Zac and I were talking about crop circles the other day.
He said, “So we know aliens exist because of these designs.” Beautiful, no? Apparently, lots of people believe in aliens and their power to destroy us. Some intrepid hikers in France hid in caves, waiting for aliens to come. I think crop circles are really cool, but consider it one of those fun pranks perpetrated by a secret society of farmers to keep life interesting.
Today, according to that much-maligned Mayan calendar, the world should’ve ended. People searched online for more one-way flights during this week than any other in recent history.
Some partied – hard.
Remember all the freak out about Y2K? Did anyone stockpile food, water, or ammunition? Twinkies?
NASA denied the end of the world, emphatically. To quote an article on latimes.com:
“Dec., 22, 2001. If you’re watching this video, it means one thing: The world didn’t end yesterday,” the video begins.
The video goes on to cite information from Dr. John Carlson, director of the Center for Archaeoastronomy at the University of Maryland. (Archaeoastronomy, for the uninformed, is the study of “astronomical practices, celestial lore, mythologies, religions and world-views of all ancient cultures,” per the center’s website.)
Carlson explains how the Mayan calendar became linked to the doomsday myth. Many believe that because the calendar “ends” on Dec. 21, 2012, the world too will end on that day. But, Carlson says, the Mayan calendar will essentially roll over on this day.
In other words, the calendar won’t end, Carlson says, and neither will the world. I’m sure the video is very informative as well as correct, even though it’s still December 21 on the west coast of the USA.
I considered those poor Heaven’s Gate folks who killed themselves waiting for the Hale-Bopp comet to take them away. And the theologian Hal Lindsey’s predictions of the end of the world in 1988. I read the book. I considered not worrying about college, since I graduated from high school that year. But I decided to go ahead anyhow, just in case he was wrong. I didn’t wait atop a hillside, wearing a white robe, playing a harp and expecting Jesus to descend and take me up to glory.
Our believing in something doesn’t make it true. Ruby still believes in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause. Our superstitions and calculating won’t predict the end of the world. The Mayans’ descendants, according to my research, aren’t particularly interested in all the hoopla. They’re pursuing recognition as their own Hispanic-Native American race. All I keep thinking is this: “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows” (Matt. 24:36). Jesus said it, so I can think of no better authority.
Dancing in the Rain 