Sing it with me now! "Oh it's the ennnnd of the worrrrld as we know it!"

News flash!  5,000 birds and 100,000 fish drop dead in Arkansas!  Shocking!  What could have caused such a disaster???  Aliens?  Government conspiracy?

Of course not, people.  Really.  What kind of whackos are you?

Clearly, it's the apocalypse.  Wormwood.  That's the only rational possibility.

What, you don't believe it?  Hell awaits you, non believing scum of the slime of the mud hole of the swamp of nothingness.

That's right, the apocalypse is on us now!

I just found out about this from a website claiming the end of the world is going to be on May 21, 2011.  Google it.  It's sweet.

This is becoming quite the movement.  Their claim is based on some Biblical (and not so Biblical) dates.  One of these is that because the flood of Noah took place in 4990 BC (this date came from... um... uuuuummmmmm.......), and God told Noah that it would be 7 days before the flood waters came, and 1 day is equal to 1,000 years, then 7,000 years later makes the date 2011.  Clearly, this is the last year of mankind.  How can you possibly doubt when those dates are laid out so transparently for all who would just believe?  The logic that brought about that conclusion is, without a doubt, unquestionably sound.

But then, where did May 21st come from?

Well, I'll tell you.

May 21st 1988 was the end of the influence of the churches, or something like that.  The pamphlet from which I was getting my information failed to mention exactly what that entailed or how we know that, but space was limited, so I understand.  I'll just take it on faith.  That end of the influence of the churches began a 23 year period in which God would torment the churches, which ends with the rapture... May 21st, 2011.  Yep, that's right.  The rapture is going to be approximately 4.7 months from today.  If you're still here on May 22nd, then I'm very sorry.  You will die.

BUT!  Never fear, O non believers!  You won't die on the 22nd!  That's right, for a limited time only, you can be subjected to torments beyond your wildest imaginations!  The dead shall rise from the grave, when the righteous shall be endowed with everlasting life, and the wicked will rise... but will remain dead, their corpses littering the earth! (Yes, this is more information from the End is Near website.)  Death will be everywhere and mankind (or what remains of it) will endure suffering and agony for the next five months!  Then, on October 21, 2011 the world will be quick fried with a crackly crunch.  THEN you'll die.

So, when birds drop from the sky, and the moon turns to blood (lunar eclipse) at the same time that the sun is darkened (winter solstice) and the stars are falling from heaven (Ursids meteor shower... you better believe all that just happened this past solstice), and fish stinketh their river banks, know that May 21st is nigh. 


Oooooh, it's the ennnnd of the worrrrrld as we know it!

*ahem*  Yeah, done with the shameless mocking of other people's heartfelt religious convictions now.

In all seriousness (yes, I am capable of being serious in my blog), I will admit I enjoyed reading about the end of the world on May 21, 2011.  It reminded me a LOT of my study of Millerism this past year, in which William Miller amassed a following of people who were positive the world was coming to an end on October 22, 1844 (that was after the 1843 prediction hadn't happened).  One major difference that my roommate pointed out, however, was that according to Miller, the apocalyptic date marked Christ's second coming, and the beginning of His Millennial reign.  While Miller was more doom and gloom than most of the exceptionally optimistic views of Christ circulating at the time (ie, mankind's righteousness will increase so much that it will create the Millennial Earth, which Christ will then find suitable for His reign), it was sunshine, bunnies and flowers compared to this new one.  According to this new May 21st movement, nothing is said about Christ returning to the Earth at all... which is kind of the whole point of the apocalypse, is it not?  This new movement is all about the rapture and the burning, essentially leaving nothing for Christ to reign over.

I'm extremely curious to watch what becomes of this movement.  According to an article I read, one of the women preaching this message wanted to have children and start a family, but unfortunately the time is gone, and all she has left to do is preach the warning.  To me, that's really sad.  [soapbox] Apocalypse or not, life shouldn't cease because you might not get to finish your dreams.  While it's good to live life as righteously as you would if you had to face God tomorrow and give an accounting of what you had done with your life, you also don't want to have to admit that you spent it waiting for Him to come end it... and the world.  The truth is, we have NO CLUE when this is going to take place (honestly, every single generation since the FIRST coming has had a faction of people that have believed it will be in their lifetime), so make plans and reach for them, and just be willing to change them if God so desires. [/soapbox]

So, getting back to the movement, five months from now, I'd like to see what becomes of it.  Will they continue to preach apocalypse on May 22nd, when all that's left to look forward to is the October 21st doomsday?  I'm curious to find out.

Another point - all of this makes me EXTREMELY grateful for the Mormon perspective on Christ's second coming.  We tend to focus on the "great" part of the "great and terrible day of the Lord."  You say 2nd coming, and generally speaking, Mormons will start picturing the scene from 3rd Nephi where Christ comes, heals the sick, allows the people to touch his wounds, and teaches them incredible lessons about love and prayer.  In the background of this picture, the primary song is singing: "I wonder when He comes again, will herald angels sing?  Will Earth be white with drifted snow, or will the world know spring?  ...  I'm sure He'll call His little ones together round His knee, because He said in days gone by, 'Suffer them to come to Me.'"  Sunshiney, no?  The Mormon picture of the 2nd coming is a pretty far cry from "You non believers will all be BURNED!!!"  There is the idea that the wicked will be brought to justice, but the focus tends to be on how wonderful it will be to live with Christ.  More than that, the ideas of Judgment that exist are much more fair, throwing the concept of mercy for everyone, not just the believers, in with the justice, and they emphasize the perfection of God, how He is fair to everyone, not His wrath on mankind.

So, to sum it all up, I'm glad I get to watch this take place, but I'm also really glad I don't believe a lick of it.  My beliefs about God, Christ, and the second coming are much better.