4 Reasons We Love The End Of The World
About every 10 years it’s time to predict the end of world. This has happened several times in my thirty something year life span, but my two favorite instances were the Y2K bug and the bestselling 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988.
I loved the Y2K bug because we all knew the moment it was going to happen. Midnight on January 1st, 2000. How epic is that? The months before Y2K I tried to imagine what life would actually be like without computers and internet and email—back then a lot of those things felt new, but it still seemed apocalyptic to live with out them. And 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988 is hands down the best book title of all time. I have to admit, if Jesus was going to come back, 1988 seems about as good of a time as any. There’s something apocalyptic about that year. Magnum P.I. and The Facts Of Life both ended their long and powerful TV runs and at the time it felt like it’d be difficult to go on without those shows.
Well, now the world is coming to an end. Again. On May 21, 2011 also known as this Saturday. Some roll their eyes at this, but not me. I think there are four reasons why we continue to predict the end of the world and why others of us listen.
1) We’re Afraid of Death
Earlier this week Stephen Hawking said belief in heaven is a fairytale for those afraid of death. I think we predict the end of the world because we’re afraid of death. And we’re not afraid of what happens to us, but we’re afraid about what happens to everyone else. We’re afraid that life will go on and robot maids, flying cars, and hand-held laser guns will finally become a reality. How can the world go on with out me? It can’t. So, it must be coming to end, we tell ourselves and then everyone else.
2. Our lives are boring
There is something in us that loves epics. We love heroes rising up to do the unthinkable. But our lives aren’t like this. In real life we sit in freeway traffic or caged in an office cubicle. Why can’t my life be about more? It will be, we think. Once the world comes to the end and tidal waves crash over skyscrapers my friends and family will see what a hero I really am.
3. Because we feel guilty
We pump exhaust into the atmosphere during rush hour. We throw away Styrofoam containers. We let our kids watch movies that are just a little too scary and we’re sure this will make them act out it unsettling ways once junior high arrives. We all have sins and guilty parts of ourselves that make us feel like we didn’t do a good job taking care of our planet. And if enough of us don’t steward the planet we live on pretty soon there won’t be any planet left.
4. Because The World Has Got To End Sometime
Doesn’t it? It can’t go on forever like this can it? We have news channels piping 24 hours of bad news into our living rooms and with every news story we can’t help but think, What if this is the end?
It’s interesting that this fear is springing up again. I spent a couple of years researching and writing about this fear—a fear which seems to have been around as long as recorded human history. My research and thoughts turned into The End Is Now a book about the test market for the rapture. It’s a book that’s funny and sad and scary because we see a cast of characters wading around in their own fear to find hope that somewhere out there is truth and hope and redemption.
I haven’t really given the end of the world a lot of thought in the last few years, but I’m sure, despite my better judgment there will be a moment on Saturday when I look up to the sky and think, It might really be happening this time. Then I will come to my senses, I will turn my attention towards my wife and my daughters; the end of the world will melt away and things that matter in this life will come back into focus.
