2012

Today is December 21, 2012. My guess is if you can read this the whole global meltdown has not happened and…well…this is one more false prediction of the worlds end that never panned out. It really can cone to no surprise in that such prognostications are wrong 100% of the time.

All the hype surrounded speculations made about the Mayan Long Count calendar, which ends a “Great Cycle” lasting 5125.36 years, which was one of several ways those ancient Mesoamericans reckoned time, the others being the Haab, the Lords of the Night, and the Tzolk’in [1]. Did the ancient Mayan culture that flourished in Central America between AD250 and AD800 really have anything to say about the twenty-first century?

Unlikely! The equating of the completion of the “Great Cycle” with the end of the world is a “modern invention” and whatever the Maya believed about the future, they expected life to go on pretty much the same forever [2]. Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Crystal River, FL. considers the 2012 hype to be “a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in” [3].  David Stuart, director of the Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas at Austin, says, “There’s going to be a whole generation of people who, when they think of the Maya, think of 2012, and to me that’s just criminal,” and adds “there is no serious scholar who puts any stock in the Maya said anything meaningful about 2012” [4]. 

Another problem is the certainty of December 21, 2012 being the so-called “end” of the Long Count Calendar. The correlation constant is the way scholars correspond the Mayan Calendar with modern time keeping; however, not all Mesoamerican scholars agree on the what date the Great Cycle begins on the Gregorian Calendar. The Goodman-Martinez-Thompson correlation constant begins with a Gregorian date of August 11, 3114 BC, which concludes on December 21, 2012. The Floyd Lounsbury correlation constant begins on August 13, 3114 BC and ends on December 23, 2011. Other correlations have far different dates. Herbert Spinden’s correlation constant ended in 1756, whereas Charles Bowditch’s ended in 1493, and various other theories were purposed [5].

Still, the December 21, 2012 hype has been fodder for some good storytelling. Chris Carter employed the date in the X-Files television series mythology as the scheduled time when extraterrestrials—who were the original inhabitants of the earth—would re-colonize the planet and render the human species extinct. Roland Emmerich’s 2012 starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet was a well-done keep you on the edge of your seat sci-fi / action flick.

2012 has also prompted various discussions on religious and spiritual matters. New Agers have used the so-called end of the Long Count Calendar to suggest some sort of evolution of consciousness that would lead to a kind of spiritual utopia. Reality Sandwich editorial director Daniel Pinchbeck, for example, draws upon an archetypal understanding of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent of Mesoamerica, which represents the “integration of rational and empirical thought with shamanic, intuitive, esoteric knowledge,” which would have significance on 2012 [6]. He foresees the mastery of psychic power to change the world. The way to obtain this psychic power is from “indigenous cultures” which can help us “learn the principles of utilizing ritual and trance to concentrate psychic energy, interacting with elemental forces to influence climatic conditions and alleviate suffering” [7].  If the development of psychic powers could change the world, then why has not India advanced far beyond other nations including those of the “First-World” in technology, human rights, ending poverty, and sustainability, after all their spiritual Gurus and ascetics have been for many centuries developing their own psychic technologies though various forms yoga, and they should have mastered their psychic powers to change the well before 2012? Whether or not people can attain psychic powers is also doubtful.

What is more disturbing is that Christians have even jumped on the 2012 bandwagon. Popular end-time teacher Jack Van Impe, for example, uses Mayan Calendar to predict the Rapture. He says, “Mayans were brilliant people and you can tell that from the way they constructed these glorious pyramids in the Mexican Yucatan, Belize, Guatemala and then, of course, in Honduras…Now, the civilization ended in the 10th century but already they were telling what would happen a thousand years later, for December 21, 2012. Now what could they have possibly meant? They couldn’t have meant the end of the world according to the Bible. Perhaps they were thinking about something like the rapture or Armageddon. That’s very possible, that a great war would come, the final war in world history” [8]. 

Van Impe’s suggestion undermines the biblical doctrine of divine inspiration and the principle of Sola Scriptura. If Maya were given knowledge of things to come, unveiling God’s hidden plan for the ages, then there the Mayan Calendar offers special revelation. Unwittingly, Van Impe gives equal footing to Mayan Calendar with the Bible. Moreover, this type of end time madness leads people to make life long decisions on a great expectation for the end which never happens.

My prediction is that there will be even more dates predicted for the end of days, and like all others before them, the next generation of date setters will be 100% wrong.

~ WGN

Notes:

1.Mark Van Stone, “2012 FAQ” http://www.famsi.org/research/vanstone/2012/faq.html

2.Ibid. It should be noted that Van Stone seems to think that our world is still heading for significant changes, referencing to current events such as 9/11, the Middle East crisis, the 2008 crash of Wall Street and recession, nuclear threats, oil consumption, global warming, and overpopulation, which makes him believe the world will look different in 2012. He is also under the wrong impression that the Bible made a false prediction, suggesting Jesus would return at AD 1000 (Ibid.) However, the importance of his research into the Mayan calendar outweighs his personal views on contemporary issues related to sociology, politics, economy, and ecology. His misunderstanding of Scripture is also problematic.

3.G. Jeffery MacDonald, “Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse?” USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm).

4.A. Pawlowski, “Apocalypse in 2012? Date Spans Theories, Film” (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/01/27/2012.maya.calendar.theories/index.html).

5.Ibid.

6.Daniel Pinchbeck, “How the Snake Sheds its Skin,” The Mystery of 2012: Predictions, Prophecies, & Possibilities (Boulder, Colorado: Sounds True, 2009), 353-354

7.Ibid., 364.

8.Jack Van Impe Presents, May 16, 2007