End of the World
- This article is about the religious concept. For other meanings, see End of the World (disambiguation)
Many religious faiths teach that the end of the world, or Apocalypse, will occur at some unknown point in the future. While such an event is
often symbolised by the destruction of human civilization or the elimination of all life on Earth, educated religious scholars often view the 'end of the world' as a metaphor for the personal death.
Some religions have doctrines claiming that 'chosen' or 'worthy' members of the one true faith (of the same religious
doctrine) will be "spared" from the coming destruction, and be ushered into paradise, as a reward for their struggles on earth. In such religions, the unworthy (the unfaithful, or those of other religions) are usually said to face an eternity in hell or fruitless spiritual wandering. Heaven and hell, according to moderate views are not literal terms, but metaphors for states of being in
spirituality; in both life and afterlife.
Jewish views of the end of the world
It is worth noting that the Talmud, in the tractate Avodah Zarah, page 9A, states
that this world as we know it will only exist for six thousand years:
- "...The Tanna Debey Eliyahu taught: The world is to exist six thousand years; the first two thousand are to be "void" [of
Torah], the next two thousand are the period of the Torah [from Abraham until the completion of the Mishna - the first part of the
Talmud], and the following [last] two thousand are the period of the Messiah [i.e., the Messianic Age could commence during this time]; through our
[the Jews'] sins a number of these [times for the
Messiah's coming] have already passed [and the Messiah has not come yet]."
The end of the world is called the acharit hayamim (end of days), when tumultuous events will take place in the
world overturning the old world order and creating a new order where God is recognized by every single individual as the God who rules over everyone and everything in the Universe. One of the sages of the Talmud says that "Let the end of days come, but may I not live to see them",
because they will be filled with so much conflict and suffering.
The Jewish calendar (luach) functions completely on the
assumption that time begins at the Creation of the world by God in Genesis. Many people (notably Conservative and Reform Jews and some
Christians) think that the years of the Torah, or Jewish Bible, are symbolic. According to the ancient Jewish
teachings continued by today's Orthodox Jews, the years are literal and
consistent throughout all time, with 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. Appropriate calibrations are, of course, done with
leap years, to account for the difference between the lunar calendar
and the solar calendar, since the Jewish calendar is based on both. Thus the year 2003 equals 5763 years since creation on the
present Jewish calendar. According to this calculation, the end of days will occur in the year 2240.
According to Jewish tradition, the end of the world will see:
- the ingathering of the scattered Jewish exiles to geographic Israel,
- the defeat of all of Israel's enemies,
- the building of the third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and the resumption of the sacrificial offerings and
Temple service,
- the Revival of the Dead (techiat hameitim), or the Resurrection,
- and, at some point, the Jewish Messiah who will become the anointed
King of Israel. He will divide the Jews in Israel into their original tribal portions in the land. During this time Gog, king of Magog, will attack Israel. Who Gog and the
nation Magog are is not known yet. Magog will fight a great battle, in which many will die on both sides, but God will intervene
and save the Jews. This is the battle referred to as Armageddon. God, having vanquished this final enemy once and for all, will accordingly banish all evil from
human existence. After the year 6000 (in the Jewish calendar), the seventh millennium will be an era of holiness, tranquility,
spiritual life, and worldwide peace, called the Olam Haba ("Future World"), where all people will know God directly.
One group of Jews from the Chabad Lubavitch, one strand of
Hasidic Judaism, believes that the Messiah has quite possibly arrived
and begun his mission, and that it is their deceased Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, actually the Messiah in
waiting. The defeat of Iraq by the United States Army during the Gulf War in 1990 - 1991 , and the fact that Israel was not seriously harmed, was taken as a sign that the Messiah was at hand. This view was rejected by all
other groups who still await the traditional "End of Days" as described in the writings of the Prophets of the Tanakh, the classic Jewish Bible .
The history and study of religious writings on this topic is eschatology,
and can be traced back to the earliest days of civilization. Famous myths describing the
end of the world include Ragnarok and the Book of Revelation; the latter is a Christian description of a final battle between good and evil and a
predicted Armageddon.
Predictions for the end of the world
A number of predictions for the end of the world have been made throughout history. Notable end-of-the-world incidents
include:
- In 1843, William Miller made
the first of several predictions that the world would end in only a few months. None of them took place, but followers of Miller went on to found separate churches, the most successful of which is
the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
- Many fictional (and non-fictional) stories from the era of the Cold War were based on
the belief that a nuclear war was inevitable, and that this would result in
the destruction of all life on the planet Earth (see World War III for a
list)
- Nostradamus is alleged to have written a prediction that a great
catastrophe would occur in July the year 1999. Many followers of his writings took this to
mean that the end of the world would occur. When the chosen date came and went, translators of his works began revising them with
new interpretations of what the prediction actually meant. Some people also believe according to Nostradamus, that the world will
end in the year 3797. No explanation of how is
given.
- The Y2k bug, which was supposed to wreak havoc on computer systems and disrupt life as we know it.
- A large number of meteors enter the Earth's atmosphere every day, though few of
them survive the effect of atmospheric friction. It is a probability that a meteorite of sufficient size could strike the planet at some unknown moment, causing catastrophic effect and
possibly even ending life on earth as we know it. Astronomers have calculated
that given its present orbit, asteroid (29075) 1950 DA will come very close or collide with the Earth on
16 March 2880. Other Earth impacts with comets in deeper
orbits could occur with less warning. However, such catastrophic collisions are quite rare, so the odds of a
civilization-destroying impact in the next few hundred, or even few thousand years, is quite low.
- Based on observation of other stars, science predicts that in about five billion years, our sun will expand into a red giant, evaporating the Earth, and thus
ending all life there.
- The same star evolution theories state that the Sun is increasing its luminosity, at a very slow rate. Thus, some astronomers
predict that in less than one billion years, the Earth will be too hot for life as we know it to survive.
- Martin Rees summarizes the realistic dangers facing human civilization,
and expresses doubts about whether human civilization will survive the 21st
century in his book 'Our
Final Century' (ISBN
0434008095).
- The Mayan long count calendar ends abruptly on 21
December (or 23 December) 2012.
Many people have taken this as a sign that the world will end though it is not known if the Mayans believed this.
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