For Christian Jellies- how likely is it that we are very close to the end times?

Yes this world is about to change and very soon. It only says that no one knows the Day or the Hour but it doesn’t say we won’t know the year or even the month.

I dont really know since “the end” has been “imminent” for 2K years. But I feel pretty sure that something huge is going to happen at the end of 2012 and I dread it, actually. lol

I really hope not. For two reasons – I’d like some of my really good friends to get saved first, and I’d like to at least meet and know for sure it’s “Mr. Right”. Otherwise I’d like to get married and have a kid or two before the Rapture (assuming I don’t die first).

Yes but I think God’s perception of time is different than ours (which is a cultural value really) so “close” doesn’t necessarily mean in this or the next few generations.

It will be within the next 20 years at least the change will be.

@Aster we read the Mayan calender wrong, lol.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20101019/sc_livescience/endoftheearthpostponed

But there is supposed to be a massive solar flare that will nail us come end of 2012 start of 2013 but that won’t be the end.

I think we get confused with what is meant by the World coming to an end. It is not coming to an end it is coming to a change.

@Winters a massive solar flare won’t be the end?? If that doesn’t get us a huge tilt of the earth’s axis will. Ahhhh, how fascinating to see a polar bear in my living room in July.

Yes

It could happen any time, tornado,
earthquake, Armageddon. It could happen.
Or sunshine, love, salvation.

It could, you know. That’s why we wake
and look out – no guarantees
in this life.

But some bonuses, like morning,
like right now, like noon,
like evening.

By William Stafford (1914 – 1993)

I have no idea about when the end will come, but sometimes I do get a really strong feeling, like goosebumps going right up my spine, that something very major is going to happen in the next few years. I can’t explain it, it’s just this weird combination feeling of unease and anticipation.

@Aster it’s only going to EMP everything on the half of the earth that’s facing the sun when it hits.

But what you mentioned, a polar shift where the entire planet’s crust actually shifts a significant amount, would definitely kill us all within a day probably.

@WillWorkForChocolate

There is a big reason you feel that and many do. It is almost time (tick tock). There is only one thing that I understand and that is the Earth is going to burn. Solar Flare? Earthquake? Volcano’s? Rotation of the pole’s?

Uh there’s another type of polar shift that I should have mentioned which is far more likely and apparently occurs on a normal basis where the magnetic charges swap.

Nothing tremendously horrid would arise from it, just navigation getting jumbled a bit, satellites may or may not fry, and there may be a slight increase in the amount of cases of sun cancer for a little while (little as in a year or two, if that).

You know that the placed called the North Pole has been moving for years because the crust of the Earth is constantly moving. The plates on the surface of the Earth are on a sea and move all the time.

@Summum yes, but as long as its not a sudden rapid shift, nothing out of the normal is going to happen, now when it comes to the first polar shift I spoke of, that’s every plate moving way too damn fast and way too damn far (as in geographic North pole becomes geographic south pole in a blink of an eye and every volcano erupts with new ones spurting up and a worldwide super earthquake, and everything dies).

@Winters Yes I understand that.

Not Christian, but I felt like it was worth mentioning that every single generation has believed they were living near end times and that predates Christianity by a long time.

I can’t help but think that the only thing that motivates this belief is arrogance. I’m living in a time that is more special than any other. My life is more important than the lives before me. My generation is more pivotal than any before it.

I’m sure all the doomsayers of the day will turn out to be as wrong as all the doomsayers of yesteryear.

What natural disaster happens every 25,000 years and is due to happen once again in 2012?

@Aster Are you talking about the alignment of the stars and planets? Including the Sun being in the center?

Does it matter? How should that affect your behavior?

Uhhggg! How many times to I have to say this people? Did you not get the memo?

The “End Times” came and went with Y2K… got that? Jeesh!

We are currently in The Beginning Times… make a note please

@iamthemob If you think the world is going to end soon, it will effect your behavior, but it might not be a whole ton. You might tell people you love them, be a bit more kind, or just not care since you think the world’s going to end soon. But it will effect some aspect of your life. Maybe not you specifically, but I was speaking in general.

We have been in the Last Days for a while now. It is my opinion – that is, I heard it and thought it good – that we’ve actually pushed back Armageddon a few times – there’s no set date, but rather we must meet certain conditions.

@Summum that’s it !! LOL The alignment of the planets and sun causes the earth poles to shift. Happens every 5K OR 25K years; can’t remember. How to prepare? Who knows?

@ChocolateReigns – practically, I don’t doubt it. The question I asked was whether it should.

”...we must meet certain conditions.”

That may be so @Nullo. The main one being a self fulfilling prophecy, whereas the end times don’t arrive until everyone is convinced that the end times have arrived. Let’s just keep saying it’s coming, and it’ll be here before we know it, for we are the ones who conjure it up out of nothingness.

I’d prefer to conjure peace and happiness. Let’s seed that thought in everyone’s mind and see what grows out of it.

There is strong scientific evidence to go along with religious evidence that it’s possible the world will end in a few years. And as bad as this sounds I hope it does.
I know what all of you are going to say here but I really just don’t care. My best friend told me about a dream she had. She was in the classroom at school and the intercom came on the principal told us of a storm that was coming our way but it was nothing to worry about. An hour later the storm came and the entire earth collapsed underneath itself. Then she woke up. She told me it was the most realistic feeling dream she’s ever had. And She doesn’t think about things like the world ending at all.

I hope we’re not referring to the “alignment” of planets since that isn’t actually happening in 2012. A far more significant alignment of planets happened in 2006 and surprisingly failed entirely to end the world.

I give up. What natural disaster happens every 25,000 years?

And @daytonamisticrip Of what “scientific” evidence do you speak?

I was going to say something similar to @crazyivan. Even the early Church and the Apostles believed they were living in the End Times.

I am a Christian, grew up in the Pentecostal denomination, and was always aware of End Times beliefs – it was taught to me to always be expecting it, to live according to the End Times being just around the corner. In many ways, it was presented as a fear tactic to keep people faithful to the faith. Later in life I learned that Jesus never intended for the End Times to be used as a fear tactic. Instead, Jesus advised his follows to encourage and comfort one another with the End Times – as it is something worth celebrating, not fearing for those who believe.

Although I agree with @crazyivan in the idea of End Time belief being a show of arrogance by those who think their generation is more important than previous generations, I’d like to add that every generation has felt this, and that every generation is important. If anything, End Times belief encourages a sense of “don’t waste the present, make the most of every opportunity” and hope.

@crazyivan I don’t really remember but I saw some national geographic show that was talking about the apocalypse and natural disasters. I remember something about a strong earthquake that scientist are predicting will happen. And something about the sun blowing up and another thing about a possible giant flood. I know I can’t trust everything I see on t.v but there was a lot of evidence to back it up.

Sorry to be the one to break the bad/good news but we have 10 minutes.

@Aster thats the magnetic poles that shift every 5,000 years and we’re apparently getting close to due time for that, but sorry, no apocalypse with that.

@flutherother Damn it! can it wait another 5 minutes? I’m going for a quickie in the shower.

You lost me at “religious evidence” @daytonamisticrip. And I must also question the validity of basing one’s future upon the nightmares of friends. That is exactly that kind of paranoia which will manifest a doomsday scenario into existence and plop it right in our laps to deal with.

But lets take a critical look at the religious evidence and your friends nightmare. The bible tells us that only those with evil in their hearts have reason to be fearful. Those in accord with their god are in good hands. In fact, a Christian should actually welcome doomsday as marking the return of peace on earth.

And I believe you missed the mark with that dream interpretation. The Principal said it was “nothing to worry about”. The Principal is no different than any Angel that appeared to Moses or the Prophets in their dreams. Information is shared, comfort is offered, then all sorts of crazy sights are shown. But the message is not the destruction of the world. The message is “Not to worry”, even if the entire earth crumbles beneath our feet… Not to worry.

We, as humans, would be well served to address the destruction taking place every day within our own hearts, that which we can confirm and really do something about, instead of concentrating on the perceived destruction to the world, that which we cannot confirm or do anything about at all. Not to worry.

Fear not. For I Am with you.

We are all going to be destroyed by the numerous little chickens running around all willy-nilly, screaming at the top of their lungs that, “THE SKY IS FALLING!”

What does this mean? It means folks have been fed fucking fear for so long that they are actually beginning to get a taste for it and that is the beginning of the end.

Living afraid isn’t any way to live at all.

Can I get an Amen Brother!

I think the world or should I really say mankind itself can be annihilated at any time. God gave man freewill.

@Blondesjon I, for one, am not afraid of The End. It’s a little ominous in concept, but really, it’s a good thing.
Check out the so-called Jesus Movement that took place in the 70s. You had thousands upon thousands of people joyfully awaiting the Second Coming, which didn’t seem all that remote.

As Christians we don’t need to concern ourselves with the day and hour of his return. We need to live each day as if it were our last, and treat every stranger as if they were Jesus himself.

@Nullo or in the 12th century… or in the 14th century… or in the 17th century… or in the 19th century…

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies amen

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be delighted to read the answers on this question, given his almost identical beliefs.

Well I’ve got news for Mister Ahmad…

My Messiah can kick his Redeemers ass, any day of the week!

Given that they’ve both been pretty quiet for a quite a few centuries now, I doubt either of them can do much arse kicking.

Still, it must feel good to be on the opposite side of same coin as the 12th Imam’s Hasteners.

Oh yeah… I feel really good about it. Really good… seriously.

really

Amazing

We are very close. As close as we are to the grave.

For some reason, mankind has equated God with “end times”.

Be good all the time and it is not an issue. ;-) Baby!

I wish I could explain the 2012 information better than I am able. The Calendar is very accurate and depicts moments and cycles in time. Our modern science now can examine them and are finding that these cycles are real and occur on a constant basis. You can plan on these cycles affecting our moods, feelings, mental and all aspects of life. The Mayans recorded for us a basis warning and showed what takes place at the end of a major cycle that has happened before. The last cycle recorded and which includes the alignment of the sun, moon, stars, earth and the galaxy along with the Universe. The final cycle that was recorded as a warning for our civilization started in the 1980s and will come to a head in 2016. You do not go to bed on Dec 20 2012 and wake up to the event or change the next morning. It is a cycle and will continue through until it finishes.

@Summum – the Mayan calendar was accurate because they were meticulous in their observations of predictable phenomena. They saw the paths of the stars, planets, etc., and used those paths to predict how they would continue.

That doesn’t mean that they had predictive powers beyond what we have today – it simply means that they were accurate in showing how stellar systems move.

I’m just going to say now that the Mayan word for Armageddon does not directly translate to “Armageddon.” A more accurate translation is “great change,” or “major shaping event,” whether for better or for worse, not that the end is near, though perhaps the end of the modern era.

Again I wish I could explain so you would understand what I am saying. They didn’t have predictive powers and I didn’t say that. Exactly @Winters that is all they did was to record what takes places during these phases or cycles and that we are in the ending cycle of the rotation they have recorded.

But if it’s not predictive in terms of indicating a change, then again it’s simply like every other calendar – When December ends, you start again at January.

Again I wish I could help you understand.

And I wish you would accept that it isn’t @iamthemob who doesn’t understand. If you really knew more about the Mayan calander than you read in conspiracy sites you might know that the Mayan Calander does actually predict the end of the world. It’s in some 54 million years. Understand things before you try to explain them to others, please.

I’ve seen documentaries and done some reading myself on the 2012/Mayan calendar issue – and along the lines of what @crazyivan said, if you are unable to help me to understand because you can’t articulate what the cycles actually mean for us and how the Mayan calculations, etc., show that the change will happen, it indicates that you don’t fully understand it yourself.

Go away @crazyivan nobody asked you. I do understand it and no it doesn’t predict the end of the world. The world is not going to end.

@crazyivan Oh joy, conspiracy sites, I’m not that bored yet. lol

@iamthemob So what practically indicates that yes a new cycle is beginning, but it’s new, there’s supposed to be something significantly different about this next era than the one we’re in now. What’s going to be different though is up in the air for anyone.

The question is why, though. In order for the claim to have value, there has to be good, verifiable reasons. If it’s simply the end of a big cycle, then we’re in the same place we were back in 2000 when the end of the thousand years approached.

@iamthemob I can’t answer why, its just what the calender predicts.

Every recorded cycle that the Mayans recorded of this nature there was a huge change on the Earth and they recorded that this one was a larger event because it was the last before a great change. It doesn’t say what that change would be just that change was coming.

I’m surprised that no one is mentioning the other 2012 phenomenon other than Mayan.

I’m not talking about the vague attachments of Nastradamus, The Oracle, or the Hopi, or even the Book of Revelation.

Specifically, Terrence McKenna developed Novelty Theory from mathematically mapping the King Wen sequence of the IChing. What he discovered was profound, and it ends on… you guessed it, 12/21/12.

Terrence was a brilliant man.

As well, many of you have heard me claim that 12/21/12 maps to ABBAAB. Read the sequence backwards, as in Hebrew, and BA ABBA translates to Father Returns.

i wonder if daddy will be pissed?

Well, I guess if all the pseudo-scientific nonsense agrees, it must be true…

@Summum The Mayan calander predicts a cycle ending every day…

@crazyivan Which is why I go in for the ‘push back Judgment Day” theory.

Stops following.

It gets more and more unlikely every year in terms of natural disasters, because we know more and more about them. The notion of high-impact, low-frequency event was not well understood when the Bible was written. Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions gave the people a hell of a scare.

So all we need to do is prevent man-made disasters from happening. It’s up to us. And we have the means to do it. So let’s do it. Let’s focus on real issues like the energy and resource crisis and not waste too much time with conspiracy theories.

@mattbrowne You couldn’t have said it better yourself ;)

@mattbrowne As I understand it, natural disasters are symptomatic, not the root cause.

@Nullo – Well, the root cause for this is the second law of thermodynamics whose author I believe is God.

@iamthemob, “does it matter?...” That was exactly what I was going to say. I was scrolling down to say it and you beat me to it. So Great Answer!

The answers to this question have gone waaay off topic.