Of asteroids and of conspiracy theories

Well before I leave for three weeks, I Just have to write on this subject. I just watched one of the silliest videos of all time. It is a Christian who has bought into the 2012 "end of the world" nonsense, ignoring verses like Matthew 24:23-28, and unintentionally spreading something which is untrue, (which likely to annoy astronomers and sensible people atleast until 2012). And unfortunately other Christians have been dragged into this rumor.

The rumor has two flavors, one is that on December 22, 2012 a planet Nibiru (which supposedly exists beyond the orbit of Pluto) will come very close the the earth causing floods, earthquakes, tsunamis etc.

The second flavor is that a giant asteroid is going to hit earth on that day and that will be wormwood ( a cosmic object described in Revelation). Well the video I am reviewing is one of the second kind (although the first flavor is also really silly). The person in mind (his user name being Saintbirgitta.com) states that an asteroid will collide with the earth probably around December 22, 2012.

Both of these are unlikely because neither an asteroid or a planet is going to come that close to earth in 2012, as far as asteroids go; 2012 is going to be one boring year.

Of course if there was an asteroid that was going to hit the earth on 2012 we'd be able to tell, and as we speak NASA would be working on laser technology to try to blow this asteroid off course so it would miss the earth. Now there is an asteroid which will come near earth, but it will come around holloween (yes holloween) 2029, it will come very close to earth but it will miss it. Now whats funny about this talk about asteroid impacts is that back in mid January there were some people who said an asteroid was going to destroy the planet on January 29, 2008! This asteroid was a real asteroid called tu24 which like most other asteroids just passed by unnoticed. And the asteroid which will visit us in 2029 will probably also catch some loonies as well (especially since its happening around holloween).

Now to my fellow Christians; this doesn't mean the world isn't eventually going to end, the bible does say eventually something more then a speck of dirt is going to hit our planet. But we don't know when this is going to happen, in Matthew 24:23 Jesus even goes so far as to say if someone says, "The world is going to end at this time and place" don't believe them! So unlike these two Christians, lets not be so quick to put our faith in rumors and put our faith in God.

Also to my atheist friends; I apologize for the ignorance and fear-mongering of my fellow Christians, there is really nothing which can be done to help this misguided people.

Where is Copernicus when you need him.

You think Christianity has enough problems with young earth creationism? Well these guys go one step further, no the attack on God's word didn't start with Darwin! No!!! It started with the Galileo affair!(Not).

Modern Geocentrists luckily are not very popular among Christians. They aren't popular at Answers In Genesis one of their foremost critics (besides materialist skeptics). Most young earth creationists distance themselves from Modern Geocentrists, which would be wise. Scientific and theological illiteracy seems endemic to Modern American society, I'm afraid. Of course I am optimistic, I believe despite these kinds of people we will continue to move forward, if not at a slower pace.

Launching the skepticologists

Just in case you are wondering what the skepticologists are; skepticologists is a new TV show that basically looks at pseudoscientific and superstitious notions such as astrology and channeling crystals and debunks them. It sounds interesting, I am going to keep an eye on it. One of the people on the show is the guy that runs the Bad Astronomy Blog which deals with pseudoscience and things such as that. He is a rather well known figure in the skeptical community, though not a harcore skeptic (I believe in God, the supernatural, spirits, prayer, and everything which comes along with being a Christian) I think it is a good idea, it promotes using our God-given reason rather then blindly following ignorance and superstition.