I have attempted to look this up online, but I cannot find the answer.  Why do the years in the Bible go from high to low rather than from low to high? Example:  740 BC - 681 BC rather than 681 BC - 740 BC.  Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,
Can’t Count On It

Dear Can’t Count On It,

BC time is calculated by counting up because it is counting up towards the time when Christ walked the earth.  BC stands for “before Christ”, and using this dating method, time is counted backwards from the approximate birth of Christ.  For example, 650 BC would mean “650 years before Jesus”.  Consequently, the numbers get smaller as you get closer to Jesus’ birth.

     Where was God during the Holocaust?  Why do we teach our children to pray and tell them prayers will be answered when thousands of children prayed every day during this horrible time without an answer?

Sincerely,
Aghast

Dear Aghast,

When God created the universe, He made everything good (Gen 1:31).  The world didn’t have disease, thorns, suffering, and all the other problems we see today.  Originally, Adam and Eve lived in the perfect paradise of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:8).  It is only after Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden because of their sin that all the problems we see today began. All suffering is caused by mankind and sin.

When God made the world, He made it to be good – it was sin that destroyed that perfect vision.  All wickedness and evil brings pain to God and grieves Him and He will only endure it for so long.  In Noah’s day, God saw all the violence that was in the world and it made Him deeply sad (Gen 6:5-6).  God gives mankind the freedom to make our own choices, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t pain Him to see the evil upon this earth.  God tells us that the only reason He endures it is because He is longsuffering and desiring to give as many people as possible the chance to repent and turn to Him (2 Pet 3:9).

Do you believe the world will end on Dec. 12, 2012?

Sincerely,
Mark Your Calendar?

Dear Mark Your Calendar,

Feel free to do your shopping for the holidays in 2012; the world isn’t likely to be destroyed on Dec. 21, 2012.  For those of our readers unfamiliar with the 2012 doomsday schtick… we will take a moment to explain this New Age teaching.  The idea that the world is going to be destroyed or transformed on December 21^st (some say 23^rd), 2012 is based off of the Mayan Long Count calendar.  The Mayan Long Count calendar is a non-repeating calendar that was used in Mesoamerica during the height of the Mayan civilization, and because it is a non-repeating calendar (unlike the Roman calendar which repeats every 365 days), it eventually runs out of days.  The last day on the Mayan Long Count calendar is December 21^st, 2012.  Therefore, some folks are expecting a cataclysmic change to the world order on that day.

Now that we’ve explained what it is, let’s explain what it isn’t.  It isn’t right.  We here at AYP are pretty sure that if God was going to hide the date of the end of the world in a conspiracy-theory fashion, He probably wouldn’t hide it in the calendar of a blood-drinking, child-sacrificing, snake-worshipping heathen culture.  But, hey, maybe that’s just us… (insert friendly chuckle here)

As you mentioned, God promises that He will return like a thief in the night (1 Thess 5:2).  If there is one day this year that you can be guaranteed Jesus won’t return – it is Dec. 21^st, 2012.

      Is Tim Tebow the first rider of the seven riders of the apocalypse?

Sincerely,
Go Broncos!

Dear Go Broncos,

No… and it is a good thing because that would really mess up my fantasy football team.  The horsemen you are referring to can be found in Rev 6:1-8.  The book of Revelation is a book that uses symbolic language to describe the persecution that was quickly coming upon the first-century Christians (Rev 1:1-3).  The apostle John said the events were “at hand” and “shortly to come to pass”.  The book of Revelation deals with the Roman persecution of the church – not the end of the world or the rise of the Denver Broncos.

     When God returns for the seven-year trial on Earth from Revelation, and they say that in order to eat, you have to get the devil’s signature… if you do that to feed your kids, do you go to hell for getting the signature, or do you still go to heaven?

Sincerely,
For The Children

Dear For The Children,

The tribulation taught by many denominations is based off of a misinterpretation of Matthew chapter twenty-four.  Matt 24 is dealing with the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Jewish temple that would happen in 70 AD.  If we carefully pay attention to the context, Jesus is talking about the Jewish temple’s destruction, not a worldwide trial thousands of years in the future (Matt 24:1-2).  Jesus specifically said that the tribulation would occur within that generation’s lifetime (Matt 24:34).

There will be a day when all the faithful are caught up to meet Christ in the heavens.  The day He returns (Acts 1:11), all mankind will be judged at the same time (Jhn 5:28-29).  In that great day (Jude 1:6), the whole world will be burned up with fire (2 Pet 3:10-12).  There will be no post-tribulation, pre-tribulation, semi-tribulation, etc.; there will only be the great Day of Judgment (2 Pet 3:7, 1 Jn 4:17).  If you would like a more in-depth look at the book of Revelation, we have a series of classes on the book that can be found at sermons.mvchurchofchrist.org.