Issue date: 8/3/06 Section: Opinion

Chad Stoermer - The Battalion

The modern human is an odd creature. When times are good, we applaud our own genius and give ourselves a collective pat on the back for being such clever little creatures. When times are bad, we think things could not be worse, and we hunker down and, throw blame and questions toward the heavens. Then when times are really bad, we do what countless generations before us have done: We gather up our friends and families and have a good old-fashioned apocalypse countdown. With the latest conflict in the Middle East, the end of days is a much-discussed topic. But the truth is, the world has not ended yet, and chances are it will be here tomorrow. Forecasting and worrying about the apocalypse serves no other purpose than to spread irrational fear and to impede the progress of a rational and clear-headed future.

To some, Doomsday is just over the horizon. Predictions can be humorous, as in the popular Internet clip "The End of the Word" ("Ruling out the ice capes melting, meteors becoming crashed into us, the ozone layer leaving and the sun exploding, we are definitely going to blow ourselves up.").

But they can also be pronounced very serious. The most visible and outspoken of the serious apocalypse watchers are often times fundamentalist Christians.

In a July 22 post on WorldNetDaily.com, prominent televangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell wrote that "it is apparent, in light of the rebirth of the state of Israel, that the present-day events in the Holy Land may very well serve as a prelude or forerunner to the future Battle of Armageddon and the glorious return of Jesus Christ."

Fellow televangelist Jack Van Impe said in a July 4 edition of his show Jack Van Impe Presents that "Armageddon is coming," and that "billions are going to be there to meet Christ after the conflict is ended."

Van Impe and Falwell's reference point is, of course, the infamous Book of Revelation, the often disputed but highly entertaining last book of the Bible. It foretells of an end-all battle between good and evil that will begin - lo and behold - in the Holy Land. Regardless of the truth or validity of the 2000-year-old book, in all its detail of the end, it does not set a firm date. This overabundance of "how" and apparent lack of "when" spawns creatures like Falwell and Van Impe.

So a few paranoid old guys think the world is ending, what harm can come of that, right? Tragically, forecasting the end is not so harmless. In 1843 an American preacher named William Miller concluded, through his study of the Bible, that the end of days was to occur on March 21, 1843. March 21, 1843 came and went and the world did not end. Thousands of Miller's followers were left without homes, possessions or jobs, things deemed unimportant in the light of impending doom. Miller revised the date twice, only to be disappointed twice more. Apparently, three strikes and you're out didn't apply to Miller, because he went on to found the Adventist Church.

Fear of the apocalypse struck again in 1997 when a group that called themselves "Heaven's Gate" believed that the world was ending. Logically (to them at least), 39 Heaven's Gatists committed suicide so that their souls could ride in a spaceship hiding behind the Hale-Bopp Comet. No word on whether they made it.

There was also that little incident in Waco involving a guy named David. Clearly, predicting the end of the world has very negative consequences.

The end will come, there is no question. Robert Frost once said, "nothing gold stays." Our planet and civilization aren't exceptions. It is folly, however, to waste our precious time fretting about that ambiguous end when there is a very real and very relevant present to attend to. Fools like Falwell, Van Impe and Miller should be seen for what they are: over-dramatic nut-jobs getting in the way of human progress. The end.

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