C_Clayton_Jones
Diamond Member
There are no 'misunderstandings.'So I have seen a lot of threads, usually posted by atheists, harping about end of the world prophecies by people relying upon the Bible. Let's clarify some misunderstandings. What the Bible refers to is Jewish Apocalypticism. This is what is written about in such Old Testament texts as Daniel and Zechariah. There are many apocalyptic sayings attributed to Jesus in the gospels. Paul's letters are very apocalyptic and Revelation is totally apocalyptic.
The first thing that both atheists and theists need to understand is that Jewish apocalypticism as discussed in the Bible is NOT about the end of the world. It is about the end of the "present age" (aka the "evil age") and the beginning of the "future age" or the establishment of God's Good Kingdom on Earth. The Bible, and Jewish Apocalypticism, does not predict the end of the world, it predicts the end of an evil world and the beginning of a righteous world. You might think of it as a "return to Eden" where people are free to worship and live in communion and perfect harmony with God and God's influence is ever present as it was according to the Genesis story of Eden.
People have gotten this wrong for centuries, so don't feel bad. But one must understand that an apocalypticist today is not what an apocalypticist was in antiquity. Today we think of an apocalypticist as a crazy guy on the corner with a bullhorn shouting "Beware, beware...the end is near!". That person is nuts and is sending a message of fear and impending destruction. In antiquity, an apocalypticist was doing the opposite. They were sending a message of hope and reassurance. Their message was "very soon, the wicked will be punished and you will be rewarded for your faith...so hang in there and don't give up."
Yes, often the Biblical descriptions are rife with death and destruction for the wicked, but much of that is done for the purpose of making a political statement and the reassurance that "those who are persecuting us now are going to get what is coming to them". In the end, God wins and the world is reborn very much like the descriptions of Eden; think of how New Jerusalem is described in Revelation.
So can both theists and atheists PLEASE give the "end of the world" crap a rest. That's not what the Bible is talking about.
It is correctly understood that 'end of the world,' however perceived or expressed by Christians, is still Christian mythology – devoid of fact, truth, or relevance.