With the current (since the 1500s?) transitioning from the Age of Pisces (a 2,000-year cycle) into the Age of Aquarius (approximately a 2,400-year cycle), the end time scenario has sparked some interesting dialogue.
Respectfully, I submit the following ‘End Time’ definition from Wikipedia which might provide a bit of insight to add to the mix:
“It is a part of theology, philosophy and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events of history, the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or end time.
“The Oxford English Dictionary defines eschatology as the department of theological science concerned with the four last things: death, judgment, heaven and hell.
“In the context of mysticism, the phrase refers metaphorically to the end of ordinary reality and reunion with the divine. In many religions, it is taught as an existing future event prophesied in sacred texts or folklore. More broadly, eschatology may encompass related concepts such as the Messiah or Messianic Age, the end time and the end of days.
“It is usually a crisis that brings an end to current reality and ushers in a new way of living/thinking/being. This crisis may take the form of the intervention of a deity in history, a war, a change in the environment or the reaching of a new level of consciousness. If a better world results, we say it is “utopian”. If a worse, it is “dystopian”. Eschatologies vary as to their degree of optimism or pessimism about the future.
“Most modern eschatology and apocalypticism, both religious and secular, involves the violent disruption or destruction of the world, whereas Christian and Jewish eschatologies view the end times as the consummation or perfection of God’s creation of the world.”
Kathrine Lucier
Penticton