New convert to your Athiesm religion

[xSilverPhinx]

One could say that we're going to be our own undoing and that we're transforming this world into a large scale Easter Island, consequence of global societal collapse. Or that eventually with all the weapons of mass destruction we'll destroy ourselves sooner in a more spectacular fashion. Something to blow our minds away.

There's also the maybe far fetched possibility to some that we could suffer an alien invasion, prophetised by the failed blockbuster "Battlefield: Los Angeles".

Who knows?

[theRapture]

So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).

Yes, the sun wil enter red giant phase when it runs out of hydrogen. It will expand rapidly and life on earth will almost certainly end. This will happen in about 5 billion years from now. I'll be 5,000,000,023 by then, so I won't care.

that seems ridiculous.  How can science determine that?  Has the sun exploded before?

[Whitney]

theRapture...I'm trying to understand your posts a bit better....how old are you and is English your first language?

btw, and maybe the other Catholics around here could clarify...but I thought the Catholic church was not concerned with end times prophecy.  So I don't really understand how you came to be brainwashed into the belief and are now having a hard time getting over it.

As far as reality is concerned...there are many ways the end of the world could come about....sun dies out then life on earth dies then sun engulfs earth as red giant (long long long time from now); universe collapses into a big crunch (no longer a popular theory), asteroid destroys life on earth as we know it (again), volcano destroys life on earth as we know it (again), alien attack ().....no use worrying over things that are probably a long way off and unpreventable (though we might be able to deflect an incoming asteroid so I'm glad the nasa and military people are worrying over that a bit).

btw x2, I'm still not convinced you aren't a troll...

[Tank]

So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).

Yes, the sun wil enter red giant phase when it runs out of hydrogen. It will expand rapidly and life on earth will almost certainly end. This will happen in about 5 billion years from now. I'll be 5,000,000,023 by then, so I won't care.

that seems ridiculous.  How can science determine that?  Has the sun exploded before?

We know the energy output of the Sun
We know its life-cycle from observing other sun-like stars
We know the Suns composition and mass thus its available fuel
We do the mathematics of fuel consumption vs available fuel
Result; the Sun will last about another 5 billion years

Read this Universe it explains it all, took me months to wade through it!

[Maria]

So the world is just going to exist forever.  I mean, at some point the Sun is going to explode or something, right?  (whatever the science term for when it gets really big a red).

Yes, the sun wil enter red giant phase when it runs out of hydrogen. It will expand rapidly and life on earth will almost certainly end. This will happen in about 5 billion years from now. I'll be 5,000,000,023 by then, so I won't care.

that seems ridiculous.  How can science determine that?  Has the sun exploded before?

Of course it's ridiculous. I'll never live that long! Seriously, our Sun hasn't exploded before, but the entire solar system, including you and me, is the debris of an ancient star that did explode. It was a supernova. Stars explode (and implode) all the time, all over the universe.

[theRapture]

theRapture...I'm trying to understand your posts a bit better....how old are you and is English your first language?

btw, and maybe the other Catholics around here could clarify...but I thought the Catholic church was not concerned with end times prophecy.  So I don't really understand how you came to be brainwashed into the belief and are now having a hard time getting over it.

As far as reality is concerned...there are many ways the end of the world could come about....sun dies out then life on earth dies then sun engulfs earth as red giant (long long long time from now); universe collapses into a big crunch (no longer a popular theory), asteroid destroys life on earth as we know it (again), volcano destroys life on earth as we know it (again), alien attack ().....no use worrying over things that are probably a long way off and unpreventable (though we might be able to deflect an incoming asteroid so I'm glad the nasa and military people are worrying over that a bit).

btw x2, I'm still not convinced you aren't a troll...

Now, I'm the same poster...but Catholocism isn't "unconcerned" with the "end times" but it's that we don't and can't know when it's going to happen.  It's not like the book of Revelations is deemed irrelevant, it's just not preached on/worried about as much as other denominations of Christianity I guess.

And English is my first language...I just don't proofread at all.   

[Whitney]

then why are you so concerned with the rapture?

[Tank]

then why are you so concerned with the rapture?

Due in May?

[Maria]

then why are you so concerned with the rapture?

Due in May?

May 21st. My mother's 50th birthday. No point buying her anything 

[Tank]

then why are you so concerned with the rapture?

Due in May?

May 21st. My mother's 50th birthday. No point buying her anything 

But what time of day and in which time zone is the rapture?

[Maria]

then why are you so concerned with the rapture?

Due in May?

May 21st. My mother's 50th birthday. No point buying her anything 

But what time of day and in which time zone is the rapture?

I think it's 6pm california time.

[Tank]

But what time of day and in which time zone is the rapture?

I think it's 6pm california time.

Well I just can't wait! But you should still buy your Mum a present just in case they're wrong. If she's a believer you could always offer to take her for a make over on the 22nd.

[Crow]

Sounds like a troll from reading the posts, but anyway I feel like biting.

that seems ridiculous.  How can science determine that?  Has the sun exploded before?

Only ridiculous if you decide to ignore copious amounts of evidence that stars are not infinite and when they run out of fuel they go supernova. As Tank has already explained how we have been able to make an estimate for the expiration of sol (i prefer this name to the sun) there is no need to repeat it again.

So what evidence do we have that supernovas exists. Well we can observe them, since 1885 we have been observing supernova remnants via telescopes and since 185ce (common era) there have been written recordings of people witnessing them via the eye. Since the invention of the space telescope such as Hubble we have been able to get more accurate data of these supernova and able to build computer models that explain these events in extraordinary detail, the telescopes also provide us with some amazing images.

This is an image taken of one of the most famous supernovas "the crab nebula" or SN 1054 which was first recorded in 1054ce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1054).


I don't believe in the rapture. I take an optimistic view when it comes to the future of humanity and think the only thing that would entirely wipe out our species would be:

• Destruction of planet.
• Death of life at a micro-organism level.
• Loss of atmosphere.

Even a meteor impact may struggle to wipe out every person on the planet, there has never been another species that has adapted to live in so many different environments, not just existing but prosper and multiply. Looking at the history of humanity our ancestors have been through environmental change, super volcano eruptions, plagues, and many more events that are usually used as reasons for why the world may end.

[Cooper20]

I'm just hoping they develop the whole 'keep heads in jars' thing from Futurama before I die.

[PapistItalian16]

btw, and maybe the other Catholics around here could clarify...but I thought the Catholic church was not concerned with end times prophecy.  So I don't really understand how you came to be brainwashed into the belief and are now having a hard time getting over it.

We Catholics dont get concerned about the "end of days" for the same reason most people dont pay attention to the random TV shows about the "Apocalypse". We would become paranoid.