The other day I was shopping at Target and the check-out lady at the register inquired, "Do you have any plans for the end of the world?" Referring, of course, to the ending of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012 and the supposedly 'prophesied' destruction of the world and humanity as we know it. To which I replied,"No, not really, just going to work". She then asked, "If it did happen, would you be ready?" After a brief pause, I again replied, "Sure, as long as we all go together, I'm fine with it". I then wished her a happy 'last days' and left the store.
A few weeks previous in church the instructor offered his opinion that he felt the world has recently reached a tipping point where less than 50% of the world would be deemed 'good' or 'righteous'. I suppose this would mean that the 50.1% is 'evil' or 'bad'? I don't know if I believe this, but after the recent inconceivable horrors of the Sandy Hook Massacre last week combined with everything else that is going on in our globally connected world, it may be safe to say that the world is literally going to hell in a Handbasket. Just about everything is spinning out of control. The economy is in the toilet and probably only moments away from complete failure. Nations battle internally with inner strife and factioned power grabs. Governments and corporations are corrupt and function solely as a basis of self-interest based on greed and instant gratification regardless of moral or ethical considerations. The world embraces the barrage of never-ending cable news programs (on both sides of the political spectrum) vomiting out sensationalism and replacing sound and prudent journalism with gossip, speculation, and skewed social/political agendas while ignoring events or conclusions that contradict their 'brand' of truth.
We live in a society that gets without giving and feels no social obligation or responsibility--all under the cloak of 'freedom'. Why I couldn't say that the majority of the world is 'evil', I could probably say that they are apathetic, indifferent, and spoiled, which of course has allowed the thin minority of actual evil doers to run rampant and undeterred.
Regardless of how you want to quantify the percentages, it is clear that the world is quickly moving to a state of unsustainable irresponsibility, greed and apathy with lives that are increasingly unstable, unbalanced, immoral, and destructive. Maybe the checker was right and the end of the world is coming after all?
Well if it is past December 21st and you are reading this then the check out lady and the mayan's were wrong, but I fear only partially. If we turn to science we learn that Newton's first law of physics applies to all actions and situations: "For every action there is an equally and opposite reaction". For example, if you allow yourself to indulge in too many cookies and sweets nature returns to you an upset stomach or a mouth full of cavities. Likewise, when society embraces violence, immorality, greed, corruption, lasciviousness and debased and unbridled godless entertainment one can only naturally expect a resulting onslaught of social garbage and consequences spewing back at them. And thus, the state of the world we see today. How much longer can society deviate from it's moral and fiscal responsibilities and not have complete cataclysmic consequences?
I know that this isn't scriptural, but I do believe that one of the signs of the times which prove we have indeed reached a tipping point in social decay occurred when it was deemed socially acceptable for a grown man to go into a public grocery store at two in the afternoon in the middle of a work week still wearing his flannel pajamas covered with prints of baby chicks hatching from eggs while looking like he just woke up buying a large stash of candy, pork rinds and mountain dew so he can reenergize for another eight hour session of battling the Zombie Apocalypse on his xbox!
All I have to say is if this is the rising generation, we are all screwed anyways meteor attack or Armageddon aside.
So as I told the checker, "Have a happy last days!"
