Why is every generation so obsessed with the end of the world?

Question

it seems to me that every generation thinks the world will end with them and over Interprets some of the events of their time as God's wrath or coming of the christ but really its just politics and natural disasters. its no different now...why do you think this is?

Answer 1

Well you have to admit it's a pretty scarey prospect, and so taken advantage of by Religions, politicians, perhaps even retail sales,,,IE: a sign saying,,,LAST CHANCE to spend your dollar,,,this is REALLY our "final", going out of business sale!"

Fear of the unknown often comes before acceptance of it, even when something no longer remains an unknown, we exercise caution initially with regard to it.

The other issue may be as valid. Without going into any religious context,,,NO OFFENSE to those who do,,,I suspect that the feeling of not having any control over a situation like that might cause some angst.

The problem in that however, is that the focus shifts to the YIKES!!!!! The when, how, etc... as opposed to continued focus on the NOW.

Rev. Steven

Answer 2

The mistake is in believing in incidentalism. That is applying contemporary events to Biblical prophesy or some other end-times belief system. People really thought Mussolini was the anti-christ because he was an Italian (Roman) dictator. But as it turned out ofcourse he was very mortal and died very badly, but not after doing a lot of evil. People probably should be conscious of their behavior and live as though the world were about to end. That way maybe their fear of judgment might make them act better. But, probably not. The Bible says no one knows the day nor the hour when the end will come, only God the Father knows and apparently He's keeping that secret to Himself.

Answer 3

Because deep down in side of us we know that the world can't go on forever for one, 2 the ancient mayans who had a grip on forcasting their calender shows that the end would be 2012, and 3 there is info that tells that the earth is over 4.5 billions years old, this planet is alive and has a spirit which animates it. Now 4.5 billion years is a long time to be doing anything, but here's the deal, just like we humans even though we don't remember, we set a expiration date for our death before we incarnate in this game, well it's no different for the planetary spirit which gives life to plants, animals, insects and all other living creatures on this planet, has it's own expiration date which is in 2012. This may seem crazy how can anyone know really, well if this existence is not the real reality then if one searches deep enough for truth you would be surprised what one can learn about the true nature of reality. One day you will realize that we are spirits using these bodies for playing and experiencing as humans. My understanding is that all life must be exstinguished before 2012 in what is called a endgame wildcard event. We have rocks heading to wards earth for which the governments are trying to find ways to blow them up in preventing that scenario from happening, we have a major volcanic erruption for which is underground in yellow stone park, which if setoff will be 1000 times larger than mount st helens erruption which will wipe us all out, or Alien invasion etc... I watched a program this last week where the science channel (I think it was called dooms day) is showing this same concept on all 3 of these potential scenarios which surprised me, because info I get is not of an earthly nature but from a spiritual nature. There will be no stopping it from occuring, it is set in stone and most of us who are here are here for that very reason to be apart of the endgame events. Although this is what it is aparently there is another planet in this galaxy for spirits to continue their gaming, but as for the spirit which animates earth will be graduating to other levels of experiences.

Answer 4

It is an innate, human fear. Isn't any huge disaster, like the Asian tsunamis, or Hurricane Katrina, kinda like the 'end of the world' so far as those living through such are concerned? If everything around you were wiped out, but you were left alive, and you could find nothing but death and destruction for as far as you could see, or walk, if you had no communications with the outside world--wouldn't YOUR world have come to an end? Isn't it all relative? Little and not-so-little tragedies happen every day, and 'the world ends' in some fashion or other, for people somewhere. I guess if it includes YOU, then of course it'd feel like the rest of the entire world was along for that ride, as well.

Answer 5

because from the time that we are old enough to understand, we are preached to about the end of the world. we become obsessed because we see the things that are told to us by our elders to watch for and the fact that older people tell us it's the young people that are ruining the world. how could we not become obsessed. only when we wake up and realize that the world is still here even though people thought it was ending a long time ago do we realize that "hey, maybe it isn't ending, maybe it will go on even after i die" that we get over it. within the last two years i've been in and out of live, literally, only to come around and find out that my kids are still here and life has gone on as before, just one less person.

Answer 6

Because we as human beings fear - and are naturally intrigued by - the unknown. We can't prepare ourselves very well for something we don't know about, can we? For some people, trying to figure out when the end of the world is coming is a way make them feel a little more secure about what they can't see. (How many people do you think wouldn't be releaved to know that their generation wasn't the one to have to endure the End Times?) For others, it's a way to see into the mind & workings of God (once again, intrigued by the unknown).
Hope that helps a bit.

Answer 7

The following is what I think should be one of the ways of looking at what people mean by the END of the World :-

It can be understood as the END of an ERA.
ie., the present era of MAN will come to an end, and give way to another way of living or another era. Throughout history, we have examples of this. The Bronze Age, Roman Era, blah, blah...

So it excites the people in general about discussing the possible outcomes, as it involves the future of MANKIND. The possibility of predicting or basing their theories is endless. One can base one's assumptions based on religious books, and/or predictions of other people like Nostradamus, and other great thinkers.

All of these can serve as a warning to the way in which MAN is heading towards the future, so that we do not end up makinng hell of what we have around us.

Answer 8

I think it's a little better now, as we get more sophisticated. Didn't ancient people think eclipses and such signalled destruction and similar things? The more we learn about what will actually destroy the world (probably), the more educated people are......it will improve. Until we are just disembodied heads in jars, though, somebody will want to predict the end of the world.

Answer 9

I don't think it is divided by generation, little kids are not usually concerned but in the middle years it is a common fear, almost like a social disease, and it has been going on for two thousand years at least. Is it related as a cause or effect of apocalyptic religions is something that I wonder about now and then.

Answer 10

It's not really the current generation but usually two or three back. Our grandparents and sometimes parents complain about "today's youth" and take the relaxing morals as signs of end times. In the seventies they were giving their parents heart attacks with burning bras. Before that it was that darn rock n roll. lol It's amazing to me that so many people are worried about the afterlife they aren't paying too much attention to living in the one they have now.