Armageddon scares us from year to year. The media is just an excuse to raise people's ears and make them run to supermarkets for stocks of strategic goods. But, fortunately, we have successfully survived many of the most diverse "Armageddons" according to impressionable journalists and psychics. Now, living in our wonderful time, let's look at the concept of "Armageddon": what is it, where to expect and a lot of interesting things about it.
Armageddon concept
We heard it both in colloquial speech and on the screen, for sure, we managed to catch a film about the epic end of the world with the same name - "Armageddon" once or several times. So let's, in the end, analyze the sonorous word "Armageddon". We are primarily interested in the meaning, as well as the historical realities associated with it.
So, initially, Armageddon is not a household name, but the name of the area where, as the Apocalypse says, the decisive battle between good and evil will take place.
The origin of the modern word form is attributed to the Hebrew name for one of the highlands - Har Megiddo, which literally means "the highlands of Megiddo". Geographically, it is located in the Haifa region (now Israel). It will help you see with your own eyes what Armageddon is, photo maps and from the excavation site of the city.
Haifa is associated with more than a dozen historical events, mostly battles. According to the version of Christian scriptures, at these "mountains of Israel" "the kings of the whole earth" will meet in battle. In the battle, the forces of evil will outweigh, and the satanic hordes will destroy the Divine fire of heaven. This is the original mention of Armageddon as a geographic point, and it belongs to John the Theologian.
Neomysticism about Armageddon
Over time, the version about the battle near the Megiddo area has been transformed. Basically, the meaning has moved from designating a geographical feature to defining a decisive battle. It was overgrown with more and more new definitions, mystical assumptions, superstitious fears.
Armageddon firmly entered the doctrines of various sects. Among them are the well-known "Jehovah's Witnesses" and the less common "Living Ethics". The frightening of parishioners by Armageddon has become an integral part of their teaching, pushing for voluntary donations in the name of salvation.
Technogenic Armageddon
In the era of active development of technology, Armageddon began to acquire technogenic definitions. Thus, the news about the appearance of nuclear weapons caused corresponding fears - "nuclear Armageddon". During the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States throughoutthe planet began to spread such fears.
With the advent of novelties in the field of technology, almost everyone is played by science fiction writers as a prerequisite for a "decisive battle". From the mobile phone to the internet, to the hadron collider and other high-tech discoveries.
Armageddon in Protestantism
Protestant teaching tells us that the decisive battle will take place at the mountains of Megiddo, and Jesus Christ will come to earth again to overthrow the Antichrist (aka Satan, aka the Beast). After this miracle, Satan will be locked up for a thousand years.
Megiddo and the area referred to in Scripture as "the mountain of Israel" are also identified. The Biblical Armageddon, as we see, is a quite unambiguous concept, however, over time it has moved into other contexts of meanings. And today it is used for various purposes as a bright and defiant turn.
Mass culture and Armageddon
Today, the mystical fear of Armageddon has subsided, and the word has begun to be used in various contexts. They are not afraid to take it for the names of various projects and social phenomena. Since the true meaning (both direct and symbolic) is taken as the basis, and not invented by mystics, the interpretation can be very different.
For example, in Moscow there is a historical and philological almanac called "Armageddon". The meaning of the name is interpreted by the creators as some kind of attempt to gather all available forces for a decisive war for beauty and truth in this world.
Cinematography pleased us with a fantastic film"Armageddon" in 1998. Events unfold epic: an inevitable cosmic threat in the form of a meteorite looms over humanity. You can still turn her away, which Bruce Willis successfully does. As you can see, there is a direct appeal to the meaning of Armageddon as the end of the world, and nothing to do with the primary. The film was the reason why it became customary to attribute to Armageddon the significance of the extinction of mankind precisely because of the threat of a meteorite fall.
Now we know what Armageddon is in its original version and modern realities.
Megiddo and battles at its walls
In its history, the city of Megiddo has experienced many wars, of greater and lesser importance. At least, such data is provided to us by various historical and philosophical scientific sources.
For example, historian Eric Klein reports some data in his study The Battles of Armageddon. So, the Mongols, who managed to brilliantly capture a significant part of Asia in the 13th century, were first defeated near the walls of the city of Megiddo.
The 20th century was also marked by the Battle of Megiddo. The English army led by Edmund Allenby defeated the Turkish.
In Biblical writings, Megiddo appears in many significant events besides the Apocalypse. Thus, for example, the army of Judge Barak defeated Sisera, the Canaanite commander. Gideon with his small army (only 300 people) snatched victory over the Midianites from fate.
The fact that so many times the area near the city of Megiddo became the center of significant battles is explained by hisstrategic position. For 4 thousand years, battle scenes at Megiddo occurred with noticeable frequency. This confirms the meaning of the word Armageddon, created over time, as an event that will affect the fate of all people on Earth.
Conclusion
So, in our article we touched on a very ominous term: we figured out what Armageddon is, in what meaning it is used today and in history.
For many, the discovery was that the word comes from the name of the area in Israel - the city of Megiddo. Throughout history, dozens of battles have taken place here, as the location of the area is strategically important.
Biblical Armageddon is mentioned in the Revelation of John the Evangelist and nowhere else in Scripture. However, the pictures that people imagine when reading his texts spread the rumor about the end of the world after the battle between Good and Evil.
