Page 32 - 200911 - The 'X' Chronicles newspaper - November 2009

november2009_june_july_2009.qxd 23/11/2009 4:37 PM Page 32 32 Waiting for the End of the World 32 Waiting for the End of the World Waiting for the end of the anxiety people feel in bad times. on Dec. 21, 2012. Is it time to panic? Waiting for the end of the “They want to know about the future,” world she says. Best opinion: NASA, Wall St. Journal, Teen world By Todd Leopold, CNN By Todd Leopold, CNN “But these sorts of ideas about end times Hollywood mean different things to different people.” The big budget disaster film 2012, starring John Continued from Page 31 Continued from Page 31 Different faiths have different visions Cusack as a father trying to save his kids in a about the end. Some don’t believe it because world devastated by solar flares and And many terrorists and agitators they see life as eternal; others go so far as to supervolcanos, hits theaters this weekend. The subscribe to end-times beliefs, with hope that predict an exact date for the end. movie is based on an ancient Mayan prophecy their provocations can lead to apocalypse. In general, religious convictions help suggesting that 2012 could be the end of the line Still, as optimists are fond of pointing protect people from a sense of anxiety and fear, for humanity. It's stoking real-life apocalyptic out, "apocalypse" doesn't mean end, but is Gonsoulin says. fears in at least a few people. Should the rest of Greek for "revelation" -- an unveiling of truth. Many Christians, for example, expect us be concerned? (Watch John Cusack and In that respect, says Hotsenpiller, a concern the return of Jesus Christ and the deliverance of others discuss "2012" and the end of days) about the end can lead to a desire to fix things: believers to heaven when the world ends. It's a load of nonsense: In spite of what you hope that we, as humans, can make a positive “That really changes people’s lives here may have heard, "nothing bad will happen to the impact. on Earth,” she says. “You don’t have to worry Earth in 2012," says Jason Townsend at NASA's "All of us deep down know that about things here. You’re going to be freed. That website. "Our planet has been getting along just something's wrong with the world and with us can be exciting for some people.” fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible as people," he says. "There is something wired Other religions teach that end times will scientists worldwide know of no threat into us, or placed in there by God, that says, bring the transformation of existence on Earth associated with 2012." The purveyors of doom 'Every one of you is going to have to deal with and the fruition of some people’s vision for the have offered up many scary scenarios, but there the issues that ... aren't right in your life.' That world. is no scientific basis for any of them. doesn't have to be a negative. It can be a The Rev. Mark Hitchcock, author of a "2012: Beginning of the end, or why the world positive. It can be where I come to grips with new book, “2012, the Bible, and the End of the won't end?" who I am as a person, with who I am before World,” says many religions have an Not an end—a new beginning! There is indeed God, and I make some changes." apocalyptic view of how things will end up. a long calendar cycle that ends on Dec. 21, And for those who are still convinced Judaism teaches the Messiah is coming, 2012, says "leading Mayan shaman" Carlos that 2012 means the collapse of civilization, he says, while Shiite Islam teaches a hidden Barrios in The Wall Street Journal. But that date Hankoff -- who doesn't buy it for a minute imam is coming. Hitchcock, pastor of Faith will not mark the end of the world. Rather, the (though he can't wait to see the movie) -- is Bible Church in Edmond, Okla., says new cycle will be a time of "harmony and more pleased to offer a solution. Christianity teaches Christ is coming back, the closeness to the natural world." "I want everybody that believes that dead will be raised and there will be a final Maybe the ancient Mayans just predicted 2012 is going to happen to send me their stuff," judgment. this disaster movie: "The film is part of the he says. "And if you get mad at me for saying “How the rest of the furniture will be prophecy in a sense," says Daniel Pinchbeck at that 2012 is totally insane, you can send me an arranged — those are the things people quibble Teen Hollywood. We can either laugh off the apology on December 22, 2012 -- which is a about,” he says doomsday scenario, or we can search for a Saturday, by the way -- because I'm still going The Rev. G.L. Johnson, pastor emeritus "deeper" meaning. A little fear might be what to be here." [] of Peoples Church in northeast Fresno, says the people need to see that we have a "crucial Bible teaches that no one knows the date of window" to make the world a better place, Our unending fascination Jesus’ return, but that believers will sense the before it's too late. [] Our unending fascination with The End times and the seasons. with The End He compiled sermons that he presented on the Tribulation, the Antichrist, Armageddon, judgment and the Mark of the Beast into a book, Social anxiety, searches for “Is the Curtain of Prophecy Going Up?” Social anxiety, searches for meaning can stip up doomsday Johnson says, “Everyone wants to know meaning can stip up doomsday tales. where we’re headed and how it’s going to end tales. up.” Ron Orozco / The Fresno Bee The subject can be tricky to discuss. Fresnobee.com Tony Williams, president of men’s ministry at Aphesis Apostolic Ministry on North Are we doomed? Palm Avenue, tries to prompt people to think Prophecies about the end of the world about it by standing on an island at Palm and have been debated by scholars, theologians and Belmont avenues with a sign that reads, “The religious leaders for a long time. But it’s not just End is Near.” them. Pop culture also has a fascination with He says he encounters rude motorists. end times. Sociologists say the interest in books, “I get flipped off,” he says. “One good movies and lectures on the subject increases response is better than all the negative.” with bad times, such as those scarred by He says he is just trying to share his hurricanes, famines, tsunamis, war and beliefs about “the end” so people can prepare economic collapse. themselves by giving their lives to God. He has The fascination is clear in society today been holding the sign, mainly on Sundays, for a with the release of recent movies. The film couple of months. “2012,” which opened Friday, depicts the end of “The Holy Ghost is your ticket to the world and is stirring talk about the meaning heaven,” he says. “I’m just trying to give a of a Mayan calendar with the doomsday date. message beyond the pulpit.” [] Another movie, “The Road,” which opens Nov. 25, looks at a man and his son’s post- The 2012 prophecy: apocalyptic struggle to survive. Margaret Gonsoulin, a sociology Doomsday, or bunk? professor at California State University, Fresno, A Hollywood movie based on a Mayan says the fascination with end times in pop prophecy is stoking fears that the world culture reflects a hunger for meaning in the