Lately I have been watching season 2 of the delightful British series "Lark Rise to Candleford", and also reading Upton Sinclair's "Oil" (which the movie "There Will Be Blood" was based on). Now "Lark Rise" is set in the 1880's and "Oil" opens in the year 1912. Only 30 years separates them but what a difference those 30 years make! "Lark Rise" is still very much in the horse and buggy, pre-electricity era; with "Oil" we are seeing the start of our own era. There is much that is familiar in "Oil" and not much in "Lark Rise".
And yet, so much more has happened between 1912 and 2012, particularly in the last 40-50 years, approximately the length of time I have been here on this earth. The changes come so gradually that they aren't noticed at first, but over time they add up. The world in 2011 is very much different from the world of 1950, at least in the developed portions. I am just amazed at all the things that have happened and are still happening. Science fiction can't keep up.
Which is why I am amused at all the claims that the so-called end times predictions of the Bible are referring to our time. You can mine the scriptures all you want, but you will find no reference to how much and how radically the world has changed. The Bible was written over a span from approximately 4,000 BC to 100 AD, and yet in all that time you will find little or no change. The world of Abraham, the world of Moses, the world of David, and yes, the world of Jesus, they are all interchangeable. There is very little difference between them. You can open the Bible at any point and find people living much the same as in the pages before and the pages after. Not true today! One would think, that if the end-times predictions DID refer to our time, there would be some reference to today's methods of transportation and communication (just to name two). Why Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Horses haven't been used in war for nearly a century. Why not Four Fighter Jets of the Apocalypse? Surely there must have been some way for those early prophets to communicate that the reality of the 21st century after Christ is one nobody back then would recognize?
But that's not what we get when we search for end-time clues. I'm not that familiar with the Mayan 2012 prophecies, but I suspect it is much the same. The Mayans had NO CLUE about how people would be living in 2012. They assumed that people living now would live like people then. Wrong!
Well, we shall see what happens on May 22.
And yet, so much more has happened between 1912 and 2012, particularly in the last 40-50 years, approximately the length of time I have been here on this earth. The changes come so gradually that they aren't noticed at first, but over time they add up. The world in 2011 is very much different from the world of 1950, at least in the developed portions. I am just amazed at all the things that have happened and are still happening. Science fiction can't keep up.
Which is why I am amused at all the claims that the so-called end times predictions of the Bible are referring to our time. You can mine the scriptures all you want, but you will find no reference to how much and how radically the world has changed. The Bible was written over a span from approximately 4,000 BC to 100 AD, and yet in all that time you will find little or no change. The world of Abraham, the world of Moses, the world of David, and yes, the world of Jesus, they are all interchangeable. There is very little difference between them. You can open the Bible at any point and find people living much the same as in the pages before and the pages after. Not true today! One would think, that if the end-times predictions DID refer to our time, there would be some reference to today's methods of transportation and communication (just to name two). Why Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Horses haven't been used in war for nearly a century. Why not Four Fighter Jets of the Apocalypse? Surely there must have been some way for those early prophets to communicate that the reality of the 21st century after Christ is one nobody back then would recognize?
But that's not what we get when we search for end-time clues. I'm not that familiar with the Mayan 2012 prophecies, but I suspect it is much the same. The Mayans had NO CLUE about how people would be living in 2012. They assumed that people living now would live like people then. Wrong!
Well, we shall see what happens on May 22.
