Its almost the 21st

The idea of the world as we know it coming to an end has been around for thousands of years. The Bible, Nostradamus, past and present civilizations, and Hollywood directors have all had their own versions of how the world will end. Most versions have the world ending in horrific disasters like giant tsunamis, worldwide pandemic, and nuclear warfare. Did you already survive the world ending though? Well read on to find out 7 dates that the world was supposed to end on, but didn’t (including a few dates for the future).

1.) January 1, 1000 A.D.

The months leading up to the new millennium were tumultuous. Many pilgrims, knights, and others made a trip to Jerusalem, thinking that the Apocalypse and Armageddon was upon them. During their trip there, many died of disease and hunger. Some pilgrims even sold all their belongings in the hope that it would help them become one of the chosen few to ascend. Needless to say, the world was relatively safe when the calendar rolled over and many pilgrims were left homeless.

2.) Many dates in 1843 and 1844

There was this preacher named William Miller. He studied the Bible extensively and after doing some calculations, he became convinced that the world was going to end sometime in 1843. He double checked his answers for 4 years and then in 1822 went public in a document with his declaration. He said the world would end between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. When nothing happened, he pushed the date back to April 18, 1844. Another man within this movement, now known as Millerism, predicted the final doomsday date of October 22, 1844. When nothing happened (again), it became known as “The Great Disappointment.” The Millerism movement weakened after that and the thousands of followers were left confused and in disbelief.

3.) March 10, 1982

What’s so special about March 10, 1982? Well on that day, the planets were all on the same side of the sun. While the planets were not exactly in a straight line, many people saw this event as a sign of the end times. The “Jupiter Effect” was supposed to wreak havoc over tidal forces, cause earthquakes and hurricanes, and almost every other natural disaster you can imagine. Well, we’re still here.

4.) January 1, 2000

The infamous Y2K situation. Futurists had visions of toasters attacking their owners with weaponized toast and lawn mowers chasing after gardeners. Governments around the world feared that computers and electronic systems would read the digits “00″ as 1900, instead of 2000. There is no doubt that at least a few of the people who showed up in Times Square in New York that night were expecting to go out in a blaze of glory. Much to their dismay, the Y2K situation passed relatively harmlessly.

5.) June 6, 2006

If you write that date in short form, it comes out 6/6/06. As you may know, the number ’666′ is referred to as the sign of the devil. Religious sects were informing everyone they could that the Antichrist was returning to Earth and that people should prepare themselves. Either the Antichrist never came, or he got stuck in traffic because Earth still stands.

6.) December 21/23, 2012

This is quite possibly the most famous date for the end of the world. The date was “predicted” by the Mayans as the last date on their Long Count calendar. Other events are schedule to occur in 2012, causing more hype. One event includes the sun reaching a solar maximum (it might happen in early 2013). When it does that, the magnetic poles of the Earth supposedly might reverse, causing unimaginable damage. There is also a theory that a giant solar flare will incinerate the planet and if that wasn’t enough, supervolcanoes will erupt and completely block out the sun for whatever life is left on the Earth.

7.) The year 3797

Nostradamus is seen as a “prophet” by many. His books of quatrains that are supposedly about future events are well known and documented. However, Nostradamus’s prophecies stop abruptly at the year 3797. A sign of the end of the world? We will see.

Its not ending, now stop this crap and get back to work.

When I was at school, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were telling everyone the world was going to end in 1975 (well strictly speaking Jesus was going to return, so more the World Order would end rather than the actual planet).

They’d already got it wrong about 1914, (but said he’d returned “in the clouds”), 1918 and 1925. I’ve raised it with JWs on the doorstep and had reactions ranging from flat denial to a comment from one guy that he knew others who had taken out huge mortgages on properties on the basis they’d never have to pay them back.

I don’t think they’re any worse than any other harbingers of rapture, but in my Sunday School they told us no one could know the hour or the day (“Ah! The JWs would say, that doesn’t mean you can’t know the year . . . . . “). And that if someone said “look he’s there” you could be sure he wasn’t. But then they were nice ladies in sober hats, so it probably wasn’t exciting enough . . . . . .

@irish_lucy wrote:

4.) January 1, 2000

The infamous Y2K situation. Futurists had visions of toasters attacking their owners with weaponized toast and lawn mowers chasing after gardeners. Governments around the world feared that computers and electronic systems would read the digits “00″ as 1900, instead of 2000. There is no doubt that at least a few of the people who showed up in Times Square in New York that night were expecting to go out in a blaze of glory. Much to their dismay, the Y2K situation passed relatively harmlessly.

And if lord knows how many computer programmers hadn’t spent the 2-3 years running up to 2000 going through computer systems making the changes necessary and fully testing the systems, then many computer systems would have failed and the world might be a different place…

@irish_lucy wrote:

5.) June 6, 2006

If you write that date in short form, it comes out 6/6/06. As you may know, the number ’666′ is referred to as the sign of the devil. Religious sects were informing everyone they could that the Antichrist was returning to Earth and that people should prepare themselves. Either the Antichrist never came, or he got stuck in traffic because Earth still stands.

There is a school of thought that the number of the beast is 616, not 666…but let’s assume that it was 666…if the Antichrist was born on 06/06/06 he (or she) would now be 5 1/2 years old…there’s time for the end of the world yet :wink:

@irish_lucy wrote:

6.) December 21/23, 2012

This is quite possibly the most famous date for the end of the world. The date was “predicted” by the Mayans as the last date on their Long Count calendar. Other events are schedule to occur in 2012, causing more hype. One event includes the sun reaching a solar maximum (it might happen in early 2013). When it does that, the magnetic poles of the Earth supposedly might reverse, causing unimaginable damage. There is also a theory that a giant solar flare will incinerate the planet and if that wasn’t enough, supervolcanoes will erupt and completely block out the sun for whatever life is left on the Earth.
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I still think that Dave just decided enough was enough and went to the pub and they never found anyone else to finish the job. :P