while today

Last year I wrote about the claim that the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world on December 21, 2012. Hollywood even released an escapist, disaster movie in 2009 to pick up on the hype.

As you may recall, the Mayans had a fairly accurate calendar which used the base 20 numbering system rather than our base 10. Think of it in this way. We count all our fingers (up to 10) and start the cycle again. They counted all their fingers and toes and started the cycle again. One of the units of their calendar is a B’ak’tun which is equivalent to 394 solar years. We have various cycles too like decade, century, and millennia. Those predicting the end of the world based on the Mayan calendar claimed that December 21, 2012 represents the end of one of these cycles, the end of the Mayan calendar, and thus the end of the world. Speculation on various planetary or solar system disasters were thrown in for good measure with this theory.

What is the latest word on the Mayan calendar and 2012? To compare two calendars you need some fixed points. The Mayan calendar was converted to our Gregorian calendar using a calculation call the GMT constant. The constant was named after the initials of the last names of three early Mayan researchers. Floyd Lounsbury, an American linguist and anthropologist, believed he had confirmed the GMT constant with his work on a Mayan almanac that had charted dates relative to the movements of Venus.

A chapter in a newly published textbook, Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World, calls into question the reliability of this GMT constant. The researcher, Gerardo Aldana, says the data supporting the conversion factor may be invalid. The end result is that the relationship between the Mayan calendar and our Gregorian calendar may be off by as much as 50 to 100 years.

Last year there were many reasons to suggest that the Mayan calendar did not predict the end of the world, but only the end of one of their major cycles. This year we can’t even be certain how the two calendars relate to one another and when the end of the Mayan cycle is supposed to be. In other words, it could have occurred 100 years ago or might not happen for another 100 years, whatever the end of that cycle means. Facts may not change the predictors of doomsday, but this new research points to a major flaw. In other words: “Oops!”

Speeches can be divided into two categories. Some speeches are given merely to entertain. When heard, they are in a sense consumed at that moment. Nothing lasting is expected from them. The after-dinner speech is a good example of this type. We enjoy it, but nothing further is expected from us as listeners.

The second kind of speech is the one that intends to make a lasting impression. This speech is designed to inform or motivate the listener. The lecture of a teacher is a good example of this type. The final exam always involves more than simply: were you there when the lecture was given.

It is perilous for the listener when he confuses the second kind of speech with the first. Merely consuming and enjoying a lesson intended to inform or motivate is to fail as a listener. The consequences depend on what kinds of lessons are being ignored.

Such was the situation in the days of Ezekiel. He ministered to the Jews in captivity in the years before and after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The people enjoyed hearing him, but they were approaching his words in the wrong way. God says to Ezekiel:

As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. (Ezekiel 33:30-32, NIV)

The people could give Ezekiel compliments for the enjoyment of his lessons, but they failed as listeners. They failed to put into practice God’s message.

This raises an interesting question for the church. The goal of those who teach and preach is in the words of Peter: “whoever speaks, as one who utters oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11, RSV). The goal for teachers and preachers is to make the content God’s message not their own. The question we must ask is: can we fall into the same trap as the people of Ezekiel’s day? Can we view those who speak to us as “singers of beautiful songs” and then fail to be doers of the word we have heard (see James 1:22-25)? Each must search his own heart, but the message from the book of Ezekiel is clear. As listeners, hearing God’s word must be more than entertainment.