End of the World As We Know It...

[razeontherock]

Just pointing out your vision of a bright and glorious future = Armeggedon that much quicker. I'm surprised to learn that. any idea how many Ba'hai worldwide?

 

[AskTheFamily]

There is phases of end time and their possibilies

1) It's possible the world will go through darker times, and it's possible this ends.
2) It's eventual the world will be ruled by justice and peace by God's elect Representative and King Al-Mahdi, along on his side his Nabi Isa (Jesus) will lead and help him.
3) There is a phase were miracles will occur and hidden reality becomes partially exposed.
4) There is a phase after this that is very close to day of judgement.
5) Day of judgement will come and we will all gather, from begining to end, and this will be the last time we all meet, after that, we will go to our different designations and be seperated, but this the day we all meet, we witness each other states, we either are honored in one another eyes, or disgraced, our actions either make us ugly or beautiful, we either face eternall bliss and closeness to God, or eternal damnation and distance from God, it's the day of joy and regrard. It's the day the oppressed will be vindicated. And it's the day the Arrogant will be the lowest of the low. We will inherit the choices we made day and night, moment after moment, and what our life has produced. No interceder can avail anyone except whom God permits for whom he is pleased with. It's a day where our actions become visible and we come truly to know ourselves for whom we truly are. It's the day that repetance will not be accepted and regret and pledging of obedience will not avail anyone to the least.

Those whom strove for God's light will have it, and those whom sought to cover it, will be deprived of it.

This is the day where the light will be completed for those whom held on to it, and this is the day the hell will show it's true face for those whom relied on it.

It's a day of intense regret for so many, and it's the day of honor for his friends.

The true rich will be those rich in good deeds, and the truly deprived will be those whom deprived themselves of faith and goodness.

It's day to be feared, and it's a day to be hoped for. It's the day we should put our remembrance in, remembering that our forms one day will be due to choices we made, and our world will be based on our choices.

This is when finally the teachery of Iblees comes to an end, and the oppression of Iblees and his forces comes to an end, and those whom failed the test are pitied yet hated, and those whom passed the test are thankful yet praised.

This is the day of truth where God truly rules, and it's the day when the religion is manifest and that which was belittled becomes high and great and that which was glorified and made great becomes small and low.

 

[Arthra]

Just pointing out your vision of a bright and glorious future = Armeggedon that much quicker. I'm surprised to learn that. any idea how many Ba'hai worldwide?

I've heard around six to seven million Baha'is ... the actual percentage of population is usually under one percent.. Some countries the Faith is outlawed as in Iran and so it would be difficult to say how many Baha'is are there.. In some countries it is recognized.. Vietnam recognizes teh Faith while China does not.. so actual numbers are only estimates..

 

[Penumbra]

(Atheists: any predictions on how you expect the world to end? Heat exhaustion? meteor?)

Specific predictions are very difficult. I think the most likely finisher of the human race is over-specialization combined with some sort of cataclysmic event that shatters society. Most of the world is so dependent on technology and specialized services like supermarkets and power grids that if the system were to abruptly fall apart, billions could die.

Possible destroyers of the society system could include:
-Some sort of space threat, like a meteor or a gamma ray burst
-Some sort of complete global economic collapse
-Some sort of biological problem, like a new and potent disease combined with our transportation system that could send it around the world in a day
-All-out war

It may seem scary to you .. have you considered though that a disunited divisive planet at war is also scary? Economic chaos... I grew up during WWII and the cold war.. now that was really scary my friend!

these changes will be slow in coming..consider that we are only now have an international court of arbitration through the UN..

Adding my two cents...

I don't think a unified world government is a wise idea because it collects too much risk together. If one domino falls, it could wreak havoc through the entire system. Having a distributed system where if one domino falls, others are separated enough to rebound, as in our current system of separate countries, makes more sense to me. Not to mention the current system spreads out risk in the form of many world leaders, so bad ideas are hopefully contained. Separate leaders, separate currencies, separate policies, etc.

Of course certain alliances like NATO or world-councils like the UN are a good idea, as the ideal scenario is that while there are separate world units, they remain out of violent conflict.

-Lyn

 

[Arthra]

Well Penumbra wrote:

Of course certain alliances like NATO or world-councils like the UN are a good idea, as the ideal scenario is that while there are separate world units, they remain out of violent conflict.


My reply:

The beginnings are always somewhat floundering P. and we Baha'is currently work closely with the UN as a Nongovernmental organization though our Baha'i International Community office in New York so it's all toward the good.. I think it will take some time to form a representative world parliament but we're on the way!

We Baha'is have a slogan.. "The world is one country and mankind it's citizens!"

 

[razeontherock]

The world is one country and mankind it's citizens - now that I go along with. I'm just surprised you ignore what the Bible says about one world Gov't.

 

[BruceDLimber]

Greetings!

I'm curious about other faith's End of the World scenarios.

In fact, in the Baha'i view this whole "end of the world" thing is a mis-translation!

In the original New Testament the word used was "eras," which means "world" or "age."

And IOV the compilers picked the wrong meaning: this verse in fact talks about the end of the Age!

Which we Baha'is beleive has already come and gone about a century and a half ago!

Simple as that.

Oh--and Mark, please note that the Baha'is already have a worldwide administrative system which we use internally, with nonpolitical democratic elections at the local, regional, national, and world levels! Good stuff!

Best,

Bruce

 

[dewaddict84]

END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!

That would be the technological singularity, where technology changes things change so much that it's neigh impossible to predict how the world will be afterwards. That would be an end of the world as we know it. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. It definitely could be though.

1) There's a bunch of loosely associated ideas about this. Like one involves computers and AI getting smart enough so that they can overtake our own man made developments in computers and AI. The rate at advancement would take off like a rocket. That's one idea among many. Mostly these are dreamers and sci-fi writers, but it's interesting.

2) We've hit technological singularities before. The industrial revolution, the agrarian revolution, the surplus populous revolution. Each one fundamentally changed how society works. Some things will stay the same. And it takes a while. It's not overnight. Arguably, we're in the middle of the computer/internet singularity right now.

 

[JasperJackson]

If a worldwide government is going to be a good thing and everyone recognises it as such then surely everyone would have to agree on the purpose/direction of this government. So do you believe everyone will eventually be Bahai?
It seems like you believe in creating a "heaven on earth"...?

 

[BruceDLimber]

[D]o you believe everyone will eventually be Bahai?

While I try to avoid making predictions (world's riskiest business), it could well happen, yes, though we don't necessarily expect EVERYONE will, at least not initially.

It seems like you believe in creating a "heaven on earth"...?

Quite so! In fact, we have a saying (which happens to contain a semi-outrageous Baha'i pun):

THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH
** (Some assembly required) **

Best!

Bruce

 

[Booko]

I'm curious about other faith's End of the World scenarios.

What is supposed to happen, and what are the signs? Is your Armageddon story literal? Do you think it will happen soon and why?

(Atheists: any predictions on how you expect the world to end? Heat exhaustion? meteor?)

I see several religions say the signs include war, famine, pestilence, natural disasters, etc...but that stuff happens all the time, and has been since before time.

Why even go to a totally literal End of the World? I think you caught it perfectly in this thread's subject:

The End of the World As We Know It.

We'll, humanity's already done this at least once before, when we made a shift from hunter/gatherers to agriculture.

One could certainly argue that a transition to a truly global view for humanity would be a big shift as well.

And transitions of any type, big or small, are known for difficulties. As they say, you can't make an omelette w/o breaking some eggs...me, I'm looking forward to the omelette.

 

[Eudaimonist]

And transitions of any type, big or small, are known for difficulties. As they say, you can't make an omelette w/o breaking some eggs...me, I'm looking forward to the omelette.

I hope those eggs being broken aren't people. I'd be looking forward to the chickens.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[peepnklown]

I am thinking an asteroid or the Sun will be the end of the Earth.

 

[David69]

Hm. This sounds scary to me. One world currency? A world parliament? There is massive potential for abuse there.


eudaimonia,

Mark

Not while I rule the world there wont be.

Its not the end of the world as we are lead to beleive but the end of an age! and a new beginning.
the world will come together as one in love and peace.

 

[Qman]

The earth will be consumed by the sun in about 5 billion years. Whether or not mankind will succeed beyond this, by finding another planet is unknown -- however, 5 billion years from now, homo sapiens will likely be completely extinct, replaced by a number of distant descendants... This is assuming we don't blow ourselves up or make our current planet too inhabitable too quickly.

Either way, there's no evidence of it happening in my lifetime. All I can do is encourage others to keep mankind steered int he right direction for our collective survival.

Given the way humans are behaving today, I would be shocked if humanity survived 5 billion years from now.