The Fascination With Doomsday PLAY

DOES the future make you nervous? If so, you are not alone. From ancient times, people have speculated about the things to come, and many have concluded that the outlook is not exactly rosy. The prospect of doomsday, or the end of the world, has intrigued and fascinated people for millenniums.

Consider, for example, recent fiction. Comics, TV, hundreds of movies, and thousands of books weave tales of impending doom. There seems to be no end to the forces ready to pounce upon and lay waste to humanity—killer robots, monsters of all sorts, aliens, zombies, ghosts, dragons, apes, birds, mutant rats, and giant wasps. Hardly would anyone take such stories seriously!

Of course, other stories and theories make some people much more nervous. Some of these claim to be scientific. One foretells that the earth’s entire crust will experience a massive shift that will result in immense tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Another holds that the planets will come into a straight alignment and that this will cause the sun’s solar winds to intensify and wreak havoc on earth. Still another asserts that earth’s magnetic poles will suddenly reverse and cause radiation from the sun to kill us all. Don’t worry. These things will not happen. Still, such scenarios continue to captivate the imagination of many.

What about the countless books and doomsday Web sites that predict that the world will end on December 21 of this year? One claim is that a supposed planet named Nibiru (or Planet X) is on a collision course with the earth and will reach here in December 2012. This and other theories unsupported by fact have been linked to interpretations of an ancient Maya calendar, which, according to some, ends at the winter solstice of 2012.

Persuaded by similar predictions of disasters, some have built shelters in their backyard or, at considerable expense, have reserved quarters in underground community bunkers. Others have moved to the mountains and have become self-sufficient, living “off the grid,” independent of public utilities, such as water, heat, or electricity.

Of course, there are those who will have none of this. They scorn the idea of an imminent end of the world. Scientists at NASA, for example, assert: “Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.”

It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that humanity faces no peril or that only the gullible believe that doomsday is something more than the stuff of fiction and fantasy. Will doomsday really come? If so, how and when?

Doomsday Fears Loom Large PLAY

APART from the fanciful doomsday threats mentioned in the preceding article, there are concerns that merit serious consideration. Many people worry about overpopulation and the water and food shortages it may bring. Others fret about the consequences of a global financial collapse. What about natural disasters, epidemics, or nuclear war? Could such events bring about a global catastrophe?

Let us consider briefly some commonly discussed doomsday scenarios. Not all threaten to kill everyone on earth, but they certainly appear to have the potential to bring doom to civilization as we know it. They include the following.

Supervolcanoes

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines, killing more than 700 people and leaving some 100,000 homeless. A huge cloud of ash rose 19 miles (30 km) into the sky and then fell to the earth, burying crops and causing the roofs of buildings to collapse. Pinatubo and other volcanoes like it cause changes in climate for several years after erupting.

Super eruptions, such as those that have occurred in the distant past, would be hundreds of times larger and more devastating than any eruptions in recorded history and would do far more damage. Apart from the immediate destructive power, global climate change would cause crop failure, disrupt food supplies, and lead to mass starvation.

Asteroids

Early one morning in 1908, a man was sitting on the front porch of a trading post in Vanavara, Siberia, when an explosion flung him from his chair. The heat was so intense that he felt as though his shirt were on fire. Ground zero for that explosion was some 40 miles (60 km) away. The blast was caused by an asteroid that was about 120 feet (35 m) in diameter and weighed approximately 220 million pounds (100 million kg). After entering

“Volcanoes kill plants and animals for miles around; supervolcanoes threaten whole species with extinction by changing the climate across the entire planet.”—National Geographic.

“Throughout earth’s history, we have been bombarded by comets and asteroids from space. Impacts happened more frequently in the past, but they will happen again. It is just a matter of when.”—Chris Palma, senior lecturer in astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University.

earth’s atmosphere, the asteroid exploded as a result of the pressure and the heat of its descent. The explosion released energy equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs and flattened some 800 square miles (2,000 sq km) of Siberian forest. A larger asteroid, of course, would do much more damage, generating immense firestorms, which would be followed by plummeting global temperatures and major extinctions.

Climate Change

Scientists believe that a rise in the earth’s average temperature, extremes in weather, the melting of ice caps and glaciers, and the death of coral reefs and important species all point to global climate change. Though the subject is debated, many hold the cause to be the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas—fossil fuels that emit high amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere—by cars and industry.

Some experts believe that those emissions act like a greenhouse, slowing the escape of heat from the earth into space and causing temperatures to rise. Because trees absorb carbon dioxide, large-scale deforestation may also contribute to climate change.

Disease Pandemic

In the 14th century, the Black Death wiped out a third of the population of Europe in just two years. Between 1918 and 1920, the Spanish flu killed at least 50 million people. Slow methods of travel impeded the spread of those diseases. However, with the growth of cities and the ease of international travel today, a similar disease could rapidly spread across all continents.

Such a pandemic disease could be a natural occurrence. But there are also growing fears of biological weapons, man-made diseases. Experts in the field say that a small group of people who are trained in key disciplines could buy equipment on the Internet and produce deadly biological weapons.

“If present rates of global warming continue and production of carbon dioxide is not curtailed, many scientists believe the Earth’s average temperature will continue to rise, resulting in wilder and more unpredictable climatic swings and higher ocean levels that could threaten the low-lying coastal areas where much of humanity makes its home.”—A Mind for Tomorrow: Facts, Values, and the Future.

“Naturally occurring disease remains a serious biological threat; however, a thinking enemy armed with these same pathogens—or with [multidrug-resistant] or synthetically engineered pathogens—could produce catastrophic consequences”—The Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center.

Extinction of Critical Species

Over the past five years, beekeepers in the United States have lost about 30 percent of their bees each year on account of colony collapse disorder, a global phenomenon in which entire colonies of bees abruptly and mysteriously disappear from their hives. Bees do more than provide us with honey. They pollinate key crops, including grapes, apples, soybeans, and cotton. We depend on bees.

We also depend on phytoplankton. Without it we would have no fish. Without worms to aerate the soil, we would have far fewer crops. The extinction of such key species would result in food shortage and starvation, leading to violence and riots. Pollution, overpopulation, overharvesting, habitat destruction, and climate change contribute to the extinction of animal species perhaps as much as 1,000 times more than natural rates.

Nuclear War

One nuclear explosion can instantly obliterate a city—a somber fact that was demonstrated twice in August 1945. A nuclear explosion is horrendously powerful, destroying and killing by means of blast wave, wind, heat, fire, and radiation. Radiation also contaminates food and water. A nuclear war would cause tons of dust to be thrown into the air, blocking sunlight and causing global temperatures to plummet. Food crops and other plants would die. Without food to eat, humans and animals would die of starvation. Some nine countries are said to have the capacity to launch nuclear attacks. A few other nations appear to be in the process of developing their own nuclear weapons. And terrorist organizations are only too eager to get hold of them.

“Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become extinct. The cause: human activities.”—United Nations Development Program.

“Nuclear weapons remain the gravest and most immediate threat to human civilization. . . . There are still some 25,000 nuclear weapons worldwide . . . Eventually, terrorists will get the bomb.”—Union of Concerned Scientists.

Doomsday May Not Be What You Think PLAY

APART from being utterly pessimistic, the foregoing doomsday scenarios have three things in common. First, they are based on the speculation of men, and humans have a far-from-perfect record when it comes to guessing the future. Second, human survival, if possible, would be a matter of chance. Third, survivors of a post-doomsday world would have a real struggle to stay alive.

In contrast, the Bible’s version of what the future holds paints a more reasonable picture. According to the Bible, for a certainty, a great change is coming. But survival is guaranteed to all who do God’s will. Furthermore, the Bible does not foretell that the earth will be blasted to a cinder or frozen like an ice cube. It will be transformed into a global paradise.

Many people, though, have a problem accepting such Bible predictions. Skeptics view as fantasy the Bible’s teachings about a great tribulation, Armageddon, a millennium, and Paradise. These concepts have been endlessly discussed, debated, and interpreted by theologians. Their theories compete and clash with one another. Concerning the time of the end, author Bruce A. Robinson states: “Probably more obscure theological text has been written on this topic than on any other belief in Christendom.” The result? Confusion.

Yet, the Scriptures are not obscure. The Bible is God’s message, and he does not want us to be puzzled about what lies ahead. Consider some frequently asked questions, followed by what the Bible itself says. If you want to learn more, request the book What Does the Bible Really Teach? published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Will the earth and the human race be destroyed?

“The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”—Psalm 37:29.

Will any humans lose their lives?

“The upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the

very earth; and as for the treacherous, they will be torn away from it.”—Proverbs 2:21, 22.

Has God acted against ungodly people in the past?

God “did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a deluge upon a world of ungodly people; and by reducing the cities Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them, setting a pattern for ungodly persons of things to come.”— 2

Peter 2:5, 6.

Can we know the date when God’s judgment will come?

“Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.”Matthew 24:36-39.

Is there any indication that the end will come soon?

“In the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.”—2 Timothy

3:1-5.

What does the future hold for humankind on earth?

God “will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”—Revelation 21:4.

God “will wipe out every tear from their eyes”

Though the Scriptures give us but a glimpse of what lies ahead, they assure us that humanity is not doomed. The future will be glorious beyond our ability to comprehend. You can count on that, confident that what Jehovah God has promised, he is also able to do.