I am simply going to use the discussions of our high school reading group during January and February. Once a month my wife, our youth minister, and I meet with 25 to 30 ninth to twelfth graders. We begin with a fine dinner and proceed to a discussion based on a topic they chose the previous meeting. I send out a two page essay as preparation.

We three leaders believe the Church should be a place where young people can honestly explore their ideas. We begin each year establishing only one rule, “No put downs”. We make clear the only time we shall object to anything is if they say they are stupid. Often the young people will remark along the way, “Why can’t we talk this way about these kinds of things at other places?”

Last November a sophomore suggested we talk about the end of the world using the movie 2012 and the book of Revelation. I sent out the following essay.

                                               The Last Days

What’s going on with the movie 1012? Is the world really going to end on December 21, 2012? Do we only have three more years? Will only 400,000 be saved on gigantic arks to build a new civilization? Is the movie really based on the ancient Mayan calendar? Did this ancient culture which flourished in Guatemala between 300 and 900 AD really know more than we do 1100 years later? Is this related to and maybe supported by the biblical book Revelation?

Well, the Indians who still live as Mayans and the scholars who have studied it answer “No!” to every one of these questions. They say the ancient calendar like most ancient ones thought events went through repeated cycles. The Year 2012 was simply the end of one of these cycles, which would be followed by another Year 1. In fact, the idea was not that this would be a catastrophic ending but a joyous rebirth offering all kinds of hope. Obviously Hollywood decided they could make a lot of money with sensational scenes that play on people’s anxiety about the future.

But is that all? Even though there may be nothing to the 2012 prediction, should Christians be afraid of the world ending soon? Will God bring great destruction that will cause people to suffer terrible things?  Does the book of Revelation predict what will happen? Why do so many Christians think Revelation predicts events that will happen very soon?

Well, first this is nothing new. There have always been some people who have predicted the end of the world coming soon. They get people to follow them in troubled times, such as our current financial crisis. Over and over they have predicted specific dates, and guess what- every time they have been wrong. All such efforts have been failures 100% of the time.

So why does it happen over again? People who do this are just like Hollywood. They can get people to listen to them and make money. There is a televangelist who says God has told him to prepare people for bad times ahead by selling survival kits. Sounds like a money maker to me. There are others who describe terrible catastrophes ahead which people can avoid only by becoming Christians, preferably by joining their church. Obviously, this is using fear to make disciples. Jesus used love, not fear. In John 3: 16 he proclaimed God loves the world so he sent Jesus to save us.

The book of Revelation is not about the end of the world at all. It is about God bringing the fall of the Roman Empire which was persecuting the Christians. When the author gives a date, he says it will take place in 3 and half years. He is talking about what God is doing right then and there to make a better world.

There are other biblical passages where God promised to make all right in the future.  Like the Mayan idea this was not to frighten people but to give them hope. They were to remain strong, even standing up to persecution until God established his peaceable kingdom. .

And never is a date predicted. Jesus himself said in Mark 13 “About that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.”  Until then we are not to fear but to love one another. I’m going to stick with Jesus rather than Hollywood or fear- mongering preachers.

I began the discussion asking those who saw the movie to summarize it for the others. Everyone seemed to understand it was silly to base anything on the Mayan calendar or any other ancient prediction. The kids talked about groups they knew who were always talking about the world ending. They mentioned class mates from a large fundamentalist church who were always trying to scare them with hell. I jumped in to observe that for the most part the Bible uses hope not fear, love not hate.

I then asked why so many people get excited about the world ending. I probably said the most at this point, mentioning it seems to be a way to handle suffering they can not control. God’s people were always being oppressed by oppressive empires. They spoke of the Day of the Lord when God would make all right by finally bringing justice and peace.  I mentioned I had taught Revelation at the seminary and found John was really talking about the fall of Roman Empire not events in our time. That led the kids to begin a long discussion about what they regarded as bad religion, for instance fire and brimstone preachers. They clearly wanted to test their ideas about what good religion should be.

I made some remark about always being careful when people, especially politicians and preachers, try to make you afraid, observing they usually want to control you or take your vote and money. We ended talking about whether you change people significantly by scaring or loving them.

How do you read the kids wanting to talk about the end of the world? Or better yet, what do you think about people always worrying about the Last Days?