There's NO Tomorrow!

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
creeps in this petty pace from day to day." - Macbeth

The day has finally come.  It's May 21, 2011, and according to some people, today would be the perfect day for the rapture to come.  Since it's only 7:50am, I think I'll give them a break for the time being because, who knows, the rapture might happen by time zones.  Too bad I don't know whether or not the people in Europe are still there.  It's almost 11am on the east coast, and my friends that live in Pennsylvania seem to be on Earth still.

If you couldn't assume from my slightly satiric tone, I honestly don't believe that the rapture will happen today.  I'm not even necessarily sure that when the second coming of Christ happens, it will be like the modern American church's notion of "rapture" that happens.  Honestly though, I haven't spent years attempting to find an answer; I'm too busy finding answers to questions that seem more pertinent then when life will suddenly end--like what anime to watch with Brenda today, whether I should put on socks, and how the hell I'm gonna not go mad living at home again.

Most of my theological/philosophical Jenn-thought (personal thought that comes from yours truly) rejects the notion of rapture or even some divine end where agency is stripped of us.  I don't have answers, nor do I completely deny what it says in the book of Revelation--though I think I may be able to understand it more while high on acid that at my mental prime.  I think it's the same Jenn-thought that makes me reject the whole May 21st end of the world thing.

But what if it was true?  Obviously, someone has to believe in this "end" that's going to happen today.  Obviously, someone has spent a lot of time, energy, and money in order to perpetuate a belief that the world will end today.  I don't necessarily know if the man who predicted this "end" really believes it or if he is being persuaded by ye olde capitalism.  I'm pretty sure, however, that regardless of whether or not my immediate reaction is to laugh and think that this is completely bogus and that the people who believe it are crazy or unintelligent, they are still people.

I don't know what their lives are like; I don't know if these people are actually very intelligent and all of this "end" talk makes sense to them, especially considering the world state.  Hasn't even the modern American church kind of recognized that "the end is coming"...and hasn't that end been imminent since even before Israel won it's independence.   I've heard "the rapture will happen soon" from so many different churches since  I began going to church.  I still here it.  So...even if I don't cease to exist today because of a May 21st rapture...I recognize that at least those who believe in the May 21st end had the balls to put a date on it.

No one knows what tomorrow will hold.  I don't think that means that tomorrow is scripted or that some divinity has planned out my life, but I do think it means that no one knows what choices are to be made, what choices other people have to make, and what all of that will mean for tomorrow.  For all I know, this may be my last day on earth, this may be your last day on earth, this may be the end of the world.  Either way, I'm not going to be complacent.  I'm not going to say that because the rapture is imminent or will happen on May 21, 2011 I'm going to just wait because it doesn't matter, or completely devote my existence to waiting/studying for/about some end.  That's a waste of whatever time I have left.

Even if I knew without any doubt that today was the end, or that tomorrow is, or the next day, or ten years from now, I would still want to live out today without resigning myself to an "end" by saying something like "I can't wait for Christ to take us away" or "May 21st is judgment day!"  In my mind, both are equally and even painfully dull.  I don't want to wait for anything.  I want to get out. Go. Do. Be. Live.