Remember 2012? - The world was going to end!

These comments are from Chuck Colson's Breakpoint, 11/03/09:

Regarding the programs on the History Channel, with predicting that life as we know it will end December 21, 2012...

Why? Last day listed on the Mayan "long count" calendar. "That calendar marks what the Maya--a now non-existent civilization--regarded as the end of the present cycle of creation."

"What makes this fact rise above the level of a historical curiosity is, first of all, the Maya's astronomical prowess. They charted the movements of celestial bodies with an accuracy unmatched until the invention of the telescope and, in some instances, not until the 20th century."

"...according to archaeologists, the Maya themselves never said anything about what would happen that day" [just that the present cycle would end].

"So why are people so anxious about the day? Probably because, until realitivity recently, many people, like the psalmist, "knew where our help came from, and wouldn't fear even if the mountains fell into the sea." Then that faith in the biblical God was replaced by a faith in human prowess and, eventually, faith in nothing.

"Well, Western Culture might have lost its faith, but folks have not lost their anxieties. So since we are no longer willing to embrace the ancient faith, many look for solace or explanation in other ancient faiths, or at least new-age versions of these faiths.

"So we are told that the ancient Maya, the Hope Indians, and the Chinese text of I Ching all predict that 2012 will be a time of "extraordinary shift." (But these documents don't say that at all--it's all hype.)

"What's (really) going on here is the idea that we live in a random and unintelligible universe, and that's more terrifying than the cataclysms predicted for the year 2012. So we grasp at straws, or misinterpret obscure texts, or we despair.

"But there is a third alternative -- real faith. Christians know that God is working out His purposes in history, and that faith removes all anxieties."

[Note: Often programs on the History Channel misrepresent history in other ways. I have heard them talk about the Maya civilization being destroyed by the Spanish conquerors -- this is false --the Mayas and their culture disappeared 500 years before the Spanish arrived! We don't know how or why they disappeared -- its one of those 'mysteries of history.' Glorya]