The original idea of Revelations was precisely to encourage Christians to live their life to their fullest.
It originates as a message of hope to first century Christians who were being persecuted and many of them dying for their faith. As the author of "From Adam to Armageddon" says
It's also one of the last books to be added to the Bible and regarded as a heresy by many early Christians.
Also, amongst Christians also, there's a wide range of views on how to interpret the Revelations, summarized in "From Adam to Armageddon: A Survey of the Bible", page 178 as
There, it's reasonable, given that it was written to encourage 1st Century Christians who were being persecuted, to hold the view 1. that the events symbolized in its pages have already happened, in the first century AD.
Or you can hold 3. that it's best understood spiritually. Many Christians hold either of those two views.
If you can't find people like that in your community see if you can find other Christians to talk to online or in other parts of the world, it might be reassuring.
And amongst those who hold the fourth view, again there's no particular reason to expect it is at all likely to happen now.
Here is a list of 242 predictions of the end of the world . Which is on going - that list doesn't include several new ones predicted since 2012, which didn't happen, with several failed predictions this year already
If you lived in Japan or India or Thailand, or China, or any other place where most of the population is not Christian or Muslim and you'd find that almost nobody thinks like this.
You might find other prophecies, with other timescales. For instance there are Buddhist prophecies that foretell some of the details of the future of our world for hundreds of thousands, or millions of years into the future.
And scientists have their prophecies also, according to them, then the sun will get too hot and Earth become uninhabitable half a billion years into the future.
Even here where I live in the UK, another Christian country, I don't think many think this way. We are influenced by the people around us more than we realize. So reflecting on that could also help.
Back at the time of the 2012 "Mayan" end of the world prophecy (which incidentally the present day Mayans - there are a few still left - were bewildered by), one in seven of the world population thought the world was going to end in their lifetime according to one estimate, and one in ten thought it was likely to happen in 2012.
Amongst those, 22% of Americans thought the world was about to end, and the same percentage in Turkey - but only 8% of the population of the UK, and only 6% in France, both Christian countries. That means, 94% of French and 92% of the British had no concern about this at all. So being Christian doesn't at all mean that you have to worry about the end of the world. One in seven thinks end of world is coming: poll
As to why the world would end eventually - I think that it will become uninhabitable about 500 million years from now, unless we find a way to do something about it, as the sun heats up on the way to becoming a red giant.
Bear in mind that a few million years ago, humans didn't exist yet as a separate species, and new species arise typically every few million years, and that half a billion years ago our ancestors were tiny micro-organisms just beginning to cluster together to make multicellular creatures - and you can see how huge a timescale that is.
The world isn't a permanent fixture for all future time. But it's got at least a few hundred million years of future to it according to scientists. And we may well be able to extend that also, or whatever civilization lives here by then).
And if we find a way past that - well won't be us anyway probably evolved into something else long before or extinct and new species and civilizations arise.
But if so - if tney find a way to move the Earth outwards (as they well might) or to move to another star, well eventually something will happen eventually. End of the universe perhaps. Or just that parts of it become uninhabitable. Either way nothing lasts forever. But that doesn't make the universe and our Earth any less precious.
It could be that some way is found. If we can warp space at will and create new universes as some suggest is possible.
Or perhaps not, it all turns into light eventually either through black holes evaporating or if protons decay as some think is possible.
It's a bit like, if you lived in early Paleolithic times - you'd have a whole world you lived in - and all that's left now are a few cave paintings of that entire 2.6 million years of history over the entire world. In many places nothing is left except a few piles of shells, or nothing at all.
Very probably at some time in the future long before the end of the universe, there won't be much left of the C20 on Earth and even the most specialist historians will have forgotten it. Like - you can imagine some future historians of another species say a billion years from now trying to figure out who or even what species left the foot prints and lunar modules on the Moon if they still exist and haven't been removed by then.
They won't be humans anyway - well very unlikely, trillions of years into the future.
There may be new "universes" that form after that, with other creatures in them - I'm not sure it makes much difference myself if some race from this universe is able to colonize another universe or they evolve again from scratch there.
Freeman Dyson did figure out another possible way, by which intelligent creatures could last subjectively or every in an ever expanding cooling universe, if it has an infinite future. It might be of interest:
And I think teachings like this are surely meant to inspire us to look at our lives and treat them as more precious and of greater value and inspire us to live better and more meaningful lives.
If you end up getting scared and upset - for no reason, especially repeatedly, for one predicted but failed Armageddon after another - I'm sure that can't be Jesus or God's message,if that is indeed what this book is. Whatever it means.
See also.
Robert Walker's answer to Why did God create the world if he was just going to destroy it at Armageddon?
MESSAGE OF HOPE
It originates as a message of hope to first century Christians who were being persecuted and many of them dying for their faith. As the author of "From Adam to Armageddon" says
"Regardless of whether Revelation holds the secret of the time and place that history as we know it will end, it holds the view that how one lives matters greatly. That alone makes it of value for those who use it as an authority for their lives. Its vision may have been intended primarily to support Christians facing death for their first century faith, but it has served a much broader purpose for continuing Christianity. A book of comfort and devotion, it has called people to faithfulness over the years, while assuring them of the faithfulness of the God it proclaims."
(From Adam to Armageddon: A Survey of the Bible - page 180 )
It's also one of the last books to be added to the Bible and regarded as a heresy by many early Christians.
Also, amongst Christians also, there's a wide range of views on how to interpret the Revelations, summarized in "From Adam to Armageddon: A Survey of the Bible", page 178 as
"1. A view that Revelation must be understood in the context of its own time and the events symbolized in its pages as having already taken place.
"2. A view that only a portion of the revelations have occurred and that the work offers clues to the remaining portion of human history.
"3. A view that the book is best understood spiritually, and no attempt should be made to interpret it in the context of history.
"4. A view that the book is prophetic and its prophecies are yet to be completely fulfilled."
There, it's reasonable, given that it was written to encourage 1st Century Christians who were being persecuted, to hold the view 1. that the events symbolized in its pages have already happened, in the first century AD.
Or you can hold 3. that it's best understood spiritually. Many Christians hold either of those two views.
COMMUNITY BELIEFS AND OTHER PROPHECIES
If you can't find people like that in your community see if you can find other Christians to talk to online or in other parts of the world, it might be reassuring.
And amongst those who hold the fourth view, again there's no particular reason to expect it is at all likely to happen now.
Here is a list of 242 predictions of the end of the world . Which is on going - that list doesn't include several new ones predicted since 2012, which didn't happen, with several failed predictions this year already
If you lived in Japan or India or Thailand, or China, or any other place where most of the population is not Christian or Muslim and you'd find that almost nobody thinks like this.
You might find other prophecies, with other timescales. For instance there are Buddhist prophecies that foretell some of the details of the future of our world for hundreds of thousands, or millions of years into the future.
And scientists have their prophecies also, according to them, then the sun will get too hot and Earth become uninhabitable half a billion years into the future.
Even here where I live in the UK, another Christian country, I don't think many think this way. We are influenced by the people around us more than we realize. So reflecting on that could also help.
Back at the time of the 2012 "Mayan" end of the world prophecy (which incidentally the present day Mayans - there are a few still left - were bewildered by), one in seven of the world population thought the world was going to end in their lifetime according to one estimate, and one in ten thought it was likely to happen in 2012.
Amongst those, 22% of Americans thought the world was about to end, and the same percentage in Turkey - but only 8% of the population of the UK, and only 6% in France, both Christian countries. That means, 94% of French and 92% of the British had no concern about this at all. So being Christian doesn't at all mean that you have to worry about the end of the world. One in seven thinks end of world is coming: poll
WORLD ENDING EVENTUALLY
As to why the world would end eventually - I think that it will become uninhabitable about 500 million years from now, unless we find a way to do something about it, as the sun heats up on the way to becoming a red giant.
Bear in mind that a few million years ago, humans didn't exist yet as a separate species, and new species arise typically every few million years, and that half a billion years ago our ancestors were tiny micro-organisms just beginning to cluster together to make multicellular creatures - and you can see how huge a timescale that is.
The world isn't a permanent fixture for all future time. But it's got at least a few hundred million years of future to it according to scientists. And we may well be able to extend that also, or whatever civilization lives here by then).
And if we find a way past that - well won't be us anyway probably evolved into something else long before or extinct and new species and civilizations arise.
But if so - if tney find a way to move the Earth outwards (as they well might) or to move to another star, well eventually something will happen eventually. End of the universe perhaps. Or just that parts of it become uninhabitable. Either way nothing lasts forever. But that doesn't make the universe and our Earth any less precious.
COULD A WAY BE FOUND TO CONTINUE PAST END OF THE UNIVERSE TRILLIONS OF YEARS FROM NOW?
It could be that some way is found. If we can warp space at will and create new universes as some suggest is possible.
Or perhaps not, it all turns into light eventually either through black holes evaporating or if protons decay as some think is possible.
It's a bit like, if you lived in early Paleolithic times - you'd have a whole world you lived in - and all that's left now are a few cave paintings of that entire 2.6 million years of history over the entire world. In many places nothing is left except a few piles of shells, or nothing at all.
Very probably at some time in the future long before the end of the universe, there won't be much left of the C20 on Earth and even the most specialist historians will have forgotten it. Like - you can imagine some future historians of another species say a billion years from now trying to figure out who or even what species left the foot prints and lunar modules on the Moon if they still exist and haven't been removed by then.
They won't be humans anyway - well very unlikely, trillions of years into the future.
There may be new "universes" that form after that, with other creatures in them - I'm not sure it makes much difference myself if some race from this universe is able to colonize another universe or they evolve again from scratch there.
Freeman Dyson did figure out another possible way, by which intelligent creatures could last subjectively or every in an ever expanding cooling universe, if it has an infinite future. It might be of interest:
"In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that I have not given any definitiveproof of my statement that communication of an infinite quantity of information at a finite cost in energy is possible. To give a definitive proof, I would have to design in detail a transmitter and a receiver and demonstrate that they can do what I claim. I have not even tried to design the hardware for my communications system. All I have done is to show that a system performing according to my specifications is not in obvious contradiction with the known laws of physics and information theory. The universe that I have explored in a preliminary way in these lectures is very different from the universe which Steven Weinberg had in mind when he said, "The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless." I have found a universe growing without limit in richness and complexity, a universe of life surviving forever and making itself known to its neighbors across unimaginable gulfs of space and time. Is Weinberg's universe or mine closer to the truth? One day, before long, we should know."
Time without end: physics and biology in an open universe
THE TEACHINGS WERE MEANT TO INSPIRE US
And I think teachings like this are surely meant to inspire us to look at our lives and treat them as more precious and of greater value and inspire us to live better and more meaningful lives.
If you end up getting scared and upset - for no reason, especially repeatedly, for one predicted but failed Armageddon after another - I'm sure that can't be Jesus or God's message,if that is indeed what this book is. Whatever it means.
See also.
Robert Walker's answer to Why did God create the world if he was just going to destroy it at Armageddon?
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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