I'm as guilty as the next guy—sometimes the lure is too powerful, and I find myself imagining the buildings around me broken down and covered in vines, the little remaining technology resembling a steampunk fantasy, people roving in groups for protection and all heavily armed. It's the post-apocalypse, and it's appeal has long since broadened from the daydream of a few geeks to a firm position within the broader context of pop culture.
Some pretty entertaining video games and movies have been made about a devastated Earth. When societal constraints crumble, the result is chaos; the chaos in movies like Doomsday, Six-String Samurai, and the Mad Max franchise just happens to be really cool. Anything can happen, from rockers carrying katanas to biker punks fighting knights in armor to vigilante justice in the Australian Outback. Which is what people love about the Post-Apocalypse.
If civilization dies, so do rules. Every man is free to do what is right in his own eyes; and will, as the book of Judges clearly demonstrates, probably the closest thing to a post-apocalyptic novel the Bible contains. No one can tell you not to wear black leather, drive a gnarly hog, or carry an arsenal wherever you go once government ceases. Many people assume they'd be a lone good guy against the hordes of evil, but when everyone is fighting for the little food and comfort that remains, it's a blurry distinction between right and wrong. Which is what is so appealing about a world after destruction.
The post-apocalypse is about as postmodern as you can get. Nihilism prevails; when no standard exists, there can be no values or judgment. Everyone is a maverick, and every maverick creates his own moral code, and that means truth and meaning are dead.
Worse, the post-apocalypse is anti-Christian. When the world ends, it won't be cause for despair, at least not for the children of God. Christ returns in glory and all creation acknowledges His lordship; Earth is remade, and God's people rest in His glory as resurrected people. The proverbial End of the World doesn't result in a worse situation than what we have now, it heralds a true beginning, a brighter and more limitless future than humans can comprehend or imagine.
As fallen people, we all want autonomy. The post-apocalypse, aside from any other trappings, offers just that, but it's a false hope. In the end, the remaining humans would simply continue to perpetrate the evil they practice now, and there would be no change. God's Word teaches a fundamental change, that the end of the world as we know it is nothing to fear for those who trust the Lord, but rather something to look forward to and hope for.
One of the best interpretations of what the post-apocalypse would probably look like is Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It's hard to say whether his view is Christian or not, but he doesn't have any misunderstanding about how human beings would react to complete freedom. He also realizes the hope of mankind then and now is goodness, not autonomy. Our hope as Christians is in the ultimate goodness, Jesus Christ. Only He can save us from certain destruction, and only He will carry us safely through this present age into the glorious Age to Come.
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