SultanOfSwing

Buy him a Matchbox Ferrari - then you are true to your word, but you only have to pay £2.99

Rete

I'll be in Canada that day. Since Canada is a quiet country that few people worldwide know of, the world choas should not effect that country and all those within their border should be fine.

SultanOfSwing

It does make me wonder if there will be a lot of mass suicides on May 22nd, people thinking they weren't raptured and going all 'Heaven's Gate'

It's funny, I drive by a lot of churches who have advertisements for summer fairs in June . . .

Rose of the Shires

Perfect! Excellent tightwaddery. As his older brother only gets to use a clapped out Mercury Mystique, I'm sure our SD2 is more than a little suspicious of the whole Ferrari thing-clever lad. He will, however, be able to use the Mercury, end-of-the-world allowing, and if it lasts that long (the Mercury, not the world)

I like the idea of the God-botherers selling off their stuff though- there has got to be some good stuff coming on the market,no?

Eastbound

Well thats me reassurred then, just hope theres some hockey on

Rose of the Shires

This is what I don't get...aren't there supposed to only be 140,000 places in Heaven for the worthy? Surely it would be full by now...or is there some sort of timeshare thing going on?

SultanOfSwing

I think that's just the Jehova's Witnesses, or Mennonites or one of those groups. JW hold the record for the most failed EOTW predictions of anyone - well over 15 since the mid 1800s all the way through the 1990s

This new rapture phenomenon is not mainstream Christian by a long way anyway, the bloke who started it also said this would happen in 1994. You go to any church and ask the priest/vicar/whoever about this and they'll probably have a good laugh!

And the Mayans didn't know shit either, they couldn't predict the end of their own civilization, all they did was run out of space on the stone they were using for their calendar.

Octang Frye

Pascal's Wager (or Pascal's Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist Blaise Pascal that even if the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a rational person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Pascal formulated his suggestion uniquely on the God of Jesus Christ as implied by the greater context of his Pensées, a posthumously published collection of notes made by Pascal in his last years as he worked on a treatise on Christian apologetics. The Wager was set out in note 233 of this work.

To summarize, it's a good bet to believe in God, because:
1. If there isn't, at least you've led a good life by a good moral code.
2. If there is, and you're naughty, you'll be smited/smote and send to H E double hockey sticks. So best believe.

Octang Frye

The Mayan calendar doesn't come to an end next year. It's a common misconception.
A Mayan period of time - can't remember what it is - comes to an end, but the actual calendar goes off some 400,000 years hence.

It's all the New Agers who are spinning and re-spinning this stuff. It's in popular culture, and it's self-propagating now.

Rose of the Shires

[QUOTE=SultanOfSwing;9373090]I think that's just the Jehova's Witnesses, or Mennonites or one of those groups. JW hold the record for the most failed EOTW predictions of anyone - well over 15 since the mid 1800s all the way through the 1990s

This new rapture phenomenon is not mainstream Christian by a long way anyway, the bloke who started it also said this would happen in 1994. You go to any church and ask the priest/vicar/whoever about this and they'll probably have a good laugh!

And the Mayans didn't know shit either, they couldn't predict the end of their own civilization, all they did was run out of space on the stone they were using for their calendar.[/QUOTE]

They could have pushed a few more slabs 150 miles Stonehenge-style. Lazy bastards.

SultanOfSwing

You're right, it is actually the long count that ends, I was just simplifying it somewhat.

It's no different to my calendar ending on 12/31/11 and then I take it down and put up a new one that begins 1/1/12. I acually read that the main purpose of this 'long count' calendar was to mark time in the past, documenting ancestral legends and the like. They probably got to the end of this long count and thought it was far enough and that was that.

Given the change in calendar from Julian to Gregorian and the fact that there was no year 0; an argument can be made that the long count 'ends' 12/21 of this year, or indeed has already ended.

As you say, a bunch of new age hogwash. Mysticism at best, stupidity at worst. Just as bad as believing in astrology in my book.

Octang Frye

That's two jobs I can't figure out how to get:

1. Movie/theatre/restaurant critic
2. Astrology column writer

How do you wangle it to get paid for this? I am jealous.

Here, let me have a go:

Taurus: You are bullish today. An acquaintance from the past will rekindle old feelings. A financial surprise is on the cards.

Hawkini

Betting on the End of the World

I'll do one better - I'll take odds of 20,000,000 to 1 - just send me your money, I'll send a receipt - and if the world ends I'll... oh we'll all be dead so I wont have to pay out. And I'll have had your cash for a while before it did...

SarahG

Apparently there are a load of "believers" travelling the country in RVs spreading the word that the world is going to end on May 21. Weirdly, they say that judgment DAY will last 6 months!

Hawkini

No, but you're right on one thing - the Mayan calendar doesn't end next year. However, Mayan writing specifically states that the world goes through a transition at the end of one of these cycles - and the transition is a cataclysmic "renewal" - something about each of the elements - and I think the next one is fire - could be wrong. So while the world itself will not explode and cease to exist, it will still be around on 22nd December 2012, but just not a lot of people. I don't think it even says EVERYONE will die, just quite a lot