Why are some people rooting for the end of the world?
We were trying out the new hotspot last night and watched Tom Cruise mountaineering about the Burg Khalifa in Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, on Pluto TV. It was a fun amusement park ride and nothing else. Some of the technical blunders were laughable. Nuclear weapons air-burst for maximum destruction, so no, you can't "abort" a nuclear missile as it hits the TransAmerica pyramid. But such explosion movies are not meant to be taken at face value.
The main plot line revolved around an antagonist who wanted to start World War III because, in his mind, it was the only way to purge humanity and start over. It is an interesting angle, and it seems today a lot of people are pining for the zombie apocalypse or Armageddon or the second coming of Christ or the End Times or the destruction of the world, mostly because they are bored and think it will be interesting like some ultimate reality show. And in their fantasies, they survive the apocalypse and end up better off. The reality is, of course, two choices - a painless instant death or a slow painful death. There is no third option.
I live about 30 miles from a major nuclear submarine base, so instant vaporization, for me! Wheee!
I mean, I get it. If you are stuck in a dead-end job and life seems drab and pointless, some catastrophic event sounds interesting and exciting. Maybe civilization needs a do-over, a "reset" if you will. And only the strong will survive! But ask anyone who has survived a natural disaster and you realize quickly that it wasn't the strong that survived, but merely the lucky. You can "prep" all you want, but if you are in downtown Anchorage when the bomb gets dropped, your bomb shelter in the woods isn't much use to you. And no, your pickup truck will be vaporized along with you. Your wife and kids who made it to the shelter in time? Well, once they leave the shelter, they will slowly succumb to radiation sickness, if they don't starve to death first. Bear in mind that the land and water will be poisoned for decades at least - and let's not even think about nuclear winter. You though Alaska was cold now!
This pining for the end times might help explain some of what is going on in the world today. End times theology is a relatively recent invention, which some people claim is basically a made-up conspiracy theory constructed of segments of Bible verse, particularly from the Book of Revelations. Supposedly the world will end when the Jews return to Israel, and the Antichrist comes to power, followed by Jesus returning and all the "good" people - live or dead - floating up to heaven to live happily ever after. Then, something-something horsemen of the apocalypse and wars and pestilence as the non-believers duke it out while the universe collapses. For some odd reason, end-times Christian fan-fiction such as the "Left Behind" series, posits that some Christians don't get raptured. Apparently an oversight on God's part.
So you see the pattern being forced onto world politics. Evangelical Christians are suddenly reversing course 180 degrees. Jews are no longer the "Christ-killers" (well, evangelicals still think that in secret). Rather, they are doing their part to bring on the end times by moving the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. Too bad they will be the first to be immolated in the pillar of fire. But, it's all part of God's plan, right?
Next, we need endless wars, famine, pestilence. One pandemic, coming right up! And of course, there are always endless wars in the Middle East - no wonder the far-right wanted to invade Iraq! It's all part of the prophesy! It's in the Bible, folks! Well, not really, but they think so. They should have read it sometime, I think.
Now, what's left? Oh, right, an Antichrist! We need a guy (has to be a guy) who claims to be the second coming but is actually Satan himself. Someone with no morals whatsoever, who is obsessed with the material, lusts after young women, and is the actual embodiment of evil. Oh, and he has to be lauded as chosen by God by the faithful. Who could possibly play the role of this deceiver?
Well, now you realize why evangelicals endorse Trump and claim he was anointed by God when a more Godless man does not exist. Donald Trump fits the bill exactly. And I think some evangelicals are "endorsing" him for the same reason they now support Israel. They don't really care about either, other than they (force) fit into this puzzle of end times theology.
And therein lies the problem. The world isn't coming to an end - or at least it need not have to. Religion is a bunch of hooey, in terms of predicting the future. End time theology was developed in the 18th century, not the first century. And trying to fit current events into these prophesies has been a parlor game ever since end times theology was invented. And invented it was.
Is is like these stupid "Mayan Calendar" predictions - the world doesn't end just because some Mayan scribe got tired of writing down dates so far in the future to him that it was meaningless. It is like the "prophesies" of Nostradamus (don't hear much about him lately, do you?) whose vague predictions are hammered to fit world events, much as a square peg can be driven into a round hole. And if that doesn't work, others merely make up "predictions" of Nostradamus and claim they came true.
Or just say, "Simpsons predicted it!" (when in fact, they did not).
Could the world end in a nuclear firestorm? Or an asteroid impact? Giant solar flare boiling off half the ocean? Zombies coming to life due to outer space rays? Alien invasion and take over?
Maybe. The only one that seems plausible (outside of asteroids and solar flares) is the nuclear option. And that is an event entirely within our control. We can avoid blowing ourselves up if we choose to, but we have to choose to, and not glamorize nuclear Armageddon as some sort of business opportunity or biblical prediction.
Sadly, it seems we are dumbing down as a society and maybe this was inevitable or by design. Few are choosing intellect over ignorance today. People today are "proud" to be a redneck of think that slavery wasn't so bad or that the holocaust never happened. And don't get me started on flat earthers or UFO freaks.
What is really disappointing, though, are so-called "Christians" who are pining for the end times. "Pro-Life" Christians who want to see billions of people incinerated and billions more die slow painful deaths, in the name of God. This new version of Christianity is little more than a death cult - Jonestown magnified by a factor of a hundred-million or so. But like the Heaven's Gate death cult, they secretly believe they will be whisked away in time, if not by UFOs, by angels instead.
Call me crazy, but I think that God doesn't want us to immolate ourselves in his name or according to a narrative of a false prophesy. And people who pine for the end times are going against God.
