Further Observations on Harold Camping and the May 21 Cult
May 13, 2011 by natalina
Filed under Spirituality, The Unexplained
City buses across the Country are covered with advertising for Family Radio.
Here we are at May 13. According to Harold Camping and his posse at Family Radio, Doomsday is only 8 days away.
I handled this topic with kiddie gloves the first time I tackled it, simply laying out who Harold Camping is, what his predictions are, how he came to those conclusions, and historical observations of similar claims that did not come to pass. I wanted to be careful not to insult anyone.
Ever since, there has been a lively debate taking place in the comments section, which is precisely what I had hoped for. Camping followers, non-believers, and everyone in between have been weighing in on the matter. For a refresher, see my entire post here: May 21, 2011: Judgement Day? Open Discussion
Now… I have a slightly different angle to address. In fact, I’ll admit that I’ve gone from being somewhat intrigued by the May 21, 2011 phenomenon, to feeling a bit hostile. Here’s why.
A few weeks ago I went home to visit family. I hadn’t seen my Grandmother in quite some time. She is currently living in an assisted care facility following the death of my dear Grandfather. My grandpa was a Lutheran minister, and the most loving man I’ve ever met. He loved his wife, his children and grandchildren, and he loved his Lord, with all of his heart. He was not one of these “hellfire and brimstone” preachers. Instead, his focus was always on God’s love, and Christ as redeemer.
My grandmother seemed more anxious than normal. I sat down to talk to her, to determine why she was so on edge. She is a bright woman who unfortunately cannot see well and is nearly deaf. At night, she lays in bed and cranks up her radio, hoping to find some inspirational preacher to listen to, as Grandpa is no longer around. She said to me, “Have you heard some people saying that the world is going to end on May 21?”
“Yes,” I told her. “Where did you here that?”
“Well, this man named Harold Camping hosts a radio show that I found in the evening. He says he KNOWS that Jesus is coming back on May 21, and that the world is going to end.”
I became irritated. I asked, “Well, you don’t believe him do you? You remember that the Bible says NO MAN knows, not even Jesus knows, but only the Father.”
“I know that in my heart,” she said timidly, “But Mr. Camping says that if you don’t believe him, you won’t be saved. It scares me.”
So…. things have changed. Once I found the Camping prediction to be an interesting cultural phenomenon. But then he scared my Grandma. Now, it’s personal. 
This type of arrogant claim can be seen anywhere Harold Camping’s band of followers can be found. Which is pretty much any corner of the world, these days. As we get closer, their chorus of “WE CAN KNOW” can be heard louder than ever. But, let’s pick this apart, shall we?
First of all, anyone who has had even a cursory glance at the Bible knows that it guarantees no such thing. On the contrary, the Bible says, “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33)
The above Biblical reference is a thorn in Camping’s side. How does he deal with it? He uses some semantically clever tap dancing to dodge it. He claims that the above section doesn’t say we cannot know, only that at the time it was written, no one DID know. No one knew. Thus, things have changed and it is not contradictory to the Bible to know NOW. WE CAN KNOW, he proclaims. So how the heck does HE know? Well, because he has studied the Bible, learned about the secret hidden codes that God placed within, and decoded the mystery that God has now revealed as the end draws near. Hallelujah!
He has deciphered a cryptic timeline, and with the help of some reeeeaally big speculation, believes knows that the story of Noah’s Ark holds the magic key to unlocking the prophecy. (I tried to get into more specifics about EXACTLY how he came to the timeline he uses, but in all of his writings, the question of “How do you know?” is met with an asterisk, which leads to the following statement… * You are invited to send to Family Radio for the free book “Adam When?” that shows how the Bible provides this information.” )
Camping uses a form of numerology to apply significance to certain key numbers. Yes, numerology. Let’s call it like it is, he’s divining. Not that I care, but I find it a crucial point for those who are ready to adhere to his every word while preaching doom to all those who don’t tow the line. Here is an example from his book We are Almost There!
The church age embraced, to the very day, exactly 1,955 years in that it began on Pentecost day, May 22, A.D. 33, and ended the day before Pentecost on May 21, 1988 (A.D.). (p. 29) As we have noted, God further solidifies or locks in this date, May 21, 2011, by placing the day of shutting the door, when the rapture will occur, on the 17th day of the second month of the Biblical calendar. Significantly, the number 17 links perfectly to the fact of the rapture because spiritually, the number 17 signifies heaven. Moreover, the number 2 (second month) spiritually identifies with those who have been commissioned to bring the Gospel. Is it not amazing that they will be raptured on the 17th day of the second month? Is that coincidental? We also have learned that the last day of the earth’s existence, October 21, 2011, is the 23rd day of the seventh month of the Biblical calendar. The number 23 normally signifies God’s wrath being poured out. The number 7 (seventh month) signifies the perfect fulfillment of God’s purposes. Could this also be coincidental, that the final completion of God’s punishment on the unsaved occurs in the seventh month on a day that features the number 23, which is a number that completely identifies with God’s wrath, thus signifying God’s perfect wrath on the unsaved? (p. 61-62)
You can’t really get away from it. That is Numerology – Camping style. If you love Mr. Camping’s philosophy, you embrace something that most evangelicals would consider divination. Period.
Let us then, take a look at one of one of the more recent videos that features Harold the Seer. I believe this one was made at the 10 day point. Here we’ll get another lesson in the heretofore unknown Biblical Numerology.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZxxH6W_QIU
Among all of his fancy footwork with the numbers, Camping asks in the above video… “That advice that he’s coming like a thief in the night…. What is your authority?”
I guess THIS is the “misguided” authority that many Camping detractors are relying upon:
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. – 1 Thessalonians 5:2
Mr. Camping, with due respect for your age and perhaps your desire to fully understand the Bible you so cherish, I believe you have completely missed the mark, and in the process you’ve told people that if they do NOT leave their current Churches, regardless of denomination, they are deceived, and do not know God, therefore will not be saved. I ask you, where is YOUR authority? What makes you feel that you can KNOW these things? A bit of scripture you should probably have taken better note of would be, James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
But, luckily, we will get a head’s up on May 21 if it is, in fact, the DAY. Because as I inquired to several Camping followers about how on earth the Rapture of souls could take place all over the world on the same day… I discovered that they’ve found away around that pesky time zone thing. As one commenter explained on my previous post, and as many other followers have explained to me, it will happen like this:
On May 21 starting somewhere on the earth, most likely near New Zealand (International Date Line) there will be a great earthquake which will cause the graves to open and the bodies of the saved will rise to meet Christ in the air and be changed and the bodies or what ever is left of the unsaved will lie on the ground as a shameful site in the eyes of God. This event will follow the sunset moving west. So starting lets say in New Zealand, then an hour later it will happen in the next time zone and so on. And it will all happen in a 24 hour period to cover May 21 all over the world. So we in the USA will see the rapture in New Zealand and then the next place and so on.
Honestly, even if we accept that Harold Camping is on to something with the whole timeline thing… where in the heck did they pull the above scenario from?
Fine fine… we can agree with Harold or not. Why am I so upset? Because of things like THIS:
A woman slit her daughters’ throats before slitting her own early Friday evening, claiming that “the Tribulation” was going to occur and she wanted to prevent them from suffering through it, officials said.
Lyn Benedetto, 47, reportedly told her daughters to lie on a bed and proceeded to take a knife to their throats.
The suspect then took the knife to her own throat before driving the victims to an unoccupied friend’s house to die.
We’ll see more of that… you can bet on it. Especially on May 22 when followers awaken to find that the world is still spinning and Jesus didn’t come. It is a sad tradition with doomsday prophecy. When the said prophecy fails to materialize, one of two things can happen. 1. Faith is shattered, souls are devastated, and drastic measures are taken by disillusioned “believers”. 2. Cognitive Dissonance.
I explored a perfect example of Cognitive Dissonance months ago in my article, Doomsday Deflected: The Guardians and The Outer-Space Subordinate. Here we saw an example of a doomsday cult from the 1950′s. When their moment of truth came and went without so much as a thunderclap, believers were dumb struck. How could this be?? Were we wrong? But we couldn’t have been wrong! We were CERTAIN this was going to happen!!
This is Cognitive Dissonance. (Leon Festinger addressed this in the book When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of A Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World
I am going to make my own prediction. In order to ease the Cognitive Dissonance that will surely arise on May 22, Camping et al are going to go behind door number three and make the claim that something changed in this process to postpone D Day. And, at the risk of promoting myself as a modern day prophet… I think I know exactly how they’re going to do it.
As I’ve spent time perusing the net for Camping related information, a certain lesson from the Bible keeps cropping up. Recently, I’ve been hearing this parable from Camping and his flock a lot more. It is a Biblical example of God threatening to bring destruction, and then essentially taking it back. It is the tale of the Ninevites from the Book of Jonah.
Jonah tells the people of Ninevah to repent.
Campingites use this scripture as an example of the perfect way to repent when God’s wrath is coming. In the many videos and lectures given by Harold and/or his supporters, the story of the Ninevites resurfaces repeatedly. Here we’ll see why.
In Jonah 3: 1-9, Jonah is commanded by God to go to Ninevah and warn the wicked city of the coming of God’s wrath. He walks the great distance to the city and proclaims, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
In verses 5-9 we see the Ninevites believe in God and believe Jonah’s warning. Every last one of them, including their king, take it seriously, and start some heavy duty repenting.
5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8 But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9 Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?”
The above example is how Camping and the Campers say we should behave now that we have the knowledge about the end of days. The Ninevites did it right! But here’s the most important thing to know about Ninevah.
10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.
Ah-HA! Yes, there is a reason why this story finds itself repeated by Harold Camping and his missionaries. Not so much because they want to teach people how to adhere to the warning, but because this story gives them an out! Because if God had mercy on Ninevah, maybe he could have mercy on all of us! And then if Jesus doesn’t come on May 21, Camping can dust himself off, get on the radio and proclaim, “Behold! The Lord God has seen how wonderful the Family Radio audience has responded to His message, and He has decided to mercifully spare us from His wrath.”
There is a big part of me that wants to believe that Harold Camping believes in his heart and soul that he is correct about the Rapture on May 21, 2011. But when I see someone offering themselves such an obvious escape hatch from the backlash sure to come on May 22, I begin to question all of his intentions.
So, will the world as we know it end on May 21, 2011? Maybe. That’s the thing. In all of this, the point to drive home is that none of us know. Whether you believe Christ will return or the Imam Mahdi, the Kalki Avatar of Vishnu, or a fleet of extraterrestrials hell bent on world domination, the fact is that none of us KNOW. So, the best advice is to live each day as if it could be the last… but not worry so much about the exact date. And that’s ok.
In the meantime, quit scaring my Grandma.
Here is the “8 more days” video of Camping that came out today.
Nice article Natalie. And you know, when you put it in the context of Grandma, that brings it home for me too. What Camping is doing is wrong. Very wrong.
“So, will the world as we know it end on May 21, 2011? Maybe. That’s the thing.”
Natalie, there is no “maybe” about May 21, 2011. let me assure you with one thing. If you read the Bible for yourself, particularly the parts the deal with the end of the world, you will come to the inescapable conclusion that Camping doesn’t know what he is talking about. This is why I made the statement I made in my very first posting on the original thread you started: Camping has never read the Bible, apparently.
If you look at the Book of Daniel, the four gospels, the Book of Revelations and other assorted books such as Thessalonians, Corinthians, etc, where end of days issues are referenced, you see a chronology develop that points to a general timeline. That timeline gives you three basic thoughts:
1. Pre-tribulationism is a false doctrine.
2. Imminent return is a false doctrine.
3. There is no way that the end of the world occurs on May 21 2011, given the parameters set up within the Bible for end-of-the-world chronology.
If I took 10 people who had NO knowledge of the Bible or Christianity whatsoever, and I stuck them on a deserted island for 30 years with nothing to do but read the Bible all day, I can guarantee you they NOT believe any of those three doctrines mentioned above.
As a Christian, I believe the end of the world will come. I believe that Jesus will return to reveal himself to the world, to set up a millenial kingdom that will rule the world with righteousness and justice. And I believe that all of creation will be recreated and made perfect without decay or death at the end of time. But I don’t believe that Harold Camping is pointing the way to that essential overarching truth. What Camping is doing is leading people AWAY FROM that point by misrepresenting a peripheral issue.
Thanks for getting the ball rolling Jonathan. I do hope that others find there way to this article… I’d like to see what some Camping followers think about some of the examples listed here. I really don’t care if people want to believe nonsense like Camping delivers. My real problem is wondering what will become of people who have truly bought what he’s selling. I just read that Family Radio has over $200 mil in assets. And as of their broadcast today.. they’re still asking for donations. If they REALLY believe we have 8 days left.. what on Earth do they need the cash for? I used to think it was misguided faith in Bible codes.. now I believe it is pure deception and rotten to the core. If Jesus were here today, I think the first thing he’d do is storm their studios and turn some tables.
Natalie, I think you sense the bigger truth to be seen here. What is being sold to people here?
I believe that Satan is a real personal force of evil. As I study the Bible, particularly the book of Job, I see that Satan is the father of lies and confusion. Satan has an agenda. Jesus said that Satan is not divided against himself. The lies go all the way back to Eden, when Satan started that famous conversation with Eve.
All these pre-tribbers spread their doctrines that are so popular, I ask myself the question “What is the agenda here?”
I think the agenda is to spread despair, but also to get people jaded. Hollywood has been so obsessed with Apolcalyptic storylines for so long. Have you ever wondered, Natalie, what’s the subconscious hook in this obsession Americans have with the end of civilization?
Jonathan… your comment for some reason sparked a long lost memory of me as a little girl. I had attended a Bible camp with a friend. I didn’t know at the time (I was only little) that the church she belonged to was pre-trib and very strict. At one point, the pastor pulled me aside by myself, knowing that I wasn’t from the church. He said to me, “Your heart is black as night, and I can help you make it white as snow. You don’t want your heart to be black when Jesus comes, do you?” I was terrified. I cried and cried. Every lesson we learned in that Bible Camp was about burning in hell and the coming apocalypse.
When I got home, I went to the only Biblical authority that I trusted… my Grandfather. I told him what had happened. He told me that the most important thing I need to remember is that Jesus is love and God is love. He wrote down on a piece of paper, John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” I still have that paper somewhere.
I think your Grandfather was right, Natalie. And he told you the truth. The other preacher told you the truth too. But he wasn’t right.
I just basically believe people are much better off when they read the book for themselves. What cemented that in my mind was this guy I heard on James Dobson’s show one about 15 years ago. He was a missionary to Bible college campuses. That’s an unusual place for a missionary to be, isn’t it? But the stories he told were eye-opening. Just my take on it all.
It’s very important that we say our prayers for those deceived into following this cult and any other cult. When this epic failure comes around, some will still follow blindly, and this plays into the hands of Satan. You all know where that leads. NOT GOOD!
Great article. My parents (who are now in their 70′s) have also expressed concern about this as well. I think (hope) they have pretty much dismissed it at this point. I have heard that this is splitting families and friends. People have quit their jobs and spent money so they have nothing left after May 21. It is all just awful. The only thing I am unsure about is the Jonah thing. I think it was about 4 months ago I decided to listen to Family Radio out of morbid curiosity and heard the reading of one Camping’s “end of the world” brochures. As I listened, they came to the part about Jonah and I remember thinking to myself, “this is going to be their ‘out’ if things go south on them.” I was shocked when the reader went on to say that there is no chance of God changing his mind on this one. It was at that moment I knew that Camping has allowed himself no wiggle room. There was a time I believed that Camping was sincere and truly believed what he was saying. Two things dissuaded me from that belief: 1) This is a quote from the Preface of “Time Has An End” by Harold Camping: “How then should we live in the face of a possible known date for the end? At Family Radio, on the one hand, we make decisions as if the end could be quite far away. For example, contracts are negotiated as if the future was altogether indefinite. We are the first ones to understand that we are not infallible in our conclusions, and that there may be correction at some time in the future.” I sincerely doubt that Noah bothered to plant a garden when he knew God was about to destroy the world! 2) FR’s donation server was down for awhile this past weekend for maintenance. I think something was wrong with the security certificate. Had it been me, I would have just kept the thing down…. why bother to bring the server back online again when the end is only a short time away? That donation server is back up and running. To me it is the actions of a person that reveal their true belief. So we have so many followers of Camping’s INTERPRETATION that have given up jobs, split from familes and churches, spent all their money to go on RV “missionary” trips or buy billboards. They have “given up all” to follow this man. Yet, the man they are following clearly has plans for a future after May 21.
nice article and nice discussion. keep it rolling… can’t wait for the May 22nd posting.
HC could use a psychiatrist (would they take a 90-year-old patient?). Sometimes he seems to think he’s G-d, with that deep voice condescending to enlighten us with the FACTS. But on the other hand, he seems to have purposely burned his bridges and must realize he is heading for a great fall; so perhaps he thinks he’s Satan too.
Anyway, as an unbeliever and a non-Christian… even I think he sounds heretical.
But aren’t there glaring self-contradictions in his “teachings.”
1) He is effectively claiming to be infallible, repeating that he cannot possibly be in error about his “facts”. On the other hand, he frequently tells us that he only has a “pea” brain. (True enough.) So he’s claiming to be both fallible and infallible.
2) The other day he came right out and said it takes “years and years of careful study” to understand the Bible.(Apparently the first 30 years wasn’t enough–he was still getting it wrong. But HC blames G-d for the 1994 dud, because He hadn’t released the “new information” yet. Who knew?) A few moments later, he was saying “Don’t take my word for it. Read the Bible.!” But we only have a week left, not 50 years of free time. So on one hand he tells people to trust the Bible, while on the other he is saying that cannot understand it without his help.
3) Many times he has said that you can’t be saved by works. But he also says (somewhat more quietly) that if you want to be saved then you MUST leave the Church and ACCEPT his predictions. And it would take a LOT of work to accept such blather.
Anyway, only 8 more days to see what will happen to HC’s world… I imagine it will not be very pleasant.
I’ve been thinking exactly the same things about cognitive dissonance and what is going to happen to the people who believe in this. Have you seen this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DfggHLLjDU The one guy in there said he quit his job and drove 18 hours or something to attend that convention. People are easily influenced especially when fear is the force making them believe something and I’m sure that many of them will take drastic measures such as as the murder suicides you described. It’s comparable to the Holocaust or Charles Manson’s brain washing. It’s fine to question whether or not the world will end on May 21 and believe what ever you want, but it’s not going to be OK when things like you’re talking about happen. God would certainly not want us to scare the people into a frenzy where they do irrational things after being brain washed. That is NOT “warning the people”
In church this morning I was just silently meditating and it just came to me that with all of his numerology and “deep study” that HC is “straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.” When I got home I looked that phrase up and found that it comes from Matthew 23:24. As I read more of the chapter it caused me to wonder if that is not what we are seeing here.
As I see it, the message of Jesus is so simple, and for the past 2000 or so years people just want to come along and complicate it.
Wow Natalina.
Excellent EXCELLENT post. I believe you have hit the proverb-eal nail on the head. doesn’t matter what we believe, or don’t believe.
No one messes with grandma.
When i read the bit about the mother laying her children on the bed to … I’m not going to repeat it. I am a dad and i’m sick of even thinking about what dark place that mother must have been.
For just that reason, i appreciate what you have wrote here, and on your original post. I discussed the fear i had of this saturday with my wife. My fear was not of if or when, but of if not. All those people, struggling with the notion of what should have been and what actually is.
God, if it doesn’t happen, what will become of all the children on all of those beds.
I feel sick,
Jack
This morning was the first I have heard of 21 May 2011. I dont believe this to be true, even if he has studied the Bible for a 100 years. He is most definately a prophet that we are warned against!! No one can know when the End is, not even the most intelligent scientist, numeroligist etc in the world. I mean honestly, who does he think he is????
I am very sad for those who have been following this lie that the rapture will occur on May 21st. Even if they attempt to explain away “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32), they cannot explain away that most every Christian, theologian, scholar, and prophet from the first Century until the Nineteenth Century all believed that the church would go through the Great Tribulation and not escape through some secret rapture that would leave the world paralyzed. I pray that they will take a moment and read my book, “Final Warning” because the hour of is His judgment has come. http://www.revelation-truth.org
Thank you everyone for your response to this post.
Last night, as I was driving home, I was at a stoplight, and as usual I was staring up at this giant electronic billboard that hovers over the intersection. Usually filled with messages of love from local churches or adverts from Real Estate agents, it shocked me as the ad appeared proclaiming “May 21 2011 Judgement Day”… in the background were menacing orange flames. I prayed in my head “Lord, please help me make sense of this. Please give me some clarity.” At that moment, I was just overwhelmed with compassion. For Harold Camping and his followers. I also felt such deep sadness. I actually began to cry. When I got home, I saw the following:
New York Man Spends Life Savings Ahead of May 21 Doomsday
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/14/new-york-man-spends-life-savings-ahead-21-doomsday/?test=latestnews
Since i am involved in th tv industry, i thought i’d point out something about the ads we have been seeing.
They are decidedly bad. Any first year graphic arts student could do as much.
What does concern me is the emotional warfare the billboards causes. We are all as a population inundated with ads seemingly every time we poke our heads up out of bed. We can discern what it all means, and that fear is the motivating factor in gleaning donations from those who have been taken in.
I gotta go back to the children though fair readers. They don’t and can’t understand what is behind this warfare. If they can read however, they are suffering from it.
My two cents.
Jack
The Apostle Paul warned time and time again about false teachers seeking to draw people to themselves. The Bible is God’s word but be aware Satan appears as an angel of light.Harold Camping certainly fits this verse,” Woe to the lawyers! For U have taken away the key of knowledge; U did not enter in yourselves,AND THOSE WHO WERE ENTERING U HINDERED.” Luke 11:52 There is no perhaps,maybe about salvation.
U must realize Harold was excommunicated by the reformed church because of his date setting madness in 1994. Shortly thereafter HC invented the NEW INFORMATION theory. Satan now rules ALL churches.
No church= no accountability. Don’t fret grandpa……CR
Does the Bible speak of the end of the world (cosmos) or the end of the age (aion) in those favorite Matt. 24 (etc.) texts? And if the latter than the end of what age? The last days of the Old Covenant Age. The last days of the Daniel 9 prophecy, the end of the Deut. 28 Covenant NOT with a circus and a marching band but with a bang and a wimper. It was a Divine Visitation in Judgement upon them. And this occurred to this generation of them then back then. Revelation also was written to seven regional churches back back of things which must shortly (for them) come to pass. Those are time limiting statements that are found in the Bible. The error is in extending them into the future indefinately. Everyone knows that in 9 months a baby will be born but no one knows the day or the hour… that is why Jesus said to watch for Jerusalem surrounded by the Roman armies and to run as soon as they are seen because the seige was to begin. Do you know the details of what HAD HAPPENED? Do you know when the rapture doctrine was constructed? Do you know what the church has historically taught on these matters? And do you know that the younger but very vocal and heavily funded church groups in North America are teaching something that is not traditional or historical Christian teaching.
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the antichrist has not come, nor have the four horsmen, the end is not coming yet, but in the worlds current state it couldnt be long with the evil present today
You hand a child a violent story that promises an eternity of happiness if they do everything it says, and an eternity of pain if they do not. You tell them it’s the truth and the way.
Is it surprising that so many read this story and grow up with the impending “doomsday” weighing so heavily on their minds that they would rather spend their time preparing for its supposed inevitability instead of ensuring they have the resources to survive next month when once again it doesn’t happen?
This isn’t some sad tale of some man leading people astray from “the truth.”
This is a tale of what happens when you indoctrinate people into a way of thinking that treats blind faith as a virtue (the bible does not count as proof of God any more than the Illiad counts as proof of Zeus.) It should come as no surprise that people who are taught blind faith as a virtue are so quick to blindly believe what Camping is saying.
Say what you will about how terrible Camping is, and how what he is doing goes against god and the bible. The fact is, this has been happening since the birth of Christianity and will continue to happen as long as it exists because the religion itself unavoidably creates the very circumstances that foster this sort of thing.
There is a reason why promises of love, or threats of damnation, are what is spoken of in a church… Logic and reason does not fill collection plates, does not pay the churches expenses, does not pay the staff (in Canada, being a man of the cloth is officially a job, not just a “calling”).
Telling people that the bible wasn’t even written by contemporaries of the people that each book is credited to, telling them that no extra-biblical contemporary reference to Jesus Christ exists, or that the bible has been retranslated and rewritten so many times that its text no longer reflects that of the oldest copies ever found, will not fill a collection plate.
Have faith in people, not books. They will fail you sometimes, but there is a lot to be said for having an actual measurable success rate. You want to be a good person and help others? Buy a homeless person a sandwich, adopt a child, build a house with habitat for humanity, whatever it is you do, just make sure the results you get are more tangible than those you get from sitting in the pews every sunday.
Rapture advisory:
Harold Camping should recommend that Christians consider taking the day off on May 21, if they are in occupations where their sudden disappearance might result in death or injury to others.
School bus drivers.
Airline pilots.
Nuclear Power plant cooling system monitors
Crane operators
Missile launch officers.
People like that.
Nomdeplume,
You don’t know what you are talking about.
This May 21st stuff is another government LIE to make people not believe anything will happen. The judgement will happen on 10-10 and is stated in the Bible in at least four places. It will be the same day as the next false flag (using the nuke the neocons stole back in 07) as a pretext to invade Iran. Vladimir Putin said “An attack on Iran will be considered an attack on Russia.” This is the war of Armageddon and you can know it is now by all the chemtrails sprayed every day globally to hide the sign in the heavens, Planet X. News here: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/73756367/WarNews
I believe that Herold Camping does not know what he is talking about because the bible plannly indicates that not even the angels in heaven know when the return of GOD will be…
I’m impressed that a man that has caused so much pain, grief, sadness, etc. is allowed to remain what is close to an idol in these peoples’ eyes. A mother slaughtering her children, suicides, destruction, chaos, and all of the things that would cause a man to be executed simply boost his ratings.
I believe some people have to die. I do NOT believe that anyone should die for this atrocious man’s sake. I believe that this man, though not evil in mind, is evil in performance. His death is something I request.
For all of my readers… my last post before the Harold Camping predicted rapture: http://extraordinaryintelligence.com/4838/the-unexplained/may-21-2011-countdown-to-doomsday/
Harold Camping Sets New Date for Rapture: Offers Only Feeble Apology
http://extraordinaryintelligence.com/4858/extraordinary-news/harold-camping-sets-new-date-for-rapture-offers-only-feeble-apology/