The Last Judgment and the End of the World

The Last Judgment and The End of the World

What would one do if you knew the world was going to end in 5 minutes? Would they do all the things they always desired to do but never got the time for? Would one get down and pray for absolution or would they sit back, relax and anticipate for the apocalypse to come. Everyone has some idea that they will be judged at the end of time of all the every day decisions that they make. There are 4 main areas of curiosity about the Last Judgment and the end of the world that this writer will familiarize you on in this paper, what it will be like preceding The Coming, When the Judgment will take place, the two types of judgment, and the conclusion afterwards.

Everyone has his own sentiment of when he thinks the world will end some said it would happen at the turn of the millennium but it didn't, others have hypothesized random dates throughout history But none have come true as to date. Jesus teaches that many calamities will mark the Second Coming and the Apocalypse. Kevin Knight writes in an article for New Advent and in it he says, "They are meant to foreshadow not to tell the day or the time, and will include. 1) The General Preaching of the Christian Religion. 2) The Conversion of the Jews. 3) The Return of Enoch and Elijah. 4) A Great Apostasy or revolt against the Catholic Faith. 5) The Reign of Antichrist who will be a powerful adversary of Christ. He will seduce the nations by his wonders, and persecute the Church. 6) Extraordinary Perturbations of Nature. 7) The Universal Conflagration. 8) The Trumpets of Resurrection will awaken the dead to resurrection. 9) The sign of the Son of Man Appearing in Heaven or in a wonderful cross of light."

The Earth should last for millions of years and gradually get colder until all life forms die, unless God steps in and brings the world, as the world knows it and passes out the last judgment. The population does not know when the Second Coming will transpire but they must be perpetually on the watch because it will come like a thief in the night.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines the Last Judgment as The final judgment by God of all mankind. This interpretation is accurate but not fully complete because there is more behind it than that simple definition. There are two types of Judgment: Particular Judgment and General Judgment. Particular Judgment is the judgment of each soul as it perishes from the earthly life. People will answer for the choices they have made and how they choose to live their life. As a direct result of those choices they will be rewarded or punished accordingly. There are three potential outcomes to the particular judgment, One may be sent to heaven if they are in the state of grace and loved god perfectly during their lifetime. Purgatory (option number 2) if one loves god imperfectly and dies with some venial sins on their soul. The final option is Hell, The state of being separated from God's love, that is if one turns their back completely contra the ways of the church and lived a arrogant life or believed in no God at all.

The second judgment for both those who have died and those still living is dubbed the "The General Judgment. There are many names that are given to the last Judgment besides the name Parusia (parousia) or Advent, the Second Coming is also called Epiphany, epiphaneia, or Appearance, and Apocalypse (apokalypsis) or Revelation. The time of the Second Coming is spoken of as "that