END-OF-THE-WORLD PREDICTIONS:

SECULAR PREDICTIONS vs CHRISTIAN PROPHECY

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Secular predictions:

End of the sun as we now it: Scientists are quite confident that, life on earth cannot last much more than another five billion years. At about that time, the sun will become unstable. It will expand into a red giant, and engulf the Earth. However, none of this will happen in our near future.

A massive asteroid could theoretically hit the earth at any time. Such collisions seem to happen at irregular intervals, many tens of millions of years apart. When they occur, many species of life forms -- plant and animal -- are wiped out on earth. When we originally published this essay in the year 2000, we wrote: "A major hit is most unlikely to happen in the next year or two -- if it were, astronomers would probably have detected it by now. But it could happen a decade from now, a millennium in the future, or many tens of millions of years from now. It is just a matter of time!" It turns out that this is wishful thinking. In the year 2002, astronomers detected an asteroid the size of a football field. It passed close to the earth -- about one third of the way between the earth and the moon. The shocking thing is that they only detected the asteroid after it had made its closest approach to the earth and was starting to get further away! If it had been hit the earth, it would have had the power equal to a hydrogen bomb. If it landed in a populated area, it would have obliterated an entire city. We cannot count on any significant advance warning of an asteroid hit, unless better systems are put in place.

Other doomsday scenarios: Many dozens of prophecies have been made which predict the end of the world (or at least a major catastrophe) in our near future, due to:

However, these types of catastrophes have been predicted many times in the past with a 100% failure rate. It is unlikely that any of them will come true in our near-term future.

Historical Christian expectations: 

In North America, most prophecies are made by Christians and based on the Bible. It is important to realize that anticipation of second coming of Jesus, and the end of the world as we know it, has been a constant expectation of Christians from the first century CE to the present time. Century after century, some 80 generations of Christians have been disappointed. It is quite possible that contemporary Christians will be as well.

Christians of every age since the death of Jesus have been anxiously awaiting the second coming, and looking for advance signs of his return.  Anticipation was heightened as the last year of some centuries approached - particularly 1000 CE and 1500 CE. It was particularly intense just before the start of the year 2000. The anticipation subsided considerably on 2000-JAN-1, but is still a passionately held expectation by many Christians.

According to Matthew 24:35-36, Jesus said that no one knows the exact date and time of the end of the world: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." However, many Christians have attempted to predict the year and month (but not necessarily the day and hour) of the end.

Various conflicting beliefs have been held by conservative Protestants about whether the second coming may happen as soon as today, or whether certain biblical preconditions still remain to be met:

References:

1. The Antichrist is often described as "the most evil man that will ever live. He will arrive on the world scene and appear to be the world's savior, but everyone on earth will soon learn his real mission will be one of destruction. Also called the man of lawlessness (or sin), Gog, the son of destruction (or perdition)."
2. The Tribulation is a seven year period when the Antichrist rules the world. 
3. The Rapture is a miraculous event when Jesus returns towards earth, and all of the saved Christians (dead and alive) will rise through the air to meet Jesus in the sky. Belief in the rapture is quite common among conservative Christians, but is rarely observed among other Christians.
4. "The rapture index categories explained," at: http://www.novia.net/%7Etodd/rap7.html 
5. "The glossary of prophetic terms," at: http://www.novia.net/%7Etodd/rap27.html 

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Copyright © 2000 to 2005 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last update: 2005-APR-28
Written by B.A. Robinson