After reading the selection of A History of the End of the World by Jonathan Kirsch (whose last name, ironically, reminds me of “kirche,” the German word for “church”) and Revelations (KJV), I found myself reflecting on the way “apocalypse” is represented and how it influences groups.
Growing up in Texas, I often found myself among people who are largely Christian, those who believe in most of the Bible and take a lot of its word as their Law. When Kirsch discusses the influence that “The Apocalypse” had on people – and how it often drives certain people, (such as David Koresh, or Al Quaeda), towards violence, I found myself coming to the conclusion that violence seems empowered by Revelation if one reads it from the “right” perspective.
To elaborate, those that take the word of “Revelation,” as truth or as a part of the Bible that they believe in are faced with a set of specific circumstances: 1) If the tribulation is already happening, then they must suffer; 2) if tribulation is happening, then Satan has or shall soon appear; 3) If 1, and 2, have occurred, then they are waiting for their king, Jesus. If they believe that the End Time is not near, then they must endure. Under normal circumstances, we have seen that small-scale versions of “end times,” such as tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural disasters have driven people to all kinds of violence – when Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, people were robbing from one another, breaking into houses, and chaos ensued. I think that if one believes one is acting in accordance to their God, then violence could be seen as “defending” their earthly “kingdom,” or if one believes that Satan has come to power, that one might be faced with “defending” oneself from Satan — and those around one who might be influenced by Satan, or in accordance with him would probably also be something to “defend” oneself against.
I am not defending violence as a logical thing to be done, but I found that violence, from a modern perspective within the end times, was an interesting thing to analyze.
