Repent!
Published in El Espectador.com
(Colombia) on 12 December 2012
by José Fernando Isaza (link to
original)
The end is near. The Mayan prophecies indicate with precision that December 21, 2012 is the inevitable appointment with the end of time. These writings set August 13, 3114 BC as the date of creation of the world.
The best cosmological estimates peg the universe’s age at 12 billion years. In our planet there is fossil evidence that leads us to conclude that the earth is at least 4.5 billion years old. This makes it difficult to harmonize the end of the world date when the estimated beginning of the world date is not like the one found by paleontologists and cosmologists.
In all fairness to the Mayan astronomers, we should remember that in the 17th century English Archbishop James Ussher calculated the date of creation of the world as October 23, 4004 BC, the same order of magnitude as that calculated by the Maya. Not content with this, he estimated at 6,000 years the duration of the cosmos. Therefore, the world would end in 1996. There is evidence that this did not happen. Returning to the Mayan calendar, it calculates the duration of the world at 5,126 years. Since the world was created in 3114 BC, it ends in 2012.
Creationists in the United States, who generally belong to the Republican Party and its tea party section, justify the six days of creation, and therefore youth of the earth, with the reality of long geological periods by saying the creator introduced the fossils when he finished his work.
Of course, the world can suffer a cosmic catastrophe. About 60 million years ago, a meteorite, upon crashing into the earth, produced a cloud of dust that reduced photosynthetic capacity and rendered dinosaurs extinct. More recently, on July 13, 1908, in Tunguska, Siberia, a meteorite destroyed hundreds of square miles of subarctic vegetation. As the site was inaccessible and uninhabited, the strike became widely known only several decades later. Periodically a meteorite comes closer to earth than the moon. Scientists are analyzing and designing techniques to reduce the impact or alter the orbit of an object that gets dangerously close to the planet.
In October 1962, the world was near its final cataclysm. In the Cuban missile crisis, if the U.S. submarine attacked the Russian vessel, Cuba, which had three missiles with nuclear warheads, would have responded. In his memoirs, Robert McNamara relates that on a visit to Cuba he heard Fidel Castro say that he would have attacked New York, Miami and Washington. When McNamara, surprised, asked him to repeat that, Castro confirmed it to McNamara. Asked if he was aware that the U.S. response would be to destroy the island, Castro said that it was the cost of maintaining socialism.
The nuclear arsenal of the Cold War was enough to destroy urban civilization many times over, to which should be added what Nigel Calder called nuclear winter, a nuclear war during the arctic winter. In addition, the destruction of cities would raise a cloud of dust that would further reduce the ability of photosynthesis in winter. The result: the extinction of most species, including humans. The species is more likely to end this way than through the work of a cosmic cataclysm.
The best cosmological estimates peg the universe’s age at 12 billion years. In our planet there is fossil evidence that leads us to conclude that the earth is at least 4.5 billion years old. This makes it difficult to harmonize the end of the world date when the estimated beginning of the world date is not like the one found by paleontologists and cosmologists.
In all fairness to the Mayan astronomers, we should remember that in the 17th century English Archbishop James Ussher calculated the date of creation of the world as October 23, 4004 BC, the same order of magnitude as that calculated by the Maya. Not content with this, he estimated at 6,000 years the duration of the cosmos. Therefore, the world would end in 1996. There is evidence that this did not happen. Returning to the Mayan calendar, it calculates the duration of the world at 5,126 years. Since the world was created in 3114 BC, it ends in 2012.
Creationists in the United States, who generally belong to the Republican Party and its tea party section, justify the six days of creation, and therefore youth of the earth, with the reality of long geological periods by saying the creator introduced the fossils when he finished his work.
Of course, the world can suffer a cosmic catastrophe. About 60 million years ago, a meteorite, upon crashing into the earth, produced a cloud of dust that reduced photosynthetic capacity and rendered dinosaurs extinct. More recently, on July 13, 1908, in Tunguska, Siberia, a meteorite destroyed hundreds of square miles of subarctic vegetation. As the site was inaccessible and uninhabited, the strike became widely known only several decades later. Periodically a meteorite comes closer to earth than the moon. Scientists are analyzing and designing techniques to reduce the impact or alter the orbit of an object that gets dangerously close to the planet.
In October 1962, the world was near its final cataclysm. In the Cuban missile crisis, if the U.S. submarine attacked the Russian vessel, Cuba, which had three missiles with nuclear warheads, would have responded. In his memoirs, Robert McNamara relates that on a visit to Cuba he heard Fidel Castro say that he would have attacked New York, Miami and Washington. When McNamara, surprised, asked him to repeat that, Castro confirmed it to McNamara. Asked if he was aware that the U.S. response would be to destroy the island, Castro said that it was the cost of maintaining socialism.
The nuclear arsenal of the Cold War was enough to destroy urban civilization many times over, to which should be added what Nigel Calder called nuclear winter, a nuclear war during the arctic winter. In addition, the destruction of cities would raise a cloud of dust that would further reduce the ability of photosynthesis in winter. The result: the extinction of most species, including humans. The species is more likely to end this way than through the work of a cosmic cataclysm.