Morgan Freeman on Apocalypse

Last updated on: April 6, 2016 at 1:36 pm by Nancy Rockwell

Morgan Freeman on Apocalypse 2016-04-06T13:36:01-04:00 Nancy Rockwell

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The second hour of Freeman’s Story of God opens with him sitting at his breakfast table, reading the newspaper and glancing at TV news.

He narrates his own scene, the common American morning. We gird ourselves to walk out into a world where alarming things are happening.

In this, he demonstrates our fixation on the possibility of annihilation. We may think of Apocalyptic ideas as the stuff of crazy religious zealots, but the news is about this possibility, the world around.

Is it all in our minds, Freeman asks? Or is it real.

Freeman then explores the roots of Judgment Day in Christianity, and also in Judaism and Islam.

It all begins in Jerusalem, the epicenter of the monotheistic world. The ancient Temple, built in 37 BC by Herod the Great, was seven stories high. In 70 AD, the Romans demolished it, systematically pulling it down, leaving only the western wall, which remains the holiest place in Jerusalem and a pilgrimage site for Jews all over the world.

The Jewish Messiah is tied to these ruins. He will do three things: rebuild the temple; rule justly; and build peace with all neighbors.

Legends proliferated of the great battle the Messiah will win, a war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. The enemy takes on many forms and names: the Beast; the number 666.

In Rome, at the Biblioteca Casanotensi, Freeman shows us fragments of the manuscript of the Book of Revelation, in which this battle is described. The librarian walks us through deciphering the numerical values of Greek letters, and we learn that Nero is the likely suspect for the Beast, that the Greek letters of Caesar Neron have a numerical value of 666. And so does the word Beast.

I remember learning years ago how Nero enjoyed cruelty. One of his penchants was using Christians as torches to light his garden parties – a burning martyr on a stake in each corner of his lawn, and a gala in the midst of it all. Of course Nero would be the dreaded Beast of Revelation, and who wouldn’t long for an Apocalyptic battle to overthrow him.

The idea of apocalypse faded in Christianity, but then spread into Islam. Now we, America, are their Beast. Freeman interviews a well-spoken Moslem, formerly a fighter against the west, then imprisoned, where he learned from Imams to think more deeply. Now he, a Moslem, works to free other young men from ISIS.

I was struck by his observation: When you are poor and powerless, and have no future to shape for yourself, it is very tempting to feel you could shape the destiny of the world.

Freeman interviews an American professor, Stuart Shenkman, who studies fear in the human brain. He thinks apocalyptic ideas may be hard-wired into us, and shows experiments in which human reactions to unpredicted pain are worse than to predicted pain, Predicting pain can quell our fear response. Shenkman thinks Doomsday Cults may function in this way.

Freeman’s next journey, to Tikal, the land of the Mayas, explores the Mayan idea of time, which sparked a fear of the end of the world in December, 2012, supposedly based on a Mayan calendar. Archeologists show us stone carvings on their calendar, proof they did not believe in an end of time, but in endless cycles of time, and each end (one was in 2012) brings a new beginning.

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the end of days is when God intervenes and rights all wrongs, establishing justice and peace. But most of the world – Buddhists, Hindus – does not think this way. Like the Mayas, most of the world believes that every ending is a new beginning.

Christians, too, believe in new beginnings emerging from dark, end times, and Freeman demonstrates this in New Orleans, where survivors of Hurricane Katrina point to the hope that was born from that darkness.

This brilliant and fascinating hour ends with Freeman reminding us that the word Apocalypse, a Greek word, means ‘lifting the veil’. It is not about death. It is about enlightenment.

I’m still working at understanding darkness, and especially, endings. There is so much pain in loss, especially when cultures, cities, dreams, die. The Mayans are gone, though their calendar did not predict it. Time may be endless, but we are mortal, and we all live through cataclysmic times. As Jesus did. What then?- remains a question, more important to us than When?

I was deeply moved by this hour. Freeman moved into our present time, into what terrifies us, and deeply into our human past, in ways that made this discussion eye-opening. I’m ready to watch this again. And, ready to move on in the Story.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Image: Morgan Freeman in Jerusalem making the program, The Story of God, National Geographic Channel

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 4, 2016

Morgan Freeman’s Story of God

Next Post

April 9, 2016 What Do You Think the Messiah Should Be Doing?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Bites Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz