The End of the World Part III

In my last two posts, I talked about the end of the world as it pertains to the Bible and what eternal life implies or suggests. Today it must be addressed that at the end of the world, things must be wrapped up in some kind of strife or war. Good vs. Evil in the final, end-all-be-all of the human race, and in some iterations, the battle will even involve angels (whatever angels are supposed to be).

As mentioned in Part I, there are a lot of films and books out these days that deal specifically with the Final Battle, and the material has come out in droves since the beginning of the postmodern era. Whether it is tied to the Bible is not important here – though the Bible certainly inspires us to want a final battle, and certainly indicates that it will happen in numerous places – what is important is that, as clearly seen, we want it, in some form or fashion. And I will tell you, I have wanted such a battle all my life, and I have wanted to fight, whether with words or otherwise, against the evil that apparently will come into power and try to destroy us.

Why have I wanted this all my life? And why have I always seen myself participating in it? To get at the heart of this, we must take a look at Darwin’s theories. In our modern context, we have nothing to fight against or strive for except the daily grind, which is for all intents and purposes void of any real challenge or threat. But he proposed in his thesis On the Origin of Species that we have survived through the ages through natural selection – the ones of us who fought (in the case of humans, intellect, if evolution is true) were the ones who survived. If we subscribe to Darwin’s theories, we are addicted to fighting, and it is a common gene in us that instills that lust for fighting and striving against – well, there is nothing to fight against now. Except for an antichrist or an army of demons or what have you. We find these creatures and villains in video games, and we are not satisfied. Some of us want real thrill, and we even hurt each other for the prospect, and get imprisoned or killed ourselves. People are desperate for an end of ages in today’s time, and though it started in the postmodern era, it got even more popular in 2000 with “Y2K” and then now, with the Mayan Calender hoax.

So as surviving animals, we have this urge to fight something in order for basic survival or even longevity of one’s belief system or values, to be more abstract. It is easy to see how things can and will go wrong in America in the next few years, with the possibility of another civil war and so forth; religious groups (particularly Christians, sadly enough) becoming zealous and belligerent, and the state of the economy has driven some people to the streets, suggesting open revolt. Moreover, there are “wars and rumors of wars” in other countries, and the bad news doesn’t seem to stop. I told my friend, “It is a good time to believe in God.” And so it is. This is the foundation for my main argument here.

To point fingers at who is going to start the apocalypse and proclaim someone is the antichrist is exactly what will fuel the end of ages in the first place. I think, if Noah’s time actually happened, that the chief sin was prejudice (there were two people groups represented, the sons of God and the daughters of man), however implicit the indication is. To want the strife exactly for what it is – dissonance and disruption between people who should live in harmony and peace, indeed, made (I believe) for that – is exactly the same as being an antichrist. Jesus taught civil values and expected his followers to carry them out in their actions and words. Yes, I still want to fight, but the battle I am joining is against those who want to cause civil unrest and disruption! The evil we have is all inside of ourselves. We just have to see that that same evil exists in the hearts of our neighbors, and when we see that we are the same, we will no longer have need of some final battle to end all battles.

That does not go as far as to say that there won’t be one. Probably in my lifetime I will see everything fall to pieces, and I hope that I can have a positive presence in it, one that allows for unity of all people – whether this upheaval is in the end of all things is not important. What is important is the here and now – and how you or I can make that moment everything it can or should be. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will have peace.” How wonderful it would be if we could make Heaven on Earth all by ourselves? But maybe God, whether or not you believe in him, has something even greater in store.