04 October 2009

The Zombie Apocalypse and 2012

Got in one last Redneck Movie yesterday--Zombieland. Very funny. The language is what you would expect from an American R-rated film. Lots of blood and gore. But the point of the movie is not the cursing or the zombie killing (does one kill a zombie?). It's about needing and finding family in the aftermath of a crisis--in this case: the Zombie Apocalypse.

The previews reminded me to post something on the cyber-chatter about our global demise predicted to happen on December 21, 2012. Apparently, someone figured out how to read an ancient Mayan calendar-stone. The Mayans believed in a cosmic creation/destruction cycle of 12,000 years (if I remember correctly these are called "kelpic cycles," or is that a Hindu thing?). Anyway, the last day on the stone is Dec. 21, 2012.

Coincidentally, astronomers are telling us that there will be a planetary alignment on that date. All the planets in the solar system will line up with the sun and this will cause unprecedented climate and geological upheaval on earth. There's even a movie coming out about all this called, you guessed it, 2012.

As you might imagine, there are hundreds of websites confirming, denying, debunking, and debunking the debunking. Gotta love the net! Here are some of my thoughts on this prediction:

1). Is it possible that the Mayan calendar-stone has been mistranslated and/or misinterpreted? I mean, are there any ancient Mayans around to confirm the text?

2). If the text has been correctly translated and interpreted, why assume that the last day on the calendar indicates the last day for our world? The calendar on my wall ends on December 31, 2009, but I don't assume that Time ends just because my calendar does.

3). Like most ancient cultures, the Mayans had no conceptual means of distinguishing between their scientific practices and their religious beliefs. Why assume that their scientific calendar (which is quite accurate astronomically) is anything but a spiritual device; that is, the cosmic creation/destruction scenario might be spiritual in nature rather than material.

4). And even if the calendar indicates a cycle of material creation/destruction, there's no good reason to believe that the Mayans' belief in such a cycle is correct. People have believed and still believe in all sorts of demonstrably false theories about just about everything. Did you know that there is a very serious group of folks who belong to the Flat Earth Society?

5). And what if the Mayans were correct about the whole cosmic cycle-thing and the world will end on Dec 21, 2012? Well, you better get right with Jesus.

Christians, remember: Jesus said, "No one knows the day of my coming but the Father." No sense is getting all twitchy about dates. I will, however, go see the movie. Looks very, very Redneck.

3 comments:

  1. I agree with your last day on the calendar (12-12-12 vs. 12-31-09) idea most here. I mean, who needs a calendar that goes on forever? Maybe they figured that, eh, that's long enough. Even if the calendar-rock was done in the 17th century (when the Spanish were colonizing), it would have been 300-400 years' worth of calendars! Who needs a calendar with more than that on it!?

    Only God knows when the end of the world is. Of course "true believers" will scoff at that idea, saying religion is silly, but then they'll believe this old, dead Mayan culture's calendar and think their priests had it right. Because, really, only Christian religion is silly.

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  2. Anonymous12:16 PM

    Could perhaps the stone mason have run out of stone? As mark Twain said, we'd better be careful with health books, lest we die from a typo. :-D

    Lord, bless our guardian angels!

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  3. Im mainly scared of the Polar Shift that will happen thats all that really scares me. I have a blog about December 21 2012. Check it out at.
    http://aboutdec212012.blogspot.com

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