End of the world prophecies

Menu

Predictions that a major world transition
will happen on or about 2012-DEC-21

Sponsored link.

Countdown timer:

Years-Days Hours:Minutes:Seconds Countdown to TEOTWAWKI Day December 21st, 2012

This timer is based on the assumption that TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as we Know it) will occur at 00:00 hrs ET on 2012-DEC-21. Some suggest that it will occur at the exact time of the solstice on that day. That would be in the morning at 11:11 hrs UTC, 06:11 ET, or 03:11 PT. Others base their estimate on a different interpretation of the Mayan calendar, and say it will happen sometime two days later, on 2012-DEC-23.

People are undecided about exactly what will happen on this day:

	Many commentators predict massive and sudden destructive events of global and even cosmic proportion that will result in the loss of billions of human lives. Some suggest the Earth itself may be destroyed with the loss of all life.
	Skeptics generally believe that nothing truly remarkable will occur on this particular date. It is merely the date of a solstice when the length of the daytime is at a minimum in the Northern Hemisphere and a maximum in the Southern Hemisphere.
	Finally, others suggest that It is merely the middle of a time interval starting years -- perhaps centuries -- in our past and continuing for centuries in our future during which a gradual spiritual transformation will be unfold among the peoples of the Earth.

Needless to say, the first prediction terrifies the public and increases the sales of books and videos that promote this belief. As a result, most of the 2012 books that you will find in a bookstore predict various types of disasters.

We predict that the second prophecy will come to pass -- that is, the Winter solstice will be a relatively ordinary day: 385,000 births and 156,000 deaths ₁ -- including perhaps 300 premature deaths due to religiously-motivated assassinations. ₂ The year 2012 will end much like many other years, with the usual number of natural and human-created disasters, acts of generosity, small scale wars, etc.

Overview:

People of different religions (and none) have invested major efforts attempting to predict when and how the end of the world will happen. Within Christianity, many of these were based on various interpretations of passages from two books in the Christian Scriptures (a.k.a. New Testament): Daniel and Revelation.

This website lists many dozens of prophecies that predicted the end of the world would occur at various dates in our past. They all have one factor in common: all of them have totally failed. Many people believe that predictions of the end happening in our future will not materialize either. However, some firmly believe that the end will come, and will come on 2012-DEC-21.

In recent years, the date of 2012-DEC-21, a winter solstice, has received a great deal of attention as the prime candidate for "TEOTWAWKI" (The End Of The World As We Know It). Many books have been written in support of this idea. They are easy to spot in the bookstore or online because their title usually contains the number "2012." To get a list, you can go to customer service section in a Barnes & Noble bookstore in the U.S. or Chapters in Canada and do a search for 2012.

We seem to be observing the buildup to a mild cultural panic similar to that experienced as the "Y2K" end of the millennium approached ot 2001-JAN-1. This is tragic because it will probably trigger suicidal ideation among some unstable persons and perhaps even cause them to commit suicide. The authors of the 2012 books will have bloodon their hands.

We don't have a firm idea when the next predicted date for TEOTWAWKI will be after 2012 fizzles out. Quite a few authors will undoubtedly have prophecy books ready to hit the market by New Years Day on 2013. Some folks have recognized that a lot of money can be made by keeping the population's fear level high. A culture in fear is much easier to control. The new target date will probably be somewhere about 2020 in order to maximize profit. It has to be close enough so that people will fear its imminent arrival, and far enough away so that book sales will have risen, peaked, and dropped to a low value by the time the date passes.

Topics covered in this section:

	The original basis for the year 2012 prophecy. Various interpretations.
	Interpretations of the significance of 2012-DEC-21.
	Some specific predictions of (mostly) destructive events sometime in 2012.
	Reviews of books and videos describing the year 2012 prophecy.
	Predictions of the Earth's massive or total destruction due to the planet "Nibiru" et al. (2003 to 2012).
	An essay by Joseph R. Jochmans: Hell, Heaven or Hype? - Six facts about what will really happen in 2012

Sponsored link:

Related essays:

	Will the world end in the near future?
	The end of the Millennium: What people thought would happen: The Y2K Problems: Social, Economic, and Spiritual Aspects
	Past end-of-the-world scenarios which have failed
	Predictions that the end of the world will happen between now and 2010
	Predictions of the end during 2010 and later
	Premillennialism and other competing Christian theories about the end of the world.

References:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. "World Population," Wikipedia, as at 2011-JUN-11, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/
2. "A Christian is killed every five minutes," International Business Times, 2011-JUN=11, at: http://hken.ibtimes.com/

Copyright © 1997 to 2012 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2012-JAN-06
Author: B.A. Robinson

Sponsored link

Web ReligiousTolerance.org

Page Translator: This page translator works on Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari browsers only After translating, click on the "show original" button at the top of this page to restore page to English.