Today seems to be a day for apocalyptic information. According to the Web Bot we will see food riots and general mayhem in the US in 2011-2012 due to lack of jobs, high food prices, and a worthless dollar. According to the article, we will experience armed insurrection. But over the years, the Bot has missed more than it has hit, and Clif High has proven to be a malcontent on more than one talk show. He has become the actuary bogeyman whose primary mission seems to be to scare the hell out of us. People have begun to take his warnings with tepid concern, or dismiss his warnings altogether.
On the other side of the coin, Russian scientists have moved the doomsday scenario twenty-five years ahead with their announcement that asteroid Apophis will make a direct hit on Earth in 2036. Be that as it may, I don't think this information is going to sway Patrick Geryl or Nancy Lieder away from their 2012 year of destruction.
Frankly, I'll be glad when 2012 is over. The cottage industry that has grown around this iconic date will hopefully fade into the past. The soothsayers and prophets of doom will have to devise other means of extracting money from their followers. The P.T. Barnum enterprises will cease only to be replaced with something else, because people seem to need an existential sense of impending catastrophe.
Just think about this for a moment: What would the New Testament be without the Book of Revelation? What direction would Christianity have taken without it? You can bet that it was included for that very reason, to keep people wondering and in fear. The writings are a labyrinth of dream-like symbols that tie in with Old Testament prophecies and Christian teachings of the day. The fact of the matter is that no one really knows conclusively who wrote it, yet Christians swallow what it says without question and without really understanding what it means.
One such person is Chris White who loves to bash 2012ers over the head with their real or imagined shortcomings, without taking a good hard look at his own. But Christians are famous for doing this. The trick is to vilify and demonize your opponent, all the while crying loudly that your faith is accurate, error free, and sanctioned by God Himself. But if you base your beliefs in symbols and myth how accurate can your beliefs really be?
Symbols are used in religion and politics because they work magic on the human mind. They can mean different things to different people. Take the swastika. Before Hitler corrupted it, it was a positive symbol in many cultures around the world, and still is. But that no longer matters. If you see a swastika today, you immediately think of Nazis. It has been hijacked for all time.
The symbols of Revelation have been used to denigrate the opposition for hundreds of years. It makes no difference who the opposition is because that would depend on your allegiance. You could be pointing the finger, or the finger may be pointing at you, depending on whose side you're on and what your own personal bias might be. Symbols in themselves don't prove anything. It all depends on how your mind reacts to them. Without your mental input they mean nothing, and are therefore subject to manipulation.
If you feel comfortable with the vengeful, vindictive god of the Bible, then that is entirely your problem. Other people may not feel the same, and this doesn't mean that their beliefs are any less valid or in any way demonic. It's true that many 2012 theories are totally misleading, presented to intrigue and generate revenue. But until that mystifying year comes and goes, no one is in any position to disprove their validity one way or the other, anymore than an atheist can say with unflappable authority that Jesus Christ never walked on water.