THE
MILLENNIUM
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Topics covered in this essay:
When did the millennium start?
For many people around the world, a new millennium will not be starting
in the immediate future. That is because they follow their own religious
calendar. For example, the date 2001-JAN-1, the start of the
millennium in the Gregorian calendar, is the middle of the year for these
religious calendars:
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155 BE for Baha'is |
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1921 SE for Hindus |
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5760 AM for Jews |
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1421 H. for Muslims |
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301 KE for Sikhs |
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1368 Y for Zoroastrians |
A growing number of people around the world follow the
Gregorian calendar, which was commissioned by Pope Gregory in the 16th
century. It divides time into two segments: BCE (before the common era)
and CE (common era).
The first year in the common era (CE) was year 0001. There was no year 0 CE. The day
after 001-DEC-31 BCE was 001-JAN-1 CE. Thus the first century ended at the end of
100
CE. The second century started on 101-JAN-1. Similarly, the third century started on
201-JAN-1, the second millennium started on 1001-JAN-1 and our millennium started
on 2001-JAN-1. However, most people attribute magical powers to the year 2000, and thus
had great expectations for 2000-JAN-1, one year before current next millennium really
began.
The TV networks and other media also seem to have added to the hype by adopting 2000-JAN-1 as the
beginning of the millennium.
A lot of people will celebrate 2000-DEC-25 as the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' birth.
Actually, most theologians believe that he was born about 4
to 7 BCE,
probably in the autumn. Thus, the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus' birth has already
happened, perhaps in 1997-AUG or SEP.
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What actually happened in the Year 2000?
On 1999-DEC-2, this author made seven predictions of significant developments at
the start of the new millennium in North America. As of 2004-MAR, some
prophecies came true; two prediction thankfully failed. We predicted:
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Thousands of computer programs will fail, largely in small commercial
establishments. This will cause an unknown degree of disruption to all sectors of the
economy. 1 This seems to have
happened. CNN
and other news sources reported on 2000-JAN-1 that there
were no noticeable electric power interruptions, except those caused
by weather which were unrelated to Y2K (the year 2000). Some computer failures have
happened; but no overwhelming catastrophe occurred. |
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Millions of misunderstandings will occur in the way
in which we record dates, after the year 2000. For example,
consider 01/02/03. Does it mean January 02, 2003 or 01 February, 2003 or
2001-Feb-03? All three notations are in common usage. Apparently,
society coped. |
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None of the events described in the Bible will happen in the year 2000.
The rapture, war of Armageddon, second coming of
Jesus Christ, appearance of the Antichrist, etc. will not occur. No such events
occurred at midnight, Palestine time, on the evening of 1999-DEC-31 as
many people predicted. None happened during the rest of
the year 2000, or since, either. |
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Some religious leaders will explain why Jesus Christ did not come as
expected. They will say that God has delayed the end of the world so that
more people will have a chance to convert to Christianity and be saved. We
have heard two sermons on Christian radio stations to this effect.
However, most clergy seem to be ignoring this topic. |
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The growth of minority religions will be viewed by some Christians
as the main
cause for Christ's delay. They will class these faith groups as "the
enemy." This has not happened. There have been numerous attacks on
religious minorities by political figures, including President G.W.
Bush. Most have been attempts to terminate the religious freedom of Wiccans.
But otherwise, there have just been the usual anti-cult
and counter-cult activity against new religions.
Whether animosity will increase in the future is an open question. |
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A serious backlash against minority religions will start circa
2002 and
intensify for the following few years. These will include groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses , New Agers, Satanists, members of the Unification Church, Wiccans
and other Neopagans. Other
more established religious minorities such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism,
etc. will suffer as well. This did not happen at the last time when
large numbers of Christians anticipated Christ's return -- the "great disappointment"
of 1844. It did not happen this time either. |
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The Satanic Ritual Abuse hoax may well be regenerated as the religious fervor intensifies.
There are no signs of this; belief in the hoax continues to dissipate,
except for the UK. |
What did the public expect at or near the millennium?
Many Christians believed that one or more momentous events will happen near
the start of the year 2001 - one year before the start of the actual millennium.
Among the events anticipated were the end of the world as we know it, the battle of
Armageddon between the forces of good and evil, the return of Jesus Christ to earth,
or the rapture -- a miraculous event in which saved
Christians, both dead or alive, will rise into the sky to meet Jesus. Some
public opinion poll gave interesting results of the widespread nature of these
beliefs:
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A Yankelovich Partners poll for Time/CNN in 1993-APR-28/9
found that 20% of Americans agreed that "...the second coming
of Jesus Christ will occur sometime around the year 2000." 2
49% answered no, and 31% didn't know. 5 | |
An Associated Press poll in 1997 found that 24% of adult American Christians
believed that Jesus Christ will return to earth within their lifetime and
initiate the events described in the book of Revelation in the
Christian Scriptures. | |
A U.S. News and World Report poll on 1997-NOV-14 to 16 revealed
that:
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66% of Americans say that they believed that Jesus Christ will
return to earth some day. This was an increase from 61% in 1994. 2 |
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Princeton Research Associates conducted a poll of 755 randomly
selected adults, for Newsweek magazine's 1999-NOV-1 issue. 3,4
They
found that:
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The following percentage of adults believed that the world will end
with the battle of Armageddon as described in the Biblical book
Revelation:
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40% of American adults generally |
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45% of Christian adults |
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71% of Evangelical Protestants |
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28% of non-Evangelical Protestants |
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18% of Roman Catholics |
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Of those who believed that Armageddon will happen:
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47% believe that the Antichrist is on earth now |
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45% believe that Jesus will return during their lifetime. |
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15% believed that Jesus' return to earth will occur as early as the year
2000 CE. Of this group:
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83% believed that the second coming will be preceded by natural
disasters; 66% by epidemics; 62% by mayhem. |
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95% felt that they must "get right with the Lord" now in
the expectation that Christ will return |
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62% felt an obligation to proselytize -- to convert non-Christians |
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68% expected to go to heaven |
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57% believed in the final judgment where people will be divided
into two groups for transportation to heaven or hell. |
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In 1999-OCT, the Pew Research Center released a study called "Americans
look to the 21st century." They confirmed the Princeton poll,
finding
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44% believed that Jesus will probably return during their lifetime. |
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22% said that Jesus will definitely return before 2050 CE. |
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44% believed that Jesus will probably not return during their lifetime. |
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According to CNN,com:
Richard Landes, director of the Center for Millennial Studies
at Boston University said: "Any time of radical and rapid
change is a great candidate for apocalyptic expectations. The idea that
modernity is a runaway juggernaut that's leading us ultimately to
destruction and only God can save us from it is obviously a tremendous
stimulant to the apocalyptic imagination, 2000 or not, and will continue
to stimulate the apocalyptic imagination after the passage of 2000."
Few soothsayers, however, are reserving an exact date for the end.
Some Christian ministers are making vague predictions of a cataclysm
somewhere around the year 2000. Many leave their calendars blank,
warning followers to be prepared "at any time."
Landes says: "Most organized religious groups -- denominations,
churches and so on -- are going to stay away from formal apocalyptic
expectations. But all Christians, all Jews and all Muslims have built
into their religion the belief that at some point all these things are
going to happen."
Now that the millennium has passed, the expectations of a significant
number of Americans did not materialize. One of the great mysteries of the
millennium is how these folks coped with their momentous disappointment when
the year 2000 rolled into 2001 which rolled into 2002 without any
apocalyptic events. We have not seen the results of any studies on this
topic.
References:
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Dr. Ed. Yardeni, Center for Cybereconomics, at http://www.yardeni.com/cyber.html
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Poll data was mentioned in Michael Shermer, "The fire that will
cleanse: Millennial meanings and the end of the world," Skeptic
magazine, Vol 7, #3, 1999
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"Prophecy: What the Bible Says About the End of the World,"
Newsweek magazine, cover story, 1999-NOV-1, as reported in AANEWS for
1999-OCT-25.
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"Poll: 40% of Americans believe in apocalyptic end,"
Chaisma magazine. Reviewed in Maranatha Christian Journal at: http://www.mcjonline.com/news/news3562.htm
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Bernard McGinn, "Anti-Christ: Two thousand years of the human fascination
with evil," HarperSanFrancisco, (1994), Page 281. Read
reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
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Steve Nettleton, "Apostles of the Apocalypse: Are we ready for the
end?," CNN.news, 1999, at:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/at2000/stories/religion/
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Copyright © 1996 to 2005 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Removed from essay end_wrld.htm on 2001-FEB-7
Last update: 2005-MAY-15
Author: B.A. Robinson 
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