Thursday, January 21, 2010

Just For Fun!


This is not religous or political- just pure speculative fun!
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The other day I watched a History Channel special, "The Doomsday Prophecy" about the Mayan "prophecy" that the world will be destoryed on Dec. 21, 2012. I had heard of this before, but this special went into detail.
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The idea is that the Mayans had a circular calendar, whereas we think of time as a continuum, they thought of it as cyclical with periods of time repeating themselves. Their calendar "prophecied" (I put that in parentheses because I don't know if I would personally call them prophecies) certain things happening at various times based on astrology and previous events.
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Most of you know that I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-Day Saints, and WITHOUT getting into religion, the Book of Mormon is ancient scripture of what we now consider Native Americans- the ancient Mayans, Aztecs, etc. Any student of The Book of Mormon has heard of "The pride cycle"- a cycle which repeatly occurs in the Book of Mormon where the people are reighteous and blessed with posterity, they become greedy, prideful and wicked, then they are destroyed for their wickedness. Then they turn to God and become righteous, are blessed with posterity, and the cycle repeats. I bring this up for two reasons:
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1. The cyclical calendar of the Mayans is consistent with ancient texts of their ancestors, which our church does believe to be true
2. I would say that our culture is full of greed and wickedness and therefore possibly "ripe for destruction" and therefore also perhaps fitting in with the idea of this prophecy being true
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Another important note: Dec 21, 2012 is the day of destruction because that is when the sun will be in perfect line with the Milky Way, an event which occurs only once every 26,000 years. The way the world will be destroyed is by flood.
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So here are my questions: Have any of you studied this at all? Do you find it fascinating in the least, or is it just a bunch of hype and Dec. 21, 2012 will pass as any other day?
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I find it an interesting topic of discussion, but I will wait to share my opinions until I hear some of your thoughts first!

6 comments:

  1. D&C 49:7 - I, the Lord God, have spoken it; but the hour and the day no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor shall they know until he comes.

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  2. Um, Christina - I have NO CLUE what the heck you are talking about. Plus, I don't think it matters - we live our life in "moments" (happy and sad) nowadays, because we know how fast it can change and be turned upside down. I worry about the future, like everyone, but I focus on doing the best I can in the present, and enjoying all of my gifts in life. (sometimes I'm successful, sometimes I'm not).

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  3. You should check out some astronomy and calendar parallels with the architecture of the main temple at Chichen Itza. The sun lines up exactly with one of the openings on a certain date...

    One of my favorite classes at BYU was a Maya Culture class. So many fascinating parallels with their culture and things I had already learned (religious and otherwise)! The professor especially had the perfect approach: He would present facts, then ask us what we thought. After discussion, he would present counter-facts to what we thought was proven. He encouraged us not to draw exact lines, but to keep exploring ideas and possibilities.

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  4. I know about it because I know some people who are treating that date like people treated Y2K. Preparing themselves just in case the Mayans are right.

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  5. That would have been an awesome class, Becky! When we were in Tulum and hearing about the Mayans, it was so cool to compare them to the people in the Book of Mormon and she how they changed the traditions but were still very similar.

    Anyway, my thoughts:
    Like Danielle said, the scriptures clearly state that NO man knows the time of the Second Coming. I certainly do not believe that Dec. 21, 2012 is the day of His return. Personally, I think the day will pass without incident. Here is my main arguement...

    The documentry spent much of the time explaining how the calendar had already predicted many upheavals, gov't overthrows, wars, etc. that had already come to pass. The flaw, however, is that I think you can find examples somewhere in the world to match each "prophecy." There is always a war SOMEWHERE in the world, always gov't overthrows, times of peace, somewhere. So you can make life fit the prophecy pretty easily.

    Instead of trusting this prophecy, I prefer to look at the scriptures-which I suppose do fit along with this prophecy in that the world will be destroyed. But again, no man knows when. Certainly, though, it seems signs of the times are all around us (Haiti), and we can choose to believe that they are a result of Mayan prophecy, Biblical Prophecy, or global warming (I do believe in global warming, by the way), or whatever.

    But, it is interesting to think about, and I can see how many might view this as truly the end of the world. But for me, I think Dec. 21 will be a normal day for most of us. Maybe I'll even throw a Doomsday party!

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  6. I think it's a very interesting topic, especially given all the information you laid out in your post. However, I don't think that date will be the end and for one reason only:
    Matthew 24:36 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."

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