When is the End of the World?

Every time I hear of someone else predicting the end of the world, I just giggle. Well, sometimes I roll my eyes, but in any case, I rarely pay much attention to any such claims, and I never take them serious. Why? Well, in addition to the mounting pile of evidence over the years that people don't really know what they are talking about with their apocalyptic predictions, I happen to believe what the bible says about the end of the world.

I understand that some of you may be turned off at the mention of bible based reasoning for my claims, and that's ok. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, I have included a video with a "scientific" explanation about why the end of the world can't be predicted as well. But, I really hope you will just "humor me" and read my perspective :)

First, according to the King James Version of the bible:

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." II Peter 3:10

Now, if you would, to the New International Version:

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare." II Peter 3:10

Pretty much sounds like the end of the world to me...at least the end of any kind of world any of us would really want to live in...wouldn't you agree?

Now, let's think about that for a minute. Have you ever heard of someone getting a phone call from a potential robber with a warning that they were casing out the place? I can just hear that now. It would probably happen something like this:

Telephone: Ring, ring

Home/Business Owner: Hello?

Thief: Yes, I am a thief. I have been casing your house and/or business, and I will be coming in to take everything you own of value in about 4 hours.

So, if this was the case the owner could be ready for the thief and would thwart any effort by the thief to deprive him or her of their property. As a society, we would have less need for law enforcement officers, court, and taxes. Now, wouldn't that be nice?

But, no, this isn't how it happens. The thief is very sneaky. The robber will secretly seek out items of value to obtain through deception and will most often come and go before the victim is even aware of what has happened.

I believe this is how the day of the Lord - or the end of the world - will happen. There will be no forewarning, no bells and whistles, no way for scientists or their gadgets to be able to predict, no holy prophets prophesying. The day will come and go and no one - NO ONE - can tell you when that day will be.

Now, I am not affiliated with any religious organization. I do have some religious background in the United Pentecostal Church, International; however, I have not regularly attended a UPCI church in over two decades for reasons that I am just beginning to come to terms with. I am beginning to speak about the situation in some of my others hubs.

I have published content about Healing from Abuse in Church and Survivors of Abuse in which I go into a little more detail about what happened to me as a young teen. The story is coming out little by little, and every, single, little, tiny bit of it is painful. Sometimes, it's almost as if I'm reliving it. I often find myself zoning out as I type (kinda like I'm doing now).

When all of the things that happened to me as a young teen happened, I felt as if MY world had ended. Hell. MY world did end. I was used to singing, praying, and praising God in church, and then, practically overnight (or so it seems in hindsight), I was drinking, smoking, acting promiscuously, and just generally being ridiculous, hateful, and confused. I had no friends or family for support, and everyday I spent a significant amount of time waiting for God to strike me dead for my sins.

Some days, I still struggle with those thoughts. Thoughts of a mean, nasty God just waiting to impart judgement on the wicked and send them to hell. Unfortunately, I learned more about God's judgement than God's love and mercy from early childhood into my early teen years. Sermons about hellfire and brimstone and prophecy teaching about the end of the world left me too terrified to sleep some nights.

So, I said all of that to say this. I am no holy person of God. I am no preacher or pastor. I am not writing this hub with some marvelous revelation about anything. I am just a sinner, saved by grace, who happens to study her bible from time to time, and who is tired of individuals coming out with a new date that the rapture will happen or when the world will end. I am tired of people using this ploy to make money, or get attention, or attract new members (which would make them more money), or scare the crap out of people so they will start coming to church (which would also make them more money).

I would bet my life on this. If somebody announces that they know a date that the world is ending, well, it isn't going to happen that day. And, furthermore, YOUR world as YOU know it may end today, or tomorrow, or maybe it already ended yesterday or the day before. We are not guaranteed our next breath. I believe that decision is held in the hands of the Master of the universe, and He is the ONLY one who knows when it all ends for any of us...or all of us...however it may be.

Don't take my word for it. Study up on it for yourselves. That's what He died for. So that you and I could have our own relationship with Him. We alone are responsible for our own relationship with our Master, our Creator. Don't ever let anyone come between that or take that away from you.

And for Heaven sake, please spread the word so that people will stop falling for the hype! He's got the whole world in His hands, and He will not put our destiny...our future...into the hands of any mere mortal or human. He would have wasted His time dying for us if He did that.

Blessings all!