Section B·Page 12 The University Daily Kansan Wednesday, December 1, 1999 Millennium Christians prepare to celebrate new year, faith Other religions do not consider year to be special By Erin McDaniel Special to the Kansan Talk of a year 2000 apocalypse has buzzed through the media lately, but representatives from some KU religious groups say they are not worried that the end may be near. "Most Christian theologians will tell you not to put a lot of stock into paying attention to dates," said Jeff Burgess, Kansas City, Mo., senior and president of Campus Crusade for Christ. "All we can see is the present and the past." Burgess quoted Acts 1:15 in which Jesus tells his disciples, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own hand." Burgess said he thought it would just be silly for God to do anything significant based on human time. And as far as he knew, there is never a specific time for the end of the world discussed in the Bible. Christians believe that Jesus will someday return to Earth, Burgess said, and Christians always had a readiness for the event and not just at the start of a new millennium. "There is always a sense of urgency for Christians, a sense that life is short, that life is precious," he said. "There's an attitude that you should always expect it." "It's kind of exciting because it is 2000," he said. "That's 2,000 years since the birth of Christ. Everything hinges on Christ. We tell our time based on the life of Jesus Christ and that makes it important." Burgess added that while 2000 was just another year, it was an important milestone. "It's so exciting because in the year 2000 Megan Gearheart, Overland Park senior and member of the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, said that the year 2000 also was exciting because it marked Jubilee Year. A Jubilee Year is a concept from the Old Testament, Leviticus 25:10, in which God told the Israelites to consecrate the 50th year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. there will be so many opportunities to spiritual growth."Gearheart said. Gearheart also said there will be many possibilities to be Christian to one another and unify the church. Gearheart said St. Lawrence would have lots of opportunities for students to celebrate the Jubilee Year, including 'an allnight vigil on New Year's Eve. She also was not fearful that the apocalypse would occur soon. "I will probably go to church on that night, but not in any scared sense at all," she said. "I not worried about it at all." Tim Miller, professor and chairman of religious studies said there were two basic systems used to predict the end of the world. "The first we can call 'signs of the times,'" he said. "When things deteriorate into chaos — plague, disease, famine, earthquake — then you know the end of the world may be near. "The second is what we call 'Biblical Math.' Scholars look at biblical passages and try to set a date. Depending on their starting point and calculations, they're going to get different dates." Miller said that although the calendar was based on the life of Jesus, it was not very accurate. "Most scholars believe that Jesus Christ was not born on December 25 in the year 1," he said. "It was probably four to six years before that, so this is actually year 2005 or (2006). The calendar started in an arbitrary fashion, so what we have now is arbitrary." Miller said the belief in a year 2000 apocalypse did exist, but it was not widely spread. "Some people think it will happen in the year 2000, but they're mostly small groups you've never heard of," he said. The millennium holds different meaning for non-Christian groups who do not use the Gregorian calendar for religious purposes. The Hebrew calendar, which is the official calendar of Israel and is used by Jews around the world, is solar lunar based on the Israelites' escape from Egypt to the promised land. "This year is 5760 on the Hebrew calendar, so it's not a new millennium for us," said Mayaan Pace, programming director for KU Hillel. "It's not the same type of millennium. In Israel, the new year is definitely a celebration, but as far as a spiritual meaning, there isn't one." Pace said that while Christians may see Illustration by Jason Williams a link between the coming of the Messian and the year, Jews did not. Muslims also use a separate religious calendar, the Hijri, a lunar calendar based on the prophet Mohammed's escape from Mecca to Medina. According to the Hijri, this year is 1420. "We hope our Messiah will come any day," she said. "He could come tomorrow. The year doesn't mean anything to us." "We don't take the millennium as a real. ly big deal," said Fahed Al-Bannal, Bayan, Kuwait, junior and member of the Muslim Student Association. "If it's the year 2000, 2001 or even 3000, we don't care about time. We only care about God. The only one who knows the future is God. People get away from their religion and try to find other things. But the Koran says clearly, that whatever is in the future is known only by God." Al-Bannai said people who have tried to predict the future probably had ulterior motives, such as money. Miller emphasized that while the new millennium may have some superficial religious meaning, it was not considered a big deal by most religions. "Religious people are not as worked up about the millennium as some other people," he said. "Y2K is a much bigger story." 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