Doomsday

Doomsday can have a variety of meanings from a Day of Judgment, End of the World (or even the End of the Universe) or a Day of Reckoning. It can also be a warning academically, scientifically, historically (the demise of previous generations) and theologically via various religions and cults.

Furthermore, it can be an ending due to the degradation of humanity, the proliferation of superpowers, climate changes, abuse of air, land and sea and possibly other disasters.

At various points in post-WWII history, a distinguished group of scientists has determined how close the world is to global catastrophes. In January 26, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced the world’s Doomsday Clock would remain at 3 minutes to midnight, where it was moved in 2015.

Since the dawn of the nuclear age, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board has periodically altered the minute hand on the clock to symbolize our proximity to the apocalypse, often reflecting the acquisition and testing of powerful weapons by world powers.

The group first launched the clock in 1947; the world was depicted as being 7 minutes from global annihilation in an effort to “symbolize the urgency of the nuclear dangers” on the heels of the war. The world moved closer to Doomsday: Seven minutes to midnight in the late 1950s, then the group rolled back the hands of the clock and by 1963 the planet was considered to be 12 minutes from doom. In 1968, the clock ticked forward to seven minutes before midnight due to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and budding conflicts across the globe. 1953: Two minutes to midnight.

The Bulletin set the hands at 11:57 in 1949 as the Soviet Union’s testing of an atomic bomb signaled our impending doom. But it was in 1953  that scientists warned leaders of the world were playing with fire. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Kennette Benedict said in 2015. That was the last time the clock was moved.

Now the question is up for grabs in a sense. Doomsday is a personal estimate, a political one, a broad religious judgement, a legal opinion as well as a scientific calculation. Biblically, the world's population was eradicated by the flood less Noah and his family and there are numerous hints, threats or predictions that this world as we know it will not exist forever. Doomsday, a day of reckoning or judgment, is more than a theological concern, is it not?