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====Old World Apocalypse Stories====
Eschatology is often the part of theology or belief structures that are associated with end times. Cultures that discuss the end of the world sometimes differ in their timelines as to how and when the Earth ends. In fact, some earlier Bronze Age religions from 3000-1000 BCE seem to suggest that the end of the world had happened with the great Flood. The Flood story from ancient Mesopotamia indicates that Utnapishtim, who is similar to Noah as being the man saved by the gods from the great Flood, represents a time when the world was ending as the gods were angry and Utnapishtim was the last hope for humans saved from this earlier world. A different world, one representing a new birth of cities and civilization, begins after the great Flood. Similarly, in Greek mythology, periodic waves of destruction by floods and fire occurred. The world, as it is known, 'ends' but is reborn as the gods allow a new rebirth, even if the world looks or is different from the previous world. On the one hand, it is not exactly a cyclical evolution of life, similar to east Asian beliefs, but it is not a simple linear beginning and end process to life on Earth that is more common in later Western beliefs. Life changes, and the gods can destroy that life, but renewal is possible and happens periodically. Perhaps the apocalypse we are more familiar with has similarities to the Zoroastrian story on Judgment Day and end times. In the classical and best known version of Zoroastrian end times, Ahura Mazda, the great Lord, will rectify the evil in this world by creating a great fire that will consume all evil. Angra Mainyu, the evil being, will be destroyed and the resurrection of those who are good and righteous will occur at the end times. This will lead to a new Gold Age, which will be Paradise that includes a righteous life. Those who are evil will be judged and condemned by Ahura Mazda.<ref>For more information on known mythologies on the end of the world in Europe and Western Asia, see: Ballard, M., 2011. <i>End-timers: three thousand years of waiting for Judgment Day</i>. Praeger, Santa Barbara, Calif.</ref>
On the one hand, it is not precisely a cyclical evolution of life, similar to east Asian beliefs. Still, it is not a simple linear beginning and end process to life on Earth that is more common in later Western beliefs. Life changes and the gods can destroy that life, but renewal is possible and happens periodically. Perhaps the apocalypse we are more familiar with has similarities to the Zoroastrian story on Judgment Day and end times.
In the classical and best-known version of Zoroastrian end times, Ahura Mazda, the great Lord, will rectify the evil in this world by creating a great fire that will consume all evil. Angra Mainyu, the evil being, will be destroyed, and the resurrection of those who are kind and righteous will occur at the end times. This will lead to a new Gold Age, which will be Paradise that includes a virtuous life. Those who are evil will be judged and condemned by Ahura Mazda.<ref>For more information on known mythologies on the end of the world in Europe and Western Asia, see: Ballard, M., 2011. <i>End-timers: three thousand years of waiting for Judgment Day</i>. Praeger, Santa Barbara, Calif.</ref>
Ragnarok is the Norse mythology about the end of the world, which will entail a giant battle between the gods and giants made of frost and fire. The world will be destroyed in the process of this battle, once again in a type of great Flood (Figure 1). The remaining gods will meet once again, and two humans will repopulate the world. Similar to the Christian apocalypse, there will be a series of signs about the end times. First, there will be a long winter that lasts for a year, called Fimbulvetr. Then three different rosters will give a warning about the end of the world and the coming battle.
In one form of Buddhism, the end times will be preceded by great greed, lust, violence, impiety, murder, sexual sin, and general societal collapse. The teaching of Buddha will be forgotten and even relics destroyed. However, the world will return to a new Golden Age, with the coming of the Maitreya that restores and makes the world remember the teachings of Buddha. In Hinduism, the end of the world is not a single process but occurs in cyclical timelines, entering phases that last 4.1 – 8.2 billion years. There are four main phases during a cycle, with the world becoming progressively impious, violent, and full of moral decay. The <i>dharma</i> pillars will be reduced to one, which is true in the final phase.
Kalki, an avatar will appear on a white horse and will restore humanity with a pure mind. The cycle then begins anew as it enters another phase that repeats after the old world is destroyed. However, at some point, the larger universe is destroyed, and another will be born as Brahma, the creator god, returns to singularity. So there are even cycles within cycles as the entire universe and not just our world is renewed.<ref>For more on Norse and East Asian mythologies on end times, see: Körtner, U.H.J., 1995. <i>The end of the world: a theological interpretation </i>, 1st ed. ed. Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Ky. </ref>
====New World Apocalypse Stories====