Bostrom, the Economy, the Rapture, Tribulation, and You

"Well, as sure as planets come I know that they end
And if I'm here when that happens just promise me this, my friend
Please bury me with it
I just don't need none of that Mad Max bull****."
~Modest Mouse, "Bury Me With It"

I recently discussed some prospects of the apocalypse in conjunction with Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom's simulation hypothesis in a three-part series published on Benzinga earlier in August. I now want to address some further thoughts and reflections on the current global financial crisis in terms of the Christian ideas of the Rapture and the Great Tribulation.

The Rapture is a theological concept in some circles of contemporary Christianity. In the event of the Rapture, Jesus Christ would return to whisk away millions of believers into the sky. All true believers would be taken in one brief moment and would be delivered into heaven; those raptured would enter heaven in the living flesh without having to die. Depending on one's personal beliefs, a seven-year Great Tribulation will occur either before or after the Rapture. During the Great Tribulation much of the Earth would suffer, many would die, the Antichrist would reign supreme instituting severe economic policies culminating in the "mark of the beast" necessary for buying and selling, and the Antichrist would later set himself as a god over the entire planet demanding worship from all Earth's humans. After the seven-year Tribulation, Jesus Christ would come back, defeat the Antichrist at the Valley of Megiddo (Armageddon), and institute a millennial reign where the devil is banished from Earth.

The Rapture has recently been a topic of discussion in the media. On NPR's Fresh Air program on Aug. 24, Terry Gross interviewed Rachel Tabachnick regarding American politics and the prominence of end-times beliefs and spiritual warfare in contemporary America. Further, on NPR's Weekend Edition recently, guest host John Ydstie spoke to Tom Perotta, the author of a new novel entitled "The Leftovers". Perotta's novel deals with the lives of people left behind after the Rapture.

The fact that we are in the midst of a very serious global financial crisis is not about theology; it is a matter of economics. Even so, one cannot help but look at our current global malaise in light of end-times beliefs. To echo what conservative commentator Mark Levin has said, we had an earthquake, then a hurricane, what's next...locusts? Economics and theology appear to be two separate disciplines most of the time, but for whatever reason economics and theology tend to go hand-in-hand. Going back to Mosaic law, the laws of ancient Israel had much to say about economic mechanics dealing with labor, agriculture, and land. The New Testament also addressed issues of taxation and charity among various other economic topics.

Take for instance the Christian concept of the Antichrist. Though the Antichrist is the principal adversary in the divine epic of Creation, his supposed future actions deal with economic goals such as the institution of a one-world currency, unification of a global market & global government, and the mandate of a "mark of the beast" where no man can buy or sell save he holds that mark. (It is significant to note that we now have the technology to implant in every human an RFID chip that could be implemented by governments and could be used for purchasing, selling, and identification of goods and people.) For the religious, economics and theology are interrelated in terms of God's plan for humanity. On a personal note, given the respective pragmatic boundaries of the disciplines, I wish that theology and economics did not go hand-in-hand, but they often do.

Going back to Bostrom's simulation hypothesis, contrary to an atheist's strongest contentions, our global environment is starting to look like a controlled situation. The recent earthquake and hurricane being days apart only draw greater attention (in addition to the various natural and artificial catastrophes being played out on the global stage) to the idea that this is all being staged from a higher dimension. In line with Bostrom's simulation hypothesis, posthumans capable of running universe-simulations "are like gods in relation to the people inhabiting the simulation." And if we are living in a universe-simulation, Bostrom notes that "an afterlife would be a real possibility".

If we take the history of the world at face-value, recurring themes become apparent. Recurring themes that I can see include human fallibility, human incompetence, the desire for economic/political/spiritual salvation, the perseverance & drive of the human spirit, and the ultimate victory of good over evil. Though humanity may be dispersed across the globe with various ideologies, religions, and cultural values, in looking at humanity's affairs over the past 6,000 years of recorded history a divine epic comes into focus.

It is in this divine epic that the question of the Rapture arises. For centuries atheists appeared to be tightening their stranglehold on political thinking, science, and worldly disciplines. However, with Bostrom's simulation hypothesis in mind in conjunction with what appears to be a coming eventual climactic point for the entire planet, even the most fervent atheist may be in for a very rude awakening in the years to come. Though such thoughts may seem otherworldly to the overconfident atheist, when we think back to Bostrom's simulation hypothesis the fervent atheist's rude awakening could possibly include the Rapture.

Christian eschatological circles debate at length as to whether the Great Tribulation will occur before the Rapture (post-trib) or after the Rapture (pre-trib). I recently saw a video posted as an advertisement of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research on the Drudge Report presenting a fictionalized speech to be given by President Obama in the near future. In the impersonated voice of Pres. Obama giving a fictional speech set in Dec. 2012, the Stansberry video portends and spells out financial doom for the inhabitants of the US, martial law imposed on American streets, severe hikes in taxes, and the strong potential for debilitating societal unrest and frustration.

According to the video, the root cause of the global financial meltdown will be a complete lack of buyers of US Treasuries. Criticism of the speech's forecasts aside, the question I ask is this: Would such a situation signal the beginning of the Great Tribulation? If so, it would appear that the Great Tribulation is within a handful of years away. (If not, then what more would be required to qualify as being the actual Great Tribulation?) US Presidential candidate Congressman Ron Paul has previously spoken of a coming global financial meltdown that would take place after the collapse of the US dollar. Conservative commentator Glenn Beck has also brought to light and discussed the possibility of a collapse of the US dollar followed by the imposition of a one world currency. Are these forebodings of a great tribulation on the horizon? Conspiracy theories aside, what we have in front of us is a major global crisis, the likes of which the world has never seen. Atheist or believer, woman or man, master or servant, many can sense that something big is on the horizon. We cannot precisely make out what it is or what it will mean, but many feel that something major is on the horizon and it doesn't look good.

Would the scenarios discussed above regarding a global financial meltdown and worldwide chaos for certain signal the beginning of the Great Tribulation? And if not, then what exactly would be necessary to qualify as the beginning of the Great Tribulation? Even greater societal collapse? Complete chaos? I mean, seriously, what worse situation could there be for a global economy than a complete global financial meltdown on a crowded, overpopulated planet? This is part of the problem with political, economic, and religious prophetic forecasts: they are subject to interpretation.

In short, if the global economy completely collapses on a worldwide scale at this period in time causing mass chaos all over the planet, what else would be required to say that we are living in a period of Great Tribulation? In such a doomsday situation, how easy it would be to put forward the idea of a one world currency and the institution of global governance to rebuild the world from the debilitating global crisis. Individuals on the planet would be looking for a savior to deliver them. Enter the Messiah, or enter the Antichrist?

I believe that if the global economy completely collapsed and martial law was imposed in the US and Europe thereby giving way to an explosive eruption of (possibly nuclear) war in the Middle East where Arab countries are targeting Israel, then that would be sufficient to signal the Great Tribulation. If we get to that point and it is not the Great Tribulation, I give up; you don't get much closer to the Great Tribulation than that. Such a scenario would be a state of war and calamity of Biblical proportions!

Even in taking account the rebirth of the State of Israel in 1948, to a certain extent we are arguably living in a time period of Biblical proportions today. These are amazing times, and with a population of seven billion, the human journey is now in uncharted territory.

A big problem in being a part of this "divine epic" is that we have no choice but to participate. Humanity has not made it off this planet with permanent residences elsewhere on other moons, space stations, or planets; ours is a singular, global quagmire with no hope for escape; aside from various space probes floating around, this planet is all we have to show for human intelligence in the universe. We are in effect strapped on to this doomsday rollercoaster against our will. It is as if all of us are being tested for some purpose.

In some ways, our only hope now is for some type of deliverance, both economic and otherwise. Various world religions have spoken in this messianic tone throughout history. However, for the first time in history, today the world (with a will capable of being united in global governance) has the opportunity of appointing a global leader. In taking into account Bostrom's simulation hypothesis, though religions have been divided throughout history, what a climactic finish it would be for all religions, nations, and cultures to unite at the very end in a time of great chaos. Or at the very least, for world religions to come to terms with one another in resolution of the divine epic that binds us all.

On a planet where often one's religious practices are akin to one's favorite sports teams in being more about where we were born than what we would believe if given absolute freedom, perhaps the moral of this divine epic (as an honest separation and later faulty & misguided unity of religion) can reveal something great & mysterious about our nature as humans...and our place in the universe.

There is another eschatological possibility that I have not yet discussed on this subject, and that is the idea of extraterrestrials arriving posing as saviors for humanity. You can laugh if you want, but were people to wake up tomorrow to the news that there are massive extraterrestrial vessels hovering over Washington, DC and various other world cities, many would rejoice in hope and awe of the future. What a climax to the story that would be! Humanity to find out that it is not alone in the universe after all -- but only at the end! This world as a whole has not had too much to be happy and hopeful about in quite a while, and I think the arrival of extraterrestrials would bring a sense of happiness and hope back to the planet...for a short while at least.

People would be looking to the extraterrestrials as possible saviors for our current global crises. Perhaps the visitors would come bearing some good news. Even so, with Bostrom's simulation hypothesis, we would be left wondering whether those extraterrestrial visitors are the creator-simulators or whether they are part of the simulation themselves. And if extraterrestrials presented themselves as our creators and our saviors in this time of global upheaval akin to a Great Tribulation, who is to say that the extraterrestrials are not themselves "the Antichrist"? Could the arrival of extraterrestrials claiming to be our creators be merely a ploy of a creator in a higher dimension? Could the arrival of extraterrestrial visitors be the start of the actual Great Tribulation, or could the visitors be the heralds of mankind's salvation?

We could craft all sorts of issues in an alien-arrival scenario, e.g. if many humans disappeared all at once and then aliens arrived, what if the aliens claimed to have taken the humans that were raptured?

One major problem of the Rapture is the question of why people would follow the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation when the Rapture itself would appear to confirm the "true religion" of the universe. The prospect of extraterrestrials arriving would appear to alleviate this conundrum. The biggest conundrum of eschatological beliefs would arise if for some reason all this growing temporal progression towards an eschatological climax on Earth were to begin reversing itself, i.e. what if a virus were to wipe out 99.9% of humanity leaving pockets of civilization scattered all over the planet?

Author Stephen King explored this idea in his own epic "The Stand" where the Antichrist arrives in the form of Randall Flagg. But one cannot help but feel that this sort of climax would be unsatisfactory and would weaken the overarching meaning behind the divine epic. No offense to Stephen King as he is one of my favorite authors, but I personally think that the global pandemic option as explored in King's "The Stand" would be a lackluster ending.

There is uncertainty in these scenarios. This uncertainty is what weakens humanity's hope, but it is also what makes this cosmic epic in which we find ourselves somewhat entertaining and interesting. Though the Great Tribulation and the Rapture may be on the minds of both believers and skeptics, many pieces are missing for us to complete the puzzle as of yet. And even if we had most of the pieces, perhaps we would not all agree on how the pieces should be laid out...so as to tell us what the actual image of the puzzle is.

Indeed, even if we are living in a computer-simulation, the ideas of the Great Tribulation and the Antichrist could be merely relics of Christian thinking in the ancient Roman Empire, or phenomena reserved for a time far into the future...or simply fantastic fears. Given the prospect of a global government being demanded in the midst of global chaotic meltdown, the possible implementation of a global identification "mark", and the re-establishment of Israel in 1948, what really are the odds that our current situation is a coincidence?

Even if we may not all agree on what the future holds, I think it is important that we take into account the possible scenarios and to follow them through if only in our minds. Perhaps some scenarios are more plausible than others, but if we are living in a computer simulation, heaven only knows what is in store. It is important to see that these concepts of the Messiah, the Tribulation, the Rapture, and the "end of days" appear to be working on a timer subject to the global environment of the time.

For example, the more that the idea that extraterrestrials could arrive and falsely claim to be our saviors and our creators is diffused through the populace, the less likely it would be accepted by the world population were it to actually occur. Obviously, were there a pandemic, nuclear war, or catastrophic ice age leaving only thousands of humans in existence on the planet, our eschatological viewpoints would change; with scattered pockets of human communities using limited technology, the possibility of a global leader is significantly lessened.

Even so, as the Earth may appear ripe for the apocalypse today, our planet continues on pretty much in the way it has in the past. Yes, the economy appears to be doing very poorly today and may be getting even worse tomorrow, but is it really the end of the world?

Life goes on. Just try to watch out for those pieces of sky that seem to be falling down all around us daily. And pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.