The End Draws Near...

"Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." — Matthew 24: 4-8

A few weeks ago "Entertainment Weekly" had a feature on the new "Mad Max" movie. Well, it was partially on the new movie, and partially on apocalypse films in general. One thing I found surprising and fascinating was the timeline of movies, and the exponential rise in such films in the last 20 years. When you see it mapped out, as it was there, it's staggering.

That leads to an inevitable question of why?

I think it comes down to two things. First, we are obsessed with the end, and endings in general. And second, I think we're becoming a lot more pessimistic. And you know what, I don't think that's a new thing for people.

A couple weeks ago I was attending a service and the speaker was discussing the passage above. It's a description from Jesus of the end of days. It's pretty vague, if you think about it. The description there could be applied to the events of any number of years — and have throughout the eons. In fact, Jesus only gave that much information because he was being pressed for details by the disciples.

As humans, we want answers. If you go throughout the Scriptures, you constantly see people — even devout people of God — seeking definitive answers and not getting them. And in the absence of those answers, our human nature tends to push us toward the most dire outcome. We'd like to be glass half full people, but all historical evidence suggests we're more glass half empty people.

So, as time goes by, people continue to ask the questions and, lacking concrete answers, go to the worst possible place. That is one of the reflection of people that I found most true, and most fascinating, in the atheistic, nihilistic opus that is "Watchmen." The God-like figure, Dr. Manhattan, says upon reflecting on the thoughts of Silk Spectre, "Your mind goes to dark places and you wonder why I keep the worst from you." I can't help but wonder if God thinks the same thing of us.

In modern America, we're even more obsessed with endings. In fact, the greatest sin a film can have is a lack of concrete resolution. The Coen Brothers created a modern masterpiece with "No Country For Old Men." Based closely on the work of Cormac McCarthy, it was a brilliant think piece on the state of the world and how we engage with evil. That was beautifully laid out in the open-ended way the film concluded.

Yet many were angry because everything wasn't spelled out, and everything wasn't neatly resolved. The "bad guy" was still free. The hero quit his job and didn't know how to move on with his life. The film ended with questions, and it made people bristle.

Which leads me back to the rash of apocalyptic films and TV shows. Just this summer we've seen an uptick in these types of stories. Consider the shows dominating the conversation during these summer months — "Under The Dome," "Falling Skies," "The Last Ship," "The Strain," and HBO's "The Leftovers." What do they all have in common? They are all explorations of the world, and how we live in the world, following disasters, catastrophes, and the apocalypse.

At the movies, we've had a new "Godzilla," another "Transformers" and soon "Guardians of the Galaxy." These movies — while not explicitly about the apocalypse — offer a glimpse at how humanity can move ahead after worldwide trauma. There is something in us that craves answers, and at the same time something in us that fears the worst.

But I don't think we'll ever get the answers we seek. We know it's coming, but not when or what it will look like. That won't stop people from speculating, often through their art. After all, as a people, it's the question that drives us.