![](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/SxhHZ8hW_qI\/AAAAAAAAEJk\/7EuWe0SlQhw\/s320\/2012+movie+poster.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nHave you ever noticed how humanity longs for an apocalypse? The typical doomsday merchant is the wild-eyed beardy weirdy on the street corner with his \u2018the end is nigh\u2019 sandwich board. He\u2019s the stuff of cartoons and comedians. He\u2019s the sort of loony who is only happy when he\u2019s unhappy.<\/p>\n
But there are salesmen of the apocalypse everywhere if you only have eyes to see them. Last week I went with the boys to see the movie 2012. It was terrific. Apart from the sophomoric anti-Catholic bits, it was a disaster movie to end all disaster movies, and all of it built on some wonderfully kooky New Age idea that the world will end on December 21, 2012 because the ancient Mayan calendar runs out on that day.<\/p>\n
As a child I attended a fundamentalist church, and we used to have regular visits from the evangelist Jack VanImpe. He specialized in foretelling the future with a heady mixture of Dispensationalist theories, Bible prophecies and yesterday\u2019s news clippings. We were told how there was a huge computer in Brussels called \u2018The Beast\u2019 which tracked everyone and how the European Community would merge with the Catholic Church to become the head of a New World Order. On top of that we were shown the equivalent of a Christian horror flick called, \u201cLeft Behind\u201d in which the Lord Jesus returned and took all the true Christians to heaven in a flash and all the sinners were left behind. You better get saved quick or you\u2019ll be left behind.\u00a0This was only one of a long series of Protestant prophets who predicted the end of the world in one way or another and at one time or another.<\/p>\n
Then there are the secular doomsday prophets. The world was going to crash in the year 2000 when the computers would all go haywire and the system would collapse. At one time there was going to be a population explosion and we were all going to stand shoulder to shoulder and starve together. Now there is going to be a demographic winter in which there will not be enough children to continue our culture. There was going to be a new ice age and we were all going to freeze, now there is global warming and we\u2019re all going to roast and weep as we watch the polar bears drown.<\/p>\n
The list could go on, and I expect if you knew more about history you\u2019d find that in every age and in every culture people were expecting the end and predicting how it would come.<\/p>\n
The gospel for the first Sunday of Advent is full of the same sort of scenario, so Jesus too was predicting the end. \u201cThere will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,\u00a0and on earth nations will be in dismay,\u00a0perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.\u00a0People will die of fright\u00a0in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,\u00a0for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.\u201d<\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
What is it in human nature that loves a doomsday? Why are we so full of fascination and fear about the end of the world?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nTwo reasons: First of all, because there will be an end of the world. This world is bound up in the matrix of time. There is an Alpha. There will be an Omega. Time began and time will end. One day it will all happen in a crash in a trumpet\u2019s clash. Deep down we know this and are always watching and waiting.<\/p>\n
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we know for sure that one world will end, and that is our world. In other words, one day for each of us the lights will go out. We\u2019ll gasp our last and, if you like, our own sun, moon and stars will be shaken and the dark sea of death will roar and overwhelm us. It is our own end of the world that we fear, and knowing this, yet denying this we project our immanent end on the whole world.<\/p>\n
Apocalypticism is a kind of sick obsession. It\u2019s a spiritual disease. It is personal fear projected to a cosmic level. What\u2019s the cure? Momento mori: <\/i>Remember death.<\/p>\n
If we constantly remember that we will die one day, and if we live each day as if is our last, and if we fear even more eternal death and the sin that will separate us forever from God, and if we strive to live each day in his life giving presence then we will be amazed at how we will have no fear.<\/p>\n
Apocalyptic worries will dry up and we\u2019ll be able to say with a cheerful abandon\u2013\u201cThe end of the world? Bring it on. I\u2019m ready for it!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you ever noticed how humanity longs for an apocalypse? The typical doomsday merchant is the wild-eyed beardy weirdy on the street corner with his \u2018the end is nigh\u2019 sandwich board. He\u2019s the stuff of cartoons and comedians. He\u2019s the sort of loony who is only happy when he\u2019s unhappy. But there are salesmen of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Advent Doomsday and 2012<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you ever noticed how humanity longs for an apocalypse? The typical doomsday merchant is the wild-eyed beardy weirdy on the street corner with his\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advent Doomsday and 2012\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever noticed how humanity longs for an apocalypse? The typical doomsday merchant is the wild-eyed beardy weirdy on the street corner with his\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-03T18:19:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/SxhHZ8hW_qI\/AAAAAAAAEJk\/7EuWe0SlQhw\/s320\/2012+movie+poster.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html\",\"name\":\"Advent Doomsday and 2012\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-03T18:19:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-12-03T18:19:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"Have you ever noticed how humanity longs for an apocalypse? The typical doomsday merchant is the wild-eyed beardy weirdy on the street corner with his\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Advent Doomsday and 2012\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Advent Doomsday and 2012","description":"Have you ever noticed how humanity longs for an apocalypse? The typical doomsday merchant is the wild-eyed beardy weirdy on the street corner with his","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Advent Doomsday and 2012","og_description":"Have you ever noticed how humanity longs for an apocalypse? The typical doomsday merchant is the wild-eyed beardy weirdy on the street corner with his","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2009-12-03T18:19:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/SxhHZ8hW_qI\/AAAAAAAAEJk\/7EuWe0SlQhw\/s320\/2012+movie+poster.jpg"}],"author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html","name":"Advent Doomsday and 2012","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-12-03T18:19:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-12-03T18:19:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"Have you ever noticed how humanity longs for an apocalypse? The typical doomsday merchant is the wild-eyed beardy weirdy on the street corner with his","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2009\/12\/advent-doomsday-and-2012.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Advent Doomsday and 2012"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","caption":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/SxhHZ8hW_qI\/AAAAAAAAEJk\/7EuWe0SlQhw\/s1600-h\/2012+movie+poster.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n