To begin series of presentations for this semester let's talk about... The End Time aka Doomsday event.
In nearly every religion one can find prophecies about the end of the world. Most of them foresee that at the end of time there will be a huge battle between good and evil. Let's have a closer look...
Christianity
Doomsday event is described as the "Last Judgement". It can be found in various places in the Holy Bible, such as Gospel of Mathew and books of Daniel, Isaiah and the book of Revelation.
According to them:
"When the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.".
This will be followed by a fight between God and Satan. After a swift battle evil is destroyed and the last judgement will take place:
"And they were judged, each one according to his works. And Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."
The Last Judgment by Michelangelo.
Islam
In Islamic eschatology there are many signs for the coming of Judgement Day.
- The coming of an Antichrist (one eyed with a sign on his forehead), Imam Mahdi and then Prophet Jesus.
- The sun will swallow the moon.
- Major earthquakes will destroy mountains and cause Earth's body to break.
- The blowing of the first Trumpet killing all humans on Earth.
- The blowing of the second Trumpet marking resurrection.
Gog and Magog, the foul creatures will destroy supplied of food and water.
After that the Judgement will begin: the righteous are rewarded with the pleasures of Jannah, while the unrighteous are punished in Jahannam.
Judaism
The Holy book - Tora mentions very little about the end of the world. Book of Amos says that one should not wait for the judgement day. However it is said that when the day comes Messiah will battle with armies of Gog and Magog, after which the leader of their armies will be brought to mount Sinai, judged and killed. The world will be cleansed of all evil and a new house of God will be built.
The scroll of Tora
Who is Gog and Magog anyway?
Good question, they (it?) appear in Islam, Judaism, Christianity but it is not clear who or what they are. Some say they are a single character, whole nation, or even a land. All that is clear is that Gog and Magog will surface near the end of the world and lead theirs armies agains the forces of good.
Gog and Magog statues at Gaunt's clock in the Royal Arcade, Melbourne, Australia
Why do you think every culture contains a doomsday prophecy and how can you explain Gog and Magog appearance in three of the biggest religions? Coincidence or not...?
Stay tuned for part two to learn what will happen in year 2012 and how many comets are heading towards Earth...
In all monotheist religions Gog and Magog are symbols of the evil power, so it doesn't really matter what exactly they are. It's funny to talk about coincidence while we compare similarities of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, because they influence each other. Books of Tora are included in Bible and Islam refers strongly to Christianity. Also, names Gog and Magog are in use in some Judaic genealogies, so they couldn't be very uncommon. Anyway, could you write where exactly you have found Gog and Magog in Tora?
ReplyDeletehttp://pl.wikisource.org/wiki/Tora
Thank you for your comment.
ReplyDeleteLike I said Tora mentions very little about it. Gog and Magog part is in Book of Ezekiel 38-39. Judaism considers this book a part of its canon.
Of course there are a lot of similarities, after all we live next to each other for centuries. Still I find it curious that they sort of agree with regards to "final" things.
To answer the question I asked in the post - I think every religion contains a kind of a warning to its followers along the lines of "your deeds do matter and they will be evaluated some day"
On another topic:
When browsing through Islamic eschatology I found a list of minor signs of day of judgement:
- Men will begin to wear silk (a tie anyone?)
- Women will conspire
- Female singers and musical instruments will become popular
- People will dance late into the night
- Smog will appear over cities because of the evil that they are doing
Quite interesting when looking at our times.
The vision of the doomsday in every culture is different.
ReplyDeleteMost people/cultures have always believed in different ways of creating world,doomsday and many other things. It depends on where have you born. If something (world) was created in some way, it has to end (it doesn't matter if it's antichrist/four riders/collision with another heavenly body). It seems to be logical :)
In terms of doomsday and incidents of doomsdays...we are (our society) a kind of veterans.
ReplyDeleteHow many doomsdays were in a past? Many…
During my whole life I survived 2 of them. First at 1989 and the second one at 2000 and I’m doing really well.
It is like in "Power of Nightmares- a film", if you want to control people, you have to have an enemy that will unite your strength to the joint fight, so that you can have control over followers.
ReplyDelete>Coincidence or not...
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not. All three mentioned religions comes from the same geographic region. I believe that sources may be found in some forgotten tribal myths and stories.
@Tomek - only two??? :)
ReplyDeleteAs I remember there was a doomsday each two weeks in 2000 - even in my birthday..
When some one is writing, talking about doomsday I am not taking it serious. We can do nothing, so why should I lose my time to think about it?
All the similarities between religions you mentioned are explainable, as, I think, all of them are originated by the same ancient myths and believes. Most of them come from Mesopotamia, because this land was the cradle of humanity.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the source, but few years ago I've read an article about different religions and similarities between them. It was written, than in almost every single religion there are 12 sons or 12 students or 12 kings and so on.. and all that you can "read" from stars ;)
I agree with you Tomasz, many things in modern religions come from older ones.
ReplyDeleteHowever personally I think doomsday prophecies are just a way of scaring people and telling them that if they would not behave according to the rules of religion they will be punished.
the three mentioned religions have much in common, so i think i wouldn't speak about coincidences.
ReplyDeleteone weird thing about your questions: you wrote about 3 big religions and then you asked "why every culture contains a doomsday prophecy?".
there are cultures that are not religious and believe in reason, not superstitions. pastafarianism for example.
To be honest I don't believe in doomsday. My mum told me that back in 1989 (when I was 3 years old) I was very afraid of all that "end of the world" predictions, happily I'm a bit older now and I believe in science rather that culture doomsday prophecy.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is coincidence. Like others said these religions ware/are making big influence on others so any similarity shouldn't have been suspicious.
ReplyDeleteFor me doomsdays are fable. We can find any connections with old theories. Like "when you get your name. Put into some letters, reorder and delete some... you get "STATAN"" :)
I am totally with Mariusz Macieja. I like scientific point of view. Religion generally needs a thing to make people afraid, so that participating in religious rituals could “save” you. There must be something to encourage people to become a beliver
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI also believe in science - lets become the precursors of new religion!!! - "to believe just only in science!!!" :)))
ReplyDeleteSeriously, in my opinion religion manipulates people's life, especially those who are weak and not well educated. It's easier for them to believe in some "inconceivable power".
Doomsday? It can happen but not because somebody's beliefs or predictions.
Whether or not you believe in the end of the world depends largely on your upbringing. Anyway, whatever you believe about doomsday, it won't change anything about it appearing sooner or later. It also won't make you better prepared for it.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view all religions were created in only one purpose i mean to generate cash for their founders. Recently we were witnesses of sexual molestation of childrens on large scale by... yes who? PRIESTS! Is this normal? NO! Is this normal that people are coming to church to pray and priests are collecting money from them? NO! Why?! Religions are similar, contain records of a doomsday only to inject fear in us. It's not a coincidence it's a politic!
ReplyDeleteEvery religion has to have a doomsday. There have to be something to be scared about…and there is no better way to scary a throng of people than telling them about holocaust and the death. Those two element are enough to take the lead of stupid nations.
ReplyDeleteSexual molestation among priests – fact caused by celibacy. In the beginning of Christianity nobody said anything about celibacy. This is quite “new” idea, no family no inheritance… business is business. *print screen’ed*