The bible

[bobleponge]

Not a post I thought I would ever start, but I have been asked a question this morning that I have no idea of the answer.

The question was
"In your bible, is there anything mentioned about the day of judgement, and the sun changing direction in the sky?"

So, does anybody know the answer?

The man I was talking to was absolutely appalled that I didnt know the bible inside out, and me trying to explain that our 2 cultures are poles apart didnt seem to register.
He went on to show me something from the Qoran that Mohamed had said, along the lines of "come the day of judgement, when forgiveness will no longer be granted, the sun shall change direction in the sky."

He then showed me a scientific piece from Nasa (not sure whether it was the space agency or some other body) saying that Mars is already showing signs of slowing down and that the earth, at some indeterminate point in the future, will do the same and the sun WILL change direction.

I am but a bear of very little brain.

[rana]

In 'A Brief History of Time' (one of my bibles) amongst other places the sugestion is that the Sun will explode in about 5000 million years time. A date of no relevance to the human species but Mohamed is essentially correct.

[PaulG]

There is a lot of theories on the net about Planet X which by many accounts covers this.

The shortened version is that Planet X is a larger planet on a super elliptical orbit around our sun and as such only passes through our solar system every 2k years, every second pass it comes close enough to have a major impact on our planet, including the possibility of flipping the axis which the Earth spins on. Apparently it is supposed to be documented by many of the ancient cultures (Mayan etc) and they all have a judgement day type scenario built into their calendars.

If these theories are to be believed Planet X passed closely to us around the time of the great flood, the ice age etc and is due to come past us on a close visit around 2012.

My pc died and i have no links on this pc at the moment but just do a search if you are interested in these kind of things, like i said there is plenty of websites devoted to it.

[Seahorse]

The Bible says that both earth and heavens (so presumably the sun too) will be destroyed at the Last Judgement:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

[pdblake]

Seems to be an odd person to me who needs to check 'scientific' findings with Mo and the Book of Revelations.

[Hilary B]

My answer to this person would have been that those of us who are believers worship GOD, not the bible or a prophet. There are those who know every last word in the bible, but they are not necessarily particularly religious (of course some of them are, but I've met a couple of atheists who know the bible every which way). The Christian faith has more important issues than the end-times.....

[di]

The only thing I can remember about the final days is that it won't happen.....apparently....until everyone has heard "the word"!Oh & I also seem to remember figures on horseback having a bit of a battle in the skies.
As a kid I always found Revelations a little gloomy & now I'm a big grown up & must admit to rarely picking up the big book....OK,I wouldn't actually know where it is!...don't tell my parents!
My guess is that when the world is ready to either give up or lose it's battle against some other force,then it's gonna happen,I doubt I'll have any say in it all so would rather remain blissfully oblivious!

[TEB]

I thought Earth was going to be destroyed by Vogons to make way for a hyperspatial express route

[pdblake]

I thought Earth was going to be destroyed by Vogons to make way for a hyperspatial express route

PMSL. Wrong good book though

[piskieinboots]

the Sun will explode in about 5000 million years time.

guess I'll still have to cut the grass this weekend then

Don't you find it odd, in these days of multi-culture and multi-religion, that hotels only have the Bible in their drawers

[FionaH]

I thought Earth was going to be destroyed by Vogons to make way for a hyperspatial express route

Fine as long as they don't read poetry

[bobleponge]

I did explain to my inquisitive friend that Earth will be destroyed by Vogons to make way for a hyperspatial express route, but he did insist that wasnt really the question he asked.
Thanks for the less amusing, but clearly much more factual answers, they sort of roughly answered the question I think. He at least seemed to be happy that we have a similar picture of apocolyptic armegeddedon in our "good book" as they do.

[smallblueplanet]

Here's a very interesting site all about Apocalypticism.

It talks here specifically about the Book of Revelations in the Bible, fascinating stuff in its way!

frontline: apocalypse!: apocalypticism explained: the book of revelation

According to this chronology it was all originally the 'fault' of the Zoroastrians and their dualism!

frontline: apocalypse!: pictorial chronology

[bluemoon]

I've often wondered about the book of Revelations, it seems so different from the rest of the New Testament. I believe there was a meeting where which gospels would make up the New Testament was decided and can't understand the logic behind selecting the other stuff, then Revelations.

[SarzWix]

The only thing I can remember about the final days is that it won't happen.....apparently....until everyone has heard "the word"!Oh & I also seem to remember figures on horseback having a bit of a battle in the skies.
As a kid I always found Revelations a little gloomy & now I'm a big grown up & must admit to rarely picking up the big book....OK,I wouldn't actually know where it is!...don't tell my parents!
My guess is that when the world is ready to either give up or lose it's battle against some other force,then it's gonna happen,I doubt I'll have any say in it all so would rather remain blissfully oblivious!

Snap Di Our mad church was quite into trying to interpret Revelations... If half of what they used to say is true, then 'the end of the world is nigh' is right about..... Now!!