End Time Predictions

I’m so glad and unsurprised to still be sitting here well after the supposed annihilation of mother earth. How many times are people willing to fall for this b.s.? It’s like there must be small pockets of in breeders who have no access to the internet. Most of us can do a quick google search and see that a pretty obvious pattern emerges. People make apocalypse predictions all the time, and every single one of them have failed. I understand that there are a lot of wacky Christians that want the world to end so they can stop living out their miserable existences here on earth, but the outcomes of these predictions are strikingly predictable. This sort of thing happens on a yearly basis, rather it be Jim Jones, David Koresh or any random idiot's misreading of Nostradamus.

What’s more amazing is that people’s faith and convictions often become even more sincere when a prophecy fails. They immediately make excuses for the unsuccessful prophecy, blame it on a misinterpretation and/or explain the unfavorable outcome through rationalizing and dissonance reduction. A powerful leader, full of rhetorical zeal, can make any failed prophecy a success. The group leader simply stretches the date out further and the group cohesion remains intact.

Personally, I’ve never been a part of any church that made end time predictions. Generally speaking, my pastors would warn the members that the time was “ever so near” but certainly not pick out a specific date. They might even point to all the world events that were occurring which pointed to Armageddon, such as wars, natural disasters and famine. Of course, those kinds of events have been around for thousands of years but it sure helps carry credulous believers onward. I’ve been hearing the same nonsense since I was little. I think it’s one of the churches many ploys to keep people coming back each Sunday with eagerness and get new recruits that are fearful of the fire and brimstone.

More “sensible” Christians will tell you that nobody knows the day or hour but the father (Matthew 24:36). But, if you call yourself a prophet of god, we see that the ballgame changes a bit. Prophets throughout the Old Testament made all kinds of predictions that seemed to come true. I think we can safely assume that a failed end time date equates to a false prophet. Today, you can find a so-called prophet in every Charismatic Evangelical circle you come across. People follow them because of their rhetorical skills and charm, not unlike a crafty politician.

Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait until the next prediction. I think it’s coming soon! The Mayan prediction of 2012 is just around the corner. NASA has explained that there is nothing to be alarmed about, and they don’t endorse this prediction at all but plenty of nutcases will be preparing.