OUR OBSESSION WITH THE END OF DAYS
AMERICANS ARE SEEMINGLY obsessed with apocalyptic story lines, frequently flocking to consume TV shows, movies, and books with plotlines that center on zombie attacks, worldwide weather disasters, biblical raptures, and the like—end-of-days scenarios that depict humanity on the cusp of extinction.
At a deep, visceral level there seems to be an inherent interest among the masses in exploring the terrifying “what-ifs” when it comes to potential mass calamity, with entertainment providing a typically safe venue for such consumption.
Sociologists and academics have a variety of theories about what drives these interests, with Dr. Kyle Bishop, an English professor at Southern Utah University, positing that fears in the post-9/11 world have potentially driven much of the recent fascination with zombie-themed entertainment.1
“Because the zombie is so simple and can be whatever people want it to be, more than any monster, it represents the tabula rasa [blank slate],” Bishop said. “A white space—it allows itself to be rewritten and reused.”2
The professor also dug a bit deeper, though, noting that in the post-9/11 world many people began to feel unsafe, with related and subsequent events such as the anthrax and avian flu scares and Hurricane Katrina adding to those worries.
“Suddenly there was a 5-year period when people in the U.S. felt insecure, and as it so happened, the nature of those insecurities manifested in zombie narratives: Invasion, destruction, apocalypse, infection,” Bishop said. “There was this intersection of these influences that made it perfect for the zombie to take over. People like monsters that manifest the things they’re worried about.”3
But that obsession has extended well beyond the five years that followed the 2001 terror attacks, with Hollywood continuing to capitalize on the end-times intrigue as those with an interest in biblical prophecy keep a watchful eye.
Even before 9/11 the end-of-days narrative was ripe in entertainment and literature with Hollywood churning out the 1998 apocalyptic film Armageddon and with religious publishers and production companies beginning to court faith audiences by shedding new light on interpretations of events recounted in the Book of Revelation.
In real life too people have reacted in a variety of troubling—and comical—ways in recent years when they interpret certain events as being potentially cataclysmic.
While it wasn’t quite an end-of-days scenario, let’s not forget people’s overwhelming obsession with the turn of the twenty-first century—the event known as Y2K that led countless Americans to store water and food for fear that computer systems worldwide would essentially self-destruct. The systems, of course, didn’t combust or break down, and life continued on without much of a blip.
And who could forget the hoopla surrounding the Mayan calendar that left some worrying that the world as we know it could come to an end on December 21, 2012? Of course, the earth kept on spinning beyond that date without incident, proving that those fears were patently unwarranted.
What really causes this inherent interest in the end of days? And, on the theology front, what will happen if and when the Bible’s predictions about the end come to fruition?
As for the former question, Dr. Angela M. Becerra Vidergar, a comparative English professor at Stanford University, has sought to explore these paradigms, positing that the modern-day fascination with the end of the world stems from World War II, particularly America’s use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Vidergar argues that those events made it more difficult for people to “imagine the type of positive future that was more prevalent in centuries past, for example, during the Enlightenment or the Industrial Revolution,” according to a recap of her views that was published by Stanford.4
“We use fictional narratives not only to emotionally cope with the possibility of impending doom, but even more importantly perhaps to work through the ethical and philosophical frameworks that were in many ways left shattered in the wake of WWII,” she said.5
With the world not really improving much after World War II, Vidergar explained that people still find themselves struggling for answers in light of “other atrocities, other genocides and other disasters.”6
She too noticed an increase in depictions of the apocalypse in books, movies, and TV shows, saying that these themes tend to become pervasive in the wake of events such as 9/11 as people process what unfolded.
But in a world in which instability seems to be the new norm, with radical Islam dominating the headlines and fear gripping a great many, one must wonder if people are more routinely feeling as though something isn’t quite right—as though the world is off-kilter in some profound way. Perhaps people are looking for answers.
Team that dynamic with the fact that Christians themselves have believed for two millennia that Jesus Christ will one day return in His much-anticipated second coming to usher in a new heaven and a new earth, and you find yourself with a fascinating scenario.
Perhaps people are awakening. Or, at the least, feeling that internal inkling that the world is headed in an uncertain or calamitous direction—an idea that the Bible blatantly predicts.
A focus on the end times in religious circles, of course, is nothing new, but it’s the extension of that theme into the mainstream culture that is quite fascinating, causing one to wonder if the events of the day are responsible for sparking a greater interest—even in fictitious and improbable scenarios—among those who aren’t religious or biblically literate.
When we speak about the post-9/11 world in particular, it’s important to note that the fears that emerged after the attacks never subsided but instead have morphed and evolved at a rapid rate.
Without a doubt, domestic and international events have intensified, creating increasingly troublesome conundrums over the past fifteen years: Economic woes. Wars. The rise of the incredibly barbaric Islamic State (also known as ISIS). The list goes on.
Theologians and Bible experts are looking at these events and comparing them to what’s prophesied in Scripture, coming away with divergent ideas.
Many are asking: Is the world currently living in the last days? I’ll be diving deep into that question in this book, exploring what the Bible says about eschatology and why so many biblical experts of goodwill come away with incredibly divergent ideas.