The morning after the latest earthquake in Los Angeles, I received an e-mail from a reader, a fellow I deem fairly intelligent, well read and "level headed."

Maybe, just maybe, he said, the earthquake is one of the signs of the swiftly approaching end of time.

"Could be the beginning of the final 3.5 years of the great tribulation, leading up to the December 21, 2012 date which marks the end of the Mayan calendar," he wrote.

"Thus, as some have prophesied, World War III will break out with Christians and Jews taking on the Muslim world, which some call Armageddon, followed by an end of an age, and 1,000 year reign, then Christ's victorious return! I won't be here to hear the trumpets."

I e-mailed back that I doubted an earthquake that did little more than rattle teacups in kitchen cabinets and dump a few articles from supermarket shelves, ranks as an omen of Armageddon. Much worse disasters -- for example, a cyclone that hit Myanmar in May and killed thousands -- should score much higher as omens of impending doom.

I also reminded the reader that, according to the Good Book, "No one will know the day and the hour" of Armageddon. This Scripture, of course, has not deterred doomsayers down through the ages from setting dates, most of which have long passed.

But it is our nature to assign more significance to our own disasters, no matter how minor, than to those visited upon other peoples or nations.

The Rev. Sally Bates, one of our Sunday school teachers, once addressed the "end of time" issue. She concluded her provocative commentary with, "Instead of hearing that the world will end 'soon,' what would you do if this morning, on the basis of an unimpeachable source, I told you the world will end in 30 days?"

On the way home, I put the question to my wife, who replied without hesitation, "Clean out the basement!"

"You can't be serious! With the world ending, who would possibly care if our basement is in order?"

When she asked me the same question, I said, "Well, I'd like to get Katherine and Adam and the little ones home from Florida to be with us at the end."

She wisely pointed out that our son-in-law's parents would probably want the same thing. Choosing between Raleigh and Sharon, Conn., at the end of time would be an even tougher call than deciding which place to go for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

When the world will end has been a frequent topic for discussion among foothills relatives, whose simple, uncomplicated faith I have long envied. We grew up with the melancholy prediction that Judgment Day was "coming soon," as if it were a new movie coming to the cinema.

Once, during a visit with my sister, she and a couple of other guests sat around the kitchen table late into the night dissecting Revelation, that deeply depressing Bad News book of the Bible.

Dwelling on society's Sodom and Gomorrah lifestyle, and noting several incidents of local violence and misconduct, the conversation was frequently punctuated with sighs of "It's coming soon" and followed by more concurring sighs of "No, it won't be long."

"Remember, no one knoweth the day or the hour," I called out from the den. "It's almost midnight and I'm going to bed. But if you three come up with a specific date, how about writing it on a slip of paper and sliding it under my bedroom door. Otherwise, I'll see you in the morning."

The next morning, we were to drive up the mountain to the Hungry Farmer for a breakfast of country ham and eggs, fried mountain apples, hot biscuits and cream gravy. I was exceeding glad that the trip wasn't canceled by Armageddon.

On Sunday, I mentioned that Dec. 21, 2012, is the new date for the world ending. A friend observed cheerfully, "At least we won't have to go through the business of sending Christmas cards that year."

Seriously, let us not panic. Remember that many doomsday dates have come and gone.

Personally, I don't want to know "the day and the hour." "Soon" is sufficient for me.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.