Saturday, May 24, 2008

A very Grim Thought

Maybe it's just me having one of those depressions but somehow recent events seem to suggest that maybe the end of the world is nearer than we think. I'm not a Christian and I may be wrong in the following interpretations so o u devout Christians feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Following excerpts are copied and pasted from Wikipedia and edited with my ideas of how I think it all links together.

It is said that when Judgement Day is near, the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse will arrive on earth. These four horsemen are Pestilence, War, Famine and Death.

The White Horse (Pestilence) - the rider carries a bow with no arrows, is given a crown (symbolising a nonviolent rise to power). As the colour white seems to represent pureness and holiness in the Bible, there are interpretations that the first rider might be the Holy Spirit or even Jesus himself. The other interpretation is that it is the antichrist disguising himself as a symbol of holiness. This occurs to me that what if it is the latter? Lately I've been reading some articles and they seem to suggest that the Dalai Lama is not as we believe him to be. To some, he is a symbol of peace and righteousness yet to others he's one who spreads lies and rumours. I will not elaborate further and those who are interested can click on this link.

The Red Horse (War) - the rider wields a greatsword and the horse is red from the blood soaked in the battelfields. Well this seems like the ongoing wars in Iraq, Sudan, Israel and Palestine. Humans killing each other due to different ideologies.

The Black Horse (Famine) - well i don't really think i need to elaborate further for this one. The recent food supply shortages have already sparked riots in a few different countries. With the effects of global warming becoming more prominent, the yields of crops gets lower. While the rich in this world are throwing their food away, many others in this world are scavenging the lands just to survive the day. How unlikely is it that famine has yet arrive on Earth ???

The Pale/Green Horse (Death) - Unlike the other horses, this horse is pale and skinny. Its rider is none other than death. Well it might sound far fetched but the recent disasters be it man made or natural seem to have taken lotsa lives. 9-11, the 12 26 Tsunami, the Hurrican Katrina, Typhoon Nargis that hit Myanmar and the Quake in Si Chuan, China. All these seem to show that Death has indeed come and claim its victims.

Sad to say it seems like with these Four Horsemen arriving on Earth, the time is near. The sadder part of it all seems to suggest it is mankind that brought them here...

1 comment:

Michael said...

Sure you can make that argument but you can make it for a hundred other eras of history as well. The Black Death was called the Pestilence and it remains today to be the biggest outbreak of plague in history (the 14th century wave). European disease killed millions of natives in North and South America in the first century after the discovery of the New World. There have been a lot bloodier wars than those between America and the Middle East. Certainly WWI, WWII, and Vietnam all boast numbers which will not be trumped by the Gulf War, Iraqi War and the war on terror combined. This is also disregarding anything before this century such as the fall of the Roman Empire, the Hundred-Years War, Russian Revolution, American Civil War, etc. And the Jews, Christians and Muslims have been fighting in the Middle East for centuries; this is not a new phenomenon. As for the white horse being a false prophet or Christ... I’m fairly certain that if Christ had indeed returned, we'd know about it by now. Hitler won over the German people because he was charismatic and saved Germany from hyperinflation that made the coast of a loaf of bread increase by 400% a day. He also freed Germany from oppression they suffered under the very unfair stipulations of the Treaty of Versailles. He was seen as a savior and they adored him. But he used his power to do wicked things. He was called the Anti-Christ even before his death and I’m sure countless others have been considered so by some people or another. And famine isn’t even an argument. Third-world countries are starving, sure, but if all the food in the world were distributed evenly, I’m certain everyone would be healthy. There are such large surpluses of food now in most established countries. People are more obese than ever and grow larger every year. We can also afford to eat food throughout our 75 year life-spans as compared to the 25 year life-spans of pre-modern Europe in which they regularly ran out of food and starved to death. Not Somalians or Ethiopians: the English, Irish and the Dutch. If all of these past incidences of pestilence, false-prophets, famine and war did not result in the fourth horseman bringing Hell to Earth, then I don’t see why any modern-day connections possess any serious implications that the end of days is near. But that’s just my thoughts. You could be entirely right in your speculation. Hell you may be right by sheer coincidence and the White Horsemen will arrive next year and the whole thing will happen exactly as the Bible explains. Personally, I think that’s ridiculously unbelievable and if the Apocalypse is to happen in the manner described by John, then it will be similar to your thoughts –spread out over a lengthier period of time and there will be no actual horsemen.