The Apocalypse: It's Already Happened... Multiple Times!

   If you're Catholic or Christian you've probably learned in Sunday school how the world was going to end. Although every religion has it's own version how the world is going to end (cultures that were once polytheistic - excluding India where they practice Hinduism - all have a version of fire and an end to all things), but the Revelations of the Christian Bible is the one most talked about as it is possibly the most violent. The Norsemen or the Vikings' version of Revelations is known as Ragnarok and it has the same tones of violent destruction with the sky turning to flames and the world entering a new ice age, which is one of the reasons they made an easy transition to Christianity. Every new generation says that it's the end of days; but so far their predictions of the world being destroyed by hail storms of fire and devastation have yielded little result. In fact, NONE AT ALL!
    My theory is: the Apocalypse has happened multiple times. Now, I've only seen the "spark-notes" version of Revelations: severe climate change, horrible disease, devastating wars, and an anti-christ to wrap all these things in a pretty bow and bring an end to mankind. If you look at history way back then, you may find some similarities between history's biggest follies and disasters and predictions in the Bible.
    First we may start with natural disasters. One in particular: The Flood. Every culture in the world tells of a flood that drowned the world, causing severe, rapid change in land masses and territory. People back then would have considered this the end of the world, but it wasn't. I could go back even further and discuss the ice age and the splitting of pangea but that would be going back before humans could record their own history. So I'll jump ahead to horrible diseases.
     The bubonic plague was a traumatizing event for mankind. It decreased the human population so much that many people believed that this could only be the End of Days, God will pass judgement on them. Yet after the plague receded, life continued on and the population began to rebuild again. Other diseases that plague mankind are STDs, cancer, and more recently Swine Flu and Bird Flu. There was also the Sweating Sickness that plagued England over the centuries. When the Pilgrims settled in the New World, they suffered disease and malnutrition. Most of them died from the cold or starvation; to them it would seem like the End of THEIR Days.
      Now wars? They happen more often now than perhaps before; most of these wars are usually fought not just in the sands or on the seas but in back alleys of Europe and America with spies. Yet we will stick with wars that have to do with drones and tanks. There was the 2 World Wars, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. With every new generation there's a new weapon that can kill (they say this will make it cleaner and less bloody - as if THAT makes it better!). Also there's the wars of drugs, crime, and sex slavery.
     Now we come to the Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ is supposed to come in the disguise of someone who promises salvation; to make their country great and powerful, who will bring world peace. In other words: a blood-thirsty dictator. Let's name just a few of those: Julius Caesar, Otto von Bismark (who brought the German states together to form the Prussian Empire through war), Adolf Hitler, Francisco Franco, Benito Mussolini, Fidel Castro, Quadaffi, Saddam Hussein, and Kim Jong-il. All have promised salvation and most have succeeded (depending on which side of history you're on) and almost all have met terrible (well-deserved) ends. Hitler murdered millions of innocents through the Holocaust and Hussein has done the same to his own people.
      Apocalypse translates to "awakening" or "hidden knowledge", which means the old world will gave way to the new world. Something so shocking happens, which destroys the old school of thought and is replaced by a new school of thought. The discovery of the Earth being round and not flat was enough to break some of the Catholic Church's authority for most people. When the Roman Empire fell, people thought THAT certainly meant the end of all civilization. The Dark Ages was a living End of Days where chaos ruled over reason. You can call this all crap but I choose to believe (and I never use that word unless I know something is true beyond a doubt) that another great discovery is just around the corner that will destroy our former way of thinking and give way to new ways of thinking. Perhaps a cure for breast cancer?