One Must Live Through It

"Pretty much anyone who's ever considered how to make the world a better place has spent a little time seriously entertaining the idea of total annihilation. Even God, if the Old Testament is to be believed. After all, if the state of the world - and the people in it - is the problem, then why not wipe the slate clean?"

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Interesting piece...thank God for that opium in the vaults.

I wonder how Christians who believe in 'The Rapture' fit in with all this? That always seemed like an escapist philosophy to me. It's easier to believe all my problems will go away, bad people will be punished, and I'll get beamed up to heaven. It's funner to think that in just a few months, all this will be over and I'm going to make it.

People who worship the end, rather than the beginning, disturb the hell out of me.

I'm a Christian, and I dunno if you can say I worship the end. I mean, I find comfort in the idea of mortality, and so an immortal afterlife actually frightens me to the very cockels of my....place that has cockels. So, ultimately, it is going to vary. I look at "The Rapture" as an inevitability, and unlike the Left Behind series, I actually think the Christians will be the first to die. But I'd rather not get too involved in that.

As for the article, good read, though I have a friend that would truly LOVE a post-apocalyptic world. The guy loves to do urban exploration to begin with, and a world ruined like that is his dream. So much to explore and to discover when it has all been blasted into ruins.

Great article Russ.

Don't you think it's sad that we are going to wipe ourselves out before any natural disaster will? I bet there is even a line in Vegas for that!

Here's an interesting question:

If you when the apocalypse was going to happen, and it was soon (let's say next month), what would you do?

What could anyone possibly do? Commit suicide? Prepare for it like one might prepare for a natural disaster? Pray to Jesus Christ with all of one's might?

zoozilla:
Here's an interesting question:

If you when the apocalypse was going to happen, and it was soon (let's say next month), what would you do?

What could anyone possibly do? Commit suicide? Prepare for it like one might prepare for a natural disaster? Pray to Jesus Christ with all of one's might?

Stock up on canned food, iodine tablets and bullets.

I would do nothing. If you lead your life in the moment the fear of the apocalypse is non existent. It really is an intangible, there is no way one person could have enough effect to change it, so then why worry?

@ L.B. Most 'Christians' do not read the Bible. Thus the horrors of the crusades, the Pgoroms, and other acts of depravity "in the name of 'Christ'", are matched, if not by a lesser level, to the horror of a grave thematic irony, if one looks at the history of the world as a work of literature. So you see, it is easy when facing a complete lack of understanding in ones supposed religion, that such an error, like end worshiping, can occur.

edit- Great read btw.

Enjoyable read Russ, I enjoy my post apocalyptic fiction to.
And I have printed out plans of how to construct a variety of nuclear fallout shelters, and working in the nuclear industry I'm well versed in the effect's and methods of dealing with radiation and contamination . If I have enough time, if the escalation isn't to war isn't to fast, Ill be stomping about the wastelands handing out my own idea's of justice at the end of my 12 bore. I blame watching Mad Max, reading the Omega man and to much Fallout, damn media warping my mind when i was younger.

Truly interesting, Russ. I've been a fan of Apocalyptic fiction for some time now, going back to the days of Mad Max, I Am Legend (the book), Death Lands, etc. It's refreshing to see this revival of the genre (with the promise of Fallout 3 in the coming Fall). I'll be keeping an eye out for more of your writings from here-on-in.

Now, if you'll excuse the short post, I have to go look up some of John Mack's material. Damn you for putting more on my stack of things to read!

TheThanatos:
If I have enough time, if the escalation isn't to war isn't to fast, Ill be stomping about the wastelands handing out my own idea's of justice at the end of my 12 bore. I blame watching Mad Max, reading the Omega man and to much Fallout, damn media warping my mind when i was younger.

I can't decide how to respond to this. "I look forward to meeting you on the wasteland highways," sounds appropriate, but gives the impression I'm praying for apocalypse. "I hope I never see how your plans turn out for you," also seems fitting, but it's a lie.

As a Christian, my biggest grip with my fellow Christians is that they seem overly welcome to the idea of laying down and taking the Apocalypse like a... laying down Christian...

Personally, I find the concept of and "End to the world" exciting. A Fresh start, a clean slate for Humanity, and new ways to screw ourselves via Government. Its not the fault of the Media, but rather the desire everyone has to just say "Screw it". We all want some things to change, and the "End of the world" is just as good a way as any.

Post-apocolyptic fiction is not a favorite of mine, and I see it mostly as a type of modern myth. Myths explain things that are beyond our grasp or that have no other ready explanation, so it is a way for us, as a self-aware community, to deal with the fact that we will cease to be. And I don't agree with the notion that Armageddon would improve the world at all. We have come as far as we have because we have built upon thousands of years of human history. Wiping the slate clean would mean giving all of that up for a quick fix, and we would not see the alleged benefits in our lifetimes, or our childrens lifetimes. If, that is, any of us are even left after the end.

truly enjoyable article!
movie being made of the road so will defiantly look into that!

L.B. Jeffries:
Interesting piece...thank God for that opium in the vaults.

I wonder how Christians who believe in 'The Rapture' fit in with all this? That always seemed like an escapist philosophy to me. It's easier to believe all my problems will go away, bad people will be punished, and I'll get beamed up to heaven. It's funner to think that in just a few months, all this will be over and I'm going to make it.

People who worship the end, rather than the beginning, disturb the hell out of me.

well the rapture isn't in the Bible sooooo, even if the bible is true, the rapture isn't.

sv93:
WOW the guy who wrote this is the same guy who did the title animation for Zero Punctuation Good Job Man : )

Hey, thanks. They have me do a lot of stuff around here. Glad you found this article though. It's one of my favorites.

Starting the slate clean (a "Tabula Rasa" if you will), is a concept many visionaries and scientists have disputed over. Plain and simply they all have reached similar conclusions, or have provided accurate examples, that it is not the responsibility of any mortal being to judge what the fate of the world should or should not be.

James Burke once did a great video where he examined the aftermath of the apocalypse and proved that our reliance on technology has made us almost incapable of surviving the loss of our technology. I'll post a link when I find it.

If you haven't already read it though Russ, I would recommend "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", because your diaper story reminded me about it.

The_root_of_all_evil:
If you haven't already read it though Russ, I would recommend "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", because your diaper story reminded me about it.

I read that book about 20 years ago. I highly recommend it as well.

I enjoyed every minute of reading this. Very, very good job Russ

That was a great read, although, I sure hope the apocalypse, when it comes, is NOT of the nuclear bombardment type since, me not living anywhere near anything that could possibly protect me from the fallout, I would probably die a horrible, horrible death.

Honestly though, I don't think an apocalypse would "wipe the slate clean". If anything, I could imagine life getting much, much worse, in every possible way, social, environmental, or otherwise.

As long as a man and a woman meet and can grow crops humanity will survive a nuclear apocalypse albeit with cancer. I disagree with the idea that the unthinkables don't prepare because they would give up. It completely ignores the people that would rather let a thinkable prepare for the end then smack them over the head and take their stuff after the event.