Public Theology & Christian Living

by Clete Hux –

Move over, Harold Camping, the Mayan Calendar is here! To say there is an increased interest in end-times  (eschatology)  is an understatement. Go to any internet search engine and type the terms “apocalypse” or “doomsday” and you will have access to endless pages of articles. Or try typing in a predicted calendar date for the end of the world and the number of articles is staggering.

Why are we so easily absorbed with the world coming to its end? Perhaps the arrival of the new millennium contributed to this increased interest. Supposed computer clock problems with unknown and frightening consequences had many worried that infrastructure and commerce could come to an end, including even basic utilities and water. Leading up to Y2K there were analysts who wondered if the worst case scenario might result in a one-world government leader emerging to take advantage of a desperate situation.

Things got worse after 9/11. In the minds of many, the 9/11 attacks confirmed that the world was coming to an end. Robert Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University explains, “We experienced the visual and cultural [impact] that day- a little dress rehearsal for the apocalypse, watching those buildings go down…. Whenever there is a period of massive change, your mind tends to turn toward the end of days Things change so quickly that you can’t even get a grip on Monday. History is out of control, like a boulder rolling down a hill. We are in those times.”1

We live in an age when the sensational has become reality for many. These are the days of box office hits like Armageddon with Bruce Willis, 2012 starring John Cusack, and The Road with Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron. Some end-timers point to an increase in earthquakes and other environmental changes caused by an out of control climate such as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and this year’s tsunami in Japan. Hurricanes and tornadoes are seen by others to be evidence of the end. There is a website-www.December 21 2012.com-which calls itself the “official” website announcing the end of the world, even selling promotional t-shirts.

While Harold Camping may be working on another end-time date, he will have to make room for the Mayan Calendar, now taking center stage in end-time predictions. A cult following has developed around December 21, 2012, the supposed end of the Mayan Calendar, the theoretical doomsday to trump all others. The world as we know it will cease to exist after this date, according to supporters of this view. There is, however, a divided camp over whether the end of the calendar points to destruction or to an age of enlightenment of human consciousness.2 To make sense of this, one must understand something not only of the calendar itself, but of the Mayan people’s history and beliefs. Who were the Mayans?

MAYAN HISTORY

The Mayans were an ancient civilization that reached its peak between AD 200 and 900. Their empire stretched from parts of the southern states of Mexico down to the current locations of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and some of Honduras. They had a reputation for advanced writing skills and great construction abilities. Their pyramids and other intricate structures are well-known.

Historians believe the Mayans were not the first Mesoamerican people. Most think they were preceded by the Zapotec and the Olmec who existed over a thousand years prior to the Mayans.3 Their history may be divided into three periods: Pre-Classic (up to AD 200), Classic (AD 200-900), and Post-Classic (AD 900-1521). Although the Olmec civilization predates the Mayan, the Mayans did not necessarily originate from the Olmec. It has been said that due to differences in the two civilizations, Mayans probably originated independently of the Olmec, and not in succession. However, around Mayan lands were other related peoples developing along parallel lines.4 One theory maintains that the Mayans, along with other Mesoamerican groups, are descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel. However, there are huge differences between the Mesoamerican worldview and that of the Israelites, not to mention that modern DNA research has debunked this theory. Of course, the most accepted theory is that the Mesoamericans were originally Asiatic, having crossed the Bering Strait in the distant past and moved southward.

As a civilization, the Mayans are said to have reached their zenith in the Classical period (AD 200-900). During this time Mayan cities were large population centers. For example, Tikal, a Mayan city in what is now Guatemala, had a population of about 50,000, having more than 3,000 buildings, and covered an area of six square miles.5

With the arrival of Hernando Cortes (1485- 1547) and his Spanish Conquistadors, the Post­ Classical period of the Mayans closes. Though taking some 150 years, each Mayan city-state was eventually overcome by the Spanish. Itza, the last Mayan stronghold, was overtaken in 1697. Although remnants of the Mayan people still exist, this great once­ flourishing civilization has ceased to exist. Speculation has it that some kind of environmental cause contributed to their demise, pointing to such things as famine from over-farming and deforestation with depleting of soils.

MAYAN RELIGION

Being overcome by the Spanish, the Mayan religion suffered as well. Under the Franciscan Bishop, Diego de Landa, many of the Mayan religious books were destroyed supposedly for their pagan religious content. Most of the Mayan literature is thought to be extinct today except for the Dresden, Madrid, Paris and Grolier Codices.⁶ Two other sources or documents are considered important for Mayan study. These are the Popol Vuh and Chilam Balam, which are transcriptions in Spanish and Latin made in the 1500 and 1600’s from Mayan hieroglyphics.

The Chilam Balam, written in Yucatec Maya language, consists of historical chronicles containing prophecy, myth and divination. The Popol Vuh was written in Quiché, a highland Maya language. It tells of the cosmology and mythology of Post-classic Guatemalan Maya, chronicling the creation of man, the actions of the gods and the origin and history of the Quiché people. Another text, the Ritual of the Bacabs, covers their religious symbolism, medical incantations, and other similar practices.

As expected, the Mayans were polytheistic (belief in many gods). They worshiped a pantheon of nature gods, each having both benevolent and malevolent sides to them. For the Mayans, ltzamna was the most supreme deity, the creator god, god of fire and hearth. Kukulkan, a god known as the Feathered Serpent, who appears on many temples, was later adopted by the Toltecs and Aztecs as Quetzalcoatl. Chac was a hooked nose god of rain and lightning.

Another god is Bolon Tzacab who is thought to have functioned as a god of royal descent. He is depicted with a branching nose, often held like a scepter in rulers’ hands.

The Mayans apparently practiced a form of divination used sometimes in appeasing their gods. Prior to the mid-20th century, many thought the Mayans to be very peaceful, content with their astronomy and their religion. However, a different picture has emerged since the deciphering of Mayan hieroglyphic writings. These texts are believed to be a record of Mayan rulers waging war on rival Mayan cities, taking other rulers captive, torturing them and ritually sacrificing them to the gods.8 Human sacrifice (whose rituals were quite graphic) appears to have been a central religious practice for the Mayans. It was supposed to encourage fertility, demonstrate piety, and propitiate the gods. These gods were thought to be nourished by human blood, the only means for making contact with them. Accordingly, cosmic chaos and disorder was believed to result if the rituals were neglected.

THE MAYAN CALENDAR

The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had been in common use throughout the region, dating back to at least the 5th Century B.C. There were other calendars from the civilizations of the Zapotec, the Olmec, the Mixtec and Aztec. The Mesoamerican Calendar didn’t necessarily originate with the Mayans, but through subsequent extensions and refinements, theirs has become the most popular.

While the calendar had ordinary practical uses in agriculture and commerce, it also had a religious use, since the Mayans viewed time as a meshing of spiritual cycles. Though their elaborate calendar centered on their extensive knowledge of astronomy, astrology was also included.⁹

As part of the practice of divination, it was the job of the priests to discern lucky days from unlucky ones, and advise rulers on the best days to plant, harvest, wage war, etc. The movements of the planet Venus were of special interest since Mayan rulers often scheduled wars to coordinate with its rise in the heavens. Each day had a patron spirit, signifying that each day had specific use. This contrasts greatly with our modern Gregorian calendar which primarily sets the administrative, social, and economic dates.

Research shows that the Mayan Calendar was very advanced mathematically, consisting of a solar year of 365 days which was referred to as the Haab. It was divided into 18 months of 20 days each, followed by a five-day period considered to be unlucky. There was also a 260 day sacred year, known as  tzolkin.  Additionally, the Mayans had another calendar that contained a complex system of longer periods and cycles: kin (day); uinal (20 days); tun (18 uinals/360days); katun (20 tuns/7,200 days); baktun (20 katuns/144,000 days), and so on.¹⁰ These units were used in the Maya Long Count, which calculated the time elapsed from a supposed beginning (zero) date that corresponds to our 3114 B.C. The Popa! Vuh appears to indicate that the completion of 13 baktuns (5,125 years) signals the end of an age or major era. The 13th baktun, on our calendar, comes to an end on December 21, 2012.12 It is the completion of the 13th baktun on this date that has sparked quite a bit of speculation as to what might happen on this date, some predicting the end of the world.

RESPONSE TO THE DOOMSDAY SPECULATION

Doomsayers assume that something catastrophic is going to happen to the world when the Mayan Calendar “ends.” Perhaps it is human nature to think the worse when something ends. And, yes, there are those like Harold Camping who are always willing to stir curiosity. However, logic should tell us that just because something as simple as a calendar coming to an end doesn’t equate to the world coming to an end. I am sure that there those who will see to it that the calendar will start again.

For that matter there are many who say that the Mayans didn’t foresee a life-ending doomsday for this world. If anything, they saw a rebirth of this world. However, those who would interpret the Mayan beliefs in this direction may be forcing the Mayan into a New Age mindset. It does appear that many 2012 proponents are espousing a new age of spiritual awakening or the next “step” in an evolutionary state of human consciousness. But this would be contradictory to the Mayan worldview. Theirs was a polytheistic rather than pantheistical new age.

Moreover, we may be forcing the Mayan Calendar to predict something that it doesn’t. As one author put it, “There is no evidence that they [Mayans] saw the calendar and a world age ending in either transcendence or catastrophe on December 21, 2010.”13 Perhaps the end of the 13th baktun marked the end of a significant era in their minds, but they most likely expected the sun to rise the next day and the calendar to kick off the first day of the 14th baktun. (After all, they believed that 20 baktuns comprised a pictun-why have names for cycles and dates that they supposedly believed would never arrive?)

Most importantly, from a Biblical perspective, it is inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture for God to reveal a “time of the end” to the unbelieving world and not to those who follow him. It is clear from scripture that God has chosen not to reveal when the world will end, especially when Christ will return (Matt 24:36; Acts 1:7). Even Christ, who was fully God and fully man (Phil2:6-7; Col.2:9), deferred the knowledge of his return to his Father (Mark 13:32). So, it is has been and always will be futile to even use the Bible to predict end-time dates. However, just because the Bible warns against date-setting, it doesn’t mean that Christians aren’t to be “ready”. We are to be prepared for Him to return at any moment (Matt. 24:44-45).

Clete Hux is the counter-cult specialist for the Apologetics Resource Center in Birmingham, Alabama, and an instructor in apologetics at Birmingham Theological Seminary.

 (First published in Areopagus Journal Vol 11 No 2, Spring 11)

NOTES

1 As quoted in Susan Donaldson James “Apocalyptic Films Explore 2012 End of World Prediction,” ABC News (September 24, 2009) (article accessed at http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/apocalypse­ fears-mount-fiIm-books-20 l 2/story7id=8653187.

2 Richard Abanes, End-Times Visions (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1998), 78.

3 Howard W. Goodkind, “How Lord Kingsborough Lost His Fortune: Looking for the Lost Tribes Among the Maya” in Mysteries of the Bible: From the Garden of Eden to the Shroud of Turin (Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society, 2004), 90.

⁴ Ralph Whitlock, Everyday Life of the Maya (New York: Dorset Press, 1987), 22.

5 Mark Hitchcock, 2012, The Bible, and the End of the World (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2009), 30.

6 Synthia Andrews and Colin Andrews, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to 2012: An Ancient Look at a Critical Time (New York: Alpha, 2008), 7.

⁷ See article on Mayan Religion at http://www. religionfacts.com/mayan_religion/index.htm.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 lbid.

11 Ibid.

¹² See E.C. Krupp, “The Great 2012 Doomsday Scare,” Sky & Telescope (Nov. 2009): 26 (accessed at www.nasa.gov/topics/ earth/features/2012· guest.html).

13 Ibid.

(First published in Areopagus Journal Vol. 11 No. 2 – Extreme Eschatology)