RTB Response to End of the World Claims

For more than a hundred years doomsayers have claimed that the Mayan, Incan, and Egyptian calendars predict a specific, imminent date for the end of the world. Half dozen such dates have already come and gone. A closer look explains why: these ancient calendars (and other “prophecies”) are so vague that almost any doomsday date can be made to fit, including 2012. And in a world where terrorism, massive weapons, and natural disasters all are widely visible, fear easily gains a foothold.

From an astronomical perspective, no one should be particularly concerned about December 21, 2012. Dire warnings about Venetian gravity, Planet X, and solar flaring spring from misinformation and distortion, not on fact. From a biblical perspective, we all would do well to heed the words of Jesus: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” He urged us to “be ready” at all times, to live each day engaged in fulfilling His stated purposes for us so that whenever He wraps up history for us, individually or collectively, we’ll hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
 

Key topics based on viewing trailer and researching marketing campaign sites:

Relevant RTB articles:

• Mayan calendar (“Response to 2012 Prophecies”)
• Eschatology – Ken Samples’ 12-part TNRTB series, “Thinking About ‘Future Things’”
• Conspiracy theories (“Logic 101, Part 2 (of 12)”)
• The occult (“The Buzz on UFOs”; “Testing the Claims of Astrology”; Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men; “UFOs, IFOs, and Glowing Lights”; “Alien Encounters Fail the Test”)
• Prophecy (“Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible”; “Response to 2012 Prophecies”)
• Natural disasters (“More Evidence for the Design of Earthquake Activity”; “Good God, Cruel World”; “What If There Were No Hurricanes”; “The Physics of Sin”)
• Flood – Noah’s flood subtopic
• Earthquakes (“More Evidence for the Design of Earthquake Activity”; “Designed to Shake”; I Didn’t Know That! 02/10/09)
• Planet X; collisions (I Didn’t Know That! 06/02/09; “Response to 2012 Prophecies”; “Big Collision, Beautiful Moon”; “Planet Formation Problems”; “Unique Moon Rising”)
• Crustal displacement (Plate tectonics subtopic; “Earth’s Carefully Crafted Crust”)
• Solar radiation (“Bright Young Sun”; “Faint Sun Paradox”; “Rare Sun”; “The Sun’s Stable Fluctuations”)
• Earth’s core (“Coreless Terrestrial Planets”)
• God’s sovereignty (“Why the Universe Is the Way It Is”; “Anthropic Principle: A Precise Plan for Humanity”; “What Makes the Christian God Unique”)
• New Creation (“After Death I.D.”; chapters 12–13 in Why the Universe; chapter 10 in A Matter of Days; “Why the Universe Is the Way It Is”; “Paradise Restored or Paradise Replaced”)
• Christ’s return (“Response to 2012 Prophecies”; “Thinking About ‘Future Things,’ Part 8 (of 12)”; “Thinking About ‘Future Things,’ Part 11 (of 12)”)
• Salvation (“The Physics of Sin”; “How Can I Get to Heaven?”; “On Becoming a Christian”)
• Reason & Faith as Allies (“Does Faith Support or Hinder Reason”; “Faith and Reason”; “The Historic Alliance of Christianity and Science”)
• Apologetics – General Apologetics Subtopic

Relevant RTB books:

• Why the Universe Is the Way It Is
• Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men
• A Matter of Days
• A World of Difference
• Without A Doubt