From: scerir (scerir@libero.it)
Date: Mon Feb 24 2003 - 15:48:18 MST
Tom Arnold
'National Post'
Monday, February 24, 2003
*Newton suspected world was going to end in 2060*
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?
id=4B8FD725-D2C2-452D-BD2B-1496078DB065
A Canadian researcher has unearthed a handwritten manuscript revealing Sir
Isaac Newton predicted the world will end in the year 2060.
After more than 55 years of trying to decode the Bible, Newton concluded
that Armageddon -- a last great battle of global repercussions with plagues,
war, return of Christ, end of time -- would occur more than 300 years after
his death, in 1727. He said it would be followed by a 1,000-year reign by
the saints on Earth.
The manuscript was found by Stephen Snobelen, assistant professor in the
history of science and technology programme at University of King's College
in Halifax.
The discovery will be featured in a BBC documentary airing in Britain and
Israel on Saturday. Newton: The Dark Heretic is not scheduled to be
broadcast in North America until next year.
Newton won immortality for formulating the law of gravity, but he was also a
theologian who wrote well over a million words on biblical subjects and was
influenced by Hebrew scripture, according to academic articles on his work.
Newton's selection of a date is considered significant because he rarely
pinpointed important time frames. "Newton argued that this brought discredit
to Christianity and the Bible and so he said you shouldn't set dates," Mr.
Snobelen said yesterday. "So the fact that he actually seems to have caved
into the temptation of setting dates itself is spectacular and rather
stunning.
"He was a scholar who in many respects was very cautious.... He was not
running around the streets telling people the sky is falling or anything
like that," he added.
In Newton's own words, likely written near the end of his life, he stated:
"This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put
a stop to the rash conjectures of fancifull men who are frequently
predicting the time of the end, & by doing so bring the sacred prophesies
into discredit as often as their predictions fail."
Many consider Newton the most influential scientist who ever lived. His
accomplishments in mathematics, physics and optics laid the foundation for
modern science and, in turn, revolutionized the world.
Newton (1642-1727) studied the Bible for most of his life, trying to unravel
what he believed were God's secret laws of the universe. He was trying to
determine the code to unlock secrets of the New Testament's Book of
Revelation: when Armageddon will occur, along with the second coming of
Christ, Jews returning to Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple.
He noted a number of time periods are listed in the Book of Daniel from the
Old Testament. One of these is 1,260 days, which Newton interpreted as 1,260
years, based on a day-per-year principle. The time frame is one in which
Newton interpreted to stand for a period when the church (Orthodox, Roman
Catholic and Anglican) would be mired in deep corruption.
In his attempt to decode the mind of God, Newton determined that 1260 date
actually began in 800 AD, a time when the Roman Catholic church was given
political power over countries. He then added 1260 to 800 to arrive at the
date of 2060 for the Apocalypse. It is mentioned twice in his manuscripts.
"I think a lot of people are going to read the 2060 date with some interest
because Newton is very respected," Mr. Snobelen said. "There may be a sense
that he got the science right, maybe he got the prophesy right, too.
"It represents a lifetime, something like 55 to 60 years, of scouring the
Book of Revelation and trying to determine what God was telling mankind
about the future."
Thousands of Newton's theological papers, which remained in a trunk in the
house of the Earl of Portsmouth for 250 years, were sold by Sotheby's in the
late 1930s.
John Maynard Keynes, the economist, bought many and when he died he donated
the manuscripts to his alma mater, King's College, Cambridge.
Much of the remaining material went to Abraham Yahuda. Stored at the Jewish
National Library in Jerusalem, it is the largest collection of Newton's
works, some 4,500 pages with very small handwriting and some scribbling. It
is among these documents that the date was found. Mr. Snobelen made the
discovery several years ago but the issue never became public.
© Copyright 2003 National Post
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