Di Rita,
For those who follow the crowd there is no proof but for those who are open-minded can see history repeats every 5000 years.
There is something common between science and scriptures—both teach that entropy rules the material world. Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness of a system. Simply put, things move from order to disorder at the passing of time. Situation is like the room we live in—it needs a regular cleaning and regular maintenance, it simply doesn't stay neat on its own. So is the case with system of things on earth—it starts in virtue and ends in vices. Now the question is: At what frequency do such restoration take place, and why do we find different opinions about the duration of each cycle?
In different cultures around the world, we have about 175 flood myths! [Myths are truths conveyed in story-setting] All of them say forces of nature destroyed a morally depraved world, and a new world started thereafter with a few people. Prominent among them is the Bible that says after the dissolution (through flood) the new world started with 8 persons. In India it says a wicked world ended with Mahabharat War in which weapons of mass-destruction were lavishly used with cataclysmic effects, and new system of things started thereafter. Yet beneath the details, both West and East scriptures give a common truth: An OLD WORLD ORDER that became extremely decadent was destroyed through some means, and A NEW WORLD ORDER was brought in.
This cycle of a world becoming old and new is hinted by Jesus. He taught that the world had a perfect start (Mathew 19:4) but it was deteriorated to the point that he lamented about its condition. (Mathew 11:16-24) The present decadent system of things will meet with destruction and new world order will start again. (Mathew 19:28; 24:3, 7, 33-41) That new world order also will be subjected to deterioration after a while. (Mathew 13:33) Thus Jesus was simply repeating what has already been written by Solomon in the early part of the Bible: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new?’ It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10) Interestingly, Jesus called himself as “someone greater than Solomon.” (Mathew 12:42) That means his teaching carried more weight than Solomon’s writings. Hence the question is what is the duration of one cycle?
1) According to Septuagint Bible [Old Testament that was in use at the time of Jesus], ancient world ended and a new world started in the year in 3134 BC (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04702a.htm of Catholic Encyclopedia; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:5-7) Interestingly, this ancient Bible account of a global flood is common to three major religions—Jews, Christians and Muslims. Parallel secular history of Sumerian King list that begins immediately after the Flood “suggests a Flood date close to 3000 BC.”
2) In India it is taught that each Kalpa (cycle of 5000 years) ends with Mahabharat War and a Golden Age would start thereafter. (Bhagavat Gita 4:7) Aryabhatta, the great mathematician and astronomer of India in the 5th century CE, examined the astronomical positions recorded in the Mahabharat, and wrote in his work, the Aryabhattiya, that the approximate date for previous Mahabharat war to be 3100 BCE.
3) Inscription found in the Jain Temple at Aihole prepared by Chalukya King Pulakeshi says that the temple was constructed 3735 years after the Mhabharat War, and 556 years of Saka Era. (Today Saka Era is 1939 while Christian era is 2017). Hence (1939 - 556 = 1383) 1383 years ago the temple was constructed. 1383 years backward from the present year of 2017, we reach 634 AD which is the year of inscribing this. That means in 634 AD, 3735 years had passed from the Mhabharat War. So the date of the Mahabharat War comes (3735 – 634) to 3101 BC. (http://www.jainglory.com/research/meguti; http://www.kerurtown.gov.in/tourism)
4) Dr. E. Vedavyas who surveyed the researches on astronomical dating of Mahabharat done by 120 scholars over the past hundred years, says sixty-one of them fixed the Mahabharat war to have occurred between 3000 and 3200 B.C. (Astronomical Dating of the Mahabharat War, written by . Dr. E Vedavyas, Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi)
Thus, all the above references show that previous Kalpa ended around 5000 years ago. Going for earlier date would not make sense; because population almost doubles about 50 years [projected world population for the year 2026 is 8 Billion; it was 4 Billion in 1974, and 2 Billion in 1927, according to United States Census Bureau]. If we make a chart backward like 1 Billion in 1874, ½ Billion in 1827 ... you will very soon reach the number of population as just two in less than a few thousand years! People simply do not think the implication of saying that human history is linear and millions of years old. Instead of actual 50 years in which population doubles, try giving 150 years—even then present population would be reached in less than 5000 years!
Thus all evidence points to the fact that the present Kalpa is very close to its expiry date [which is also confirmed by such major threats such as climate change, sea-level rise, accelerated rate of species becoming extinct, increasing number of countries developing nuclear weapons …etc.]. It will end in combined events of 3rd World War, civil wars and natural calamities, following which the next cycle of 5000 years will start with Golden Age as its first phase.
In contrast, books that support theory of evolution may claim that history is linear and millions of years old which they say depending on Carbon dating method. But carbon dating has its problem. Its results vary according to the objects that are made subject to it. It may show the shell of a living freshwater mussel to be aged over two thousand years, and coal, oil, and natural gas that are supposed to be millions of years old may show as aged in the tens of thousands of years. Problems are many with this carbon dating method. One among is that C-14 is forming today faster than it's decaying. And another problem is that earth's magnetic field is decaying exponentially which would affect influx of cosmic rays, which in turn affect C-14 formation rates also. WILLARD LIBBY, WHO INVENTED the C14 dating method to determine the age of biological materials by measuring their carbon-14 activity, found that this method has proven somewhat accurate back to only about 2000 BC, and wrote “that history extended back only 5000 years.” (Libby 1958: 531) (http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/20 ... px#Article).
For those who follow the crowd there is no proof but for those who are open-minded can see history repeats every 5000 years.
There is something common between science and scriptures—both teach that entropy rules the material world. Entropy is a measure of the disorder or randomness of a system. Simply put, things move from order to disorder at the passing of time. Situation is like the room we live in—it needs a regular cleaning and regular maintenance, it simply doesn't stay neat on its own. So is the case with system of things on earth—it starts in virtue and ends in vices. Now the question is: At what frequency do such restoration take place, and why do we find different opinions about the duration of each cycle?
In different cultures around the world, we have about 175 flood myths! [Myths are truths conveyed in story-setting] All of them say forces of nature destroyed a morally depraved world, and a new world started thereafter with a few people. Prominent among them is the Bible that says after the dissolution (through flood) the new world started with 8 persons. In India it says a wicked world ended with Mahabharat War in which weapons of mass-destruction were lavishly used with cataclysmic effects, and new system of things started thereafter. Yet beneath the details, both West and East scriptures give a common truth: An OLD WORLD ORDER that became extremely decadent was destroyed through some means, and A NEW WORLD ORDER was brought in.
This cycle of a world becoming old and new is hinted by Jesus. He taught that the world had a perfect start (Mathew 19:4) but it was deteriorated to the point that he lamented about its condition. (Mathew 11:16-24) The present decadent system of things will meet with destruction and new world order will start again. (Mathew 19:28; 24:3, 7, 33-41) That new world order also will be subjected to deterioration after a while. (Mathew 13:33) Thus Jesus was simply repeating what has already been written by Solomon in the early part of the Bible: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new?’ It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10) Interestingly, Jesus called himself as “someone greater than Solomon.” (Mathew 12:42) That means his teaching carried more weight than Solomon’s writings. Hence the question is what is the duration of one cycle?
1) According to Septuagint Bible [Old Testament that was in use at the time of Jesus], ancient world ended and a new world started in the year in 3134 BC (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04702a.htm of Catholic Encyclopedia; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:5-7) Interestingly, this ancient Bible account of a global flood is common to three major religions—Jews, Christians and Muslims. Parallel secular history of Sumerian King list that begins immediately after the Flood “suggests a Flood date close to 3000 BC.”
2) In India it is taught that each Kalpa (cycle of 5000 years) ends with Mahabharat War and a Golden Age would start thereafter. (Bhagavat Gita 4:7) Aryabhatta, the great mathematician and astronomer of India in the 5th century CE, examined the astronomical positions recorded in the Mahabharat, and wrote in his work, the Aryabhattiya, that the approximate date for previous Mahabharat war to be 3100 BCE.
3) Inscription found in the Jain Temple at Aihole prepared by Chalukya King Pulakeshi says that the temple was constructed 3735 years after the Mhabharat War, and 556 years of Saka Era. (Today Saka Era is 1939 while Christian era is 2017). Hence (1939 - 556 = 1383) 1383 years ago the temple was constructed. 1383 years backward from the present year of 2017, we reach 634 AD which is the year of inscribing this. That means in 634 AD, 3735 years had passed from the Mhabharat War. So the date of the Mahabharat War comes (3735 – 634) to 3101 BC. (http://www.jainglory.com/research/meguti; http://www.kerurtown.gov.in/tourism)
4) Dr. E. Vedavyas who surveyed the researches on astronomical dating of Mahabharat done by 120 scholars over the past hundred years, says sixty-one of them fixed the Mahabharat war to have occurred between 3000 and 3200 B.C. (Astronomical Dating of the Mahabharat War, written by . Dr. E Vedavyas, Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi)
Thus, all the above references show that previous Kalpa ended around 5000 years ago. Going for earlier date would not make sense; because population almost doubles about 50 years [projected world population for the year 2026 is 8 Billion; it was 4 Billion in 1974, and 2 Billion in 1927, according to United States Census Bureau]. If we make a chart backward like 1 Billion in 1874, ½ Billion in 1827 ... you will very soon reach the number of population as just two in less than a few thousand years! People simply do not think the implication of saying that human history is linear and millions of years old. Instead of actual 50 years in which population doubles, try giving 150 years—even then present population would be reached in less than 5000 years!
Thus all evidence points to the fact that the present Kalpa is very close to its expiry date [which is also confirmed by such major threats such as climate change, sea-level rise, accelerated rate of species becoming extinct, increasing number of countries developing nuclear weapons …etc.]. It will end in combined events of 3rd World War, civil wars and natural calamities, following which the next cycle of 5000 years will start with Golden Age as its first phase.
In contrast, books that support theory of evolution may claim that history is linear and millions of years old which they say depending on Carbon dating method. But carbon dating has its problem. Its results vary according to the objects that are made subject to it. It may show the shell of a living freshwater mussel to be aged over two thousand years, and coal, oil, and natural gas that are supposed to be millions of years old may show as aged in the tens of thousands of years. Problems are many with this carbon dating method. One among is that C-14 is forming today faster than it's decaying. And another problem is that earth's magnetic field is decaying exponentially which would affect influx of cosmic rays, which in turn affect C-14 formation rates also. WILLARD LIBBY, WHO INVENTED the C14 dating method to determine the age of biological materials by measuring their carbon-14 activity, found that this method has proven somewhat accurate back to only about 2000 BC, and wrote “that history extended back only 5000 years.” (Libby 1958: 531) (http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/20 ... px#Article).