Thessalonians 4:17, although that word does not appear in the Bible anywhere. "Rapture" comes from the Latin. The Greek word harpázo? translated in English as "caught up" in 1Th 4:17 when translated in Latin is "rapiemur" which is anglicanized to "rapture": Here is 1TH 4:17 from the Latin Vulgate: I Thessalonicenses 4:17 (Biblia Sacra Vulgata)
17deinde nos qui vivimus qui relinquimur simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus
Charles_{May 21, 2011
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“So when Paul wrote 1Th 4:16-17 NASB: For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Paul was lying or mistaken, and you’re in a position to correct him?” Paul wasn’t lying or mistaken; however, the Bible explicitly states that as far as doomsday (Armageddon or whatever you want to call it) goes, only God knows the day and the hour. Let’s examine the verses that you’ve quoted above, since I note that you’re not offering any exegesis here, either. The word “rapture” is understood by Camping and a few other fundamentalist groups to refer to 1 Thessalonians 4:17, although that word does not appear in the Bible anywhere. Note that Paul was referring to those who sleep (“those who sleep in death”) in verses 13-15, and evidently some of the faithful Christians in Thessalonica had died. Paul encouraged the survivors to comfort one another with the resurrection hope. He reminded them that Jesus was resurrected after his death; so, too, at the coming of the Lord, those faithful Christians among them who had died would be raised to be with Christ. Who are the ones (“The dead in Christ” of verse 17) who will rise first? They are faithful Christians who are still alive at the time of Christ’s coming. Compare this with Romans 6:3-5, which reads: RS: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? . . . For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Revised Standard version) What occurred in the case of Jesus set the pattern. His disciples as well as others knew he had died. He was not restored to heavenly life until after his death and resurrection. Those faithful ones must die before they can ascend to heaven. This is clearly noted at 1 Corinthians 15:35, 36, 44, and 50. The faithful ones will not escape from the tribulation as noted at Matthew 24:21, 22: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” This does not say that “the chosen ones” will all have been taken to heaven before the great tribulation, does it? Rather, it holds out the prospect to them, along with associates in the flesh, of surviving that great tribulation on earth. This harmonizes with what is stated at Revelation 7:9,10. “And so Satan has been bound for the past 1000 years?” No. That would be obvious to anyone who’s ever read the Bible.Barb_{May 21, 2011
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Mung: This will probably come as no surprise to many of you, but “the rapture,” as popularly conceived among today’s evangelicals as an event in which people fly off into the sky to meet Jesus, not going to happen. Ever. So when Paul wrote 1Th 4:16-17 NASB:
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Paul was lying or mistaken, and you're in a position to correct him? The New Heaven and New Earth are spiritual realities, as is the New Jerusalem. They are present realities, not future. And so Satan has been bound for the past 1000 years?Charles_{May 21, 2011
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This will probably come as no surprise to many of you, but "the rapture," as popularly conceived among today's evangelicals as an event in which people fly off into the sky to meet Jesus, not going to happen. Ever. And the New Jerusalem is not some huge city that's going to come down out of the sky and hover over the earth. It's not a physical entity. And the end of the world? Again. Not going to happen. Not in my life time, not in yours. The New Heaven and New Earth are spiritual realities, as is the New Jerusalem. They are present realities, not future.Mung_{May 21, 2011
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Mung: Social networking not quite your thing eh? :-) Well it's almost 11:30pm in Ye Olde England and I've yet to see any heavenly hosts or unoccupied cars bashing into lamp posts. In fact . . . things seem boringly normal. But the UK is pretty secular so perhaps the almighty just skipped over us. Sorry about your cat though. Compassion is a hard road to define and follow. Anyway, it is late here and I've been told I've got to help shop for a new television set tomorrow. And I always need my beauty sleep.ellazimm_{May 21, 2011
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lol. Maybe I was supposed to say follow me on twitter. (I don't think I have a twitter account. I think I do have a facebook account, but I use it like next to never.) I took my cat in yesterday and had him euthanized. Do you think I went too far? I'm really going to feel bad if this rapture thing doesn't happen. But if it does happen, I'm really going to be laughing at all you suckers that got "left behind."Mung_{May 21, 2011
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Mung: If you really do have a facebook page let me know what it is. Otherwise . . . have a nice trip. Be sure and write. Do you need me to look after your dog? My rates are very reasonable.ellazimm_{May 21, 2011
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goodbye everyone! p.s. check my facebook page for updates to my location as I fly off in the rapture.Mung_{May 21, 2011
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mung, An atheist organization is offering to to take people's post-rapture pets off their hands...for 165 bucks. LolMedsRex_{May 20, 2011
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Wait! Stop! I Believe! Jesus, don't snatch me away, who would take care of my cat!?Mung_{May 20, 2011
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Mung & EA, Btw there is a time frame for the beginning of the unbeliever's judgement according to Camping. it begins at 6pm PST with an earthquake starting at the Equator (i believe) and spreading across the entire world. I love the man's attention to scheduling specifics. Lol.MedsRex_{May 20, 2011
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lol log2 lolMung_{May 20, 2011
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MedxRex, LOL!Eric Anderson_{May 20, 2011
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Mung, There is a countdown clock on alphaomega ministries..it is called "hours left until harold camping back pedals."MedsRex_{May 20, 2011
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Does anyone have a more exact time for this event tomorrow? I don't want to be caught doing something I shouldn't be doing at an inopportune moment.Mung_{May 20, 2011
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Got to love how she managed to lump in Camping with Aum Shinrikyo. I can't wait to hear what Camping's explanation will be this time.
"Problems have become so big, with no solutions in sight, that we no longer see ourselves able as human beings to solve these problems," DiTommaso said. "From a biblical point of view, God is going to solve them. From other points of view, there has to be some sort of catastrophe." The apocalyptic worldview springs from a desire to reconcile two conflicting beliefs. "The first is that there is something dreadfully wrong with the world of human existence today," he said. "On the other hand, there is a sense that there is a higher good or some purpose for existence, a hope for a better future." Viewing the world as a flawed place headed toward some sort of cosmic correction reconciles these two beliefs, DiTommaso said.
From a Christian point of view, God did exactly this, but not through destroying the world (physically) but through Jesus Christ. Jesus is God's solution. Jesus is that "cosmic correction." So we should not be surprised to find it portrayed in terms of cosmic language.
Historically, those who have predicted doomsday, including the early Christians, have been persecuted and oppressed, so the prospect of a final judgment is comforting, DiTomasso said.
The early Christians did not predict "doomsday" in the modern sense of that term. They predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the old order and the victory of Jesus Christ. Those predicitons came to pass, asd and when prophecied. People like Camping smear the witness of Jesus and those early Christians by, in effect, claiming that they were wrong.Mung_{May 20, 2011
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