May 21, 2011: the End or Just Another Day? - All over the world, billboards, t-shirts, fliers, car decals and park benches are popping up and claiming that the world will end on May 21. At the bottom of the billboard where I live in Massachusetts, it has a reference to a Bible passage (Jonah 3:8) and a link to familyradio.com.
Jonah 3:8 is about man and animal laying down on a sackcloth and crying out to God for forgiveness. I'm not entirely sure what the animals did wrong, but according to familyradio.com, man needs forgiveness from things like gay pride, which is, apparently, a sign of the end.
The site belongs to the proprietor of "family radio," Harold Camping. I did a little bit of research on Camping, and found that Harold has been using the Bible to date things for decades. In his book "Adam When?" he explains that the world began in 11,013 B.C. (despite all scientific evidence to the contrary) And the Great Flood in the Noah's ark story to 4990 B.C.
According to Amazon.com, 1992 saw the publication of Harold's book "1994," in which he outlined the rapture as set to occur not in 2011, but in 1994. Interestingly enough, 17 years later, we are all still here. When 1994 came and went, Camping claimed that he had made an error in his biblical calculations.
As a rationalist, all of this seems a bit silly to me. Certainly, I don't believe in the Rapture at all. I am, however, well acquainted with the Bible. It says that no person will know the day or the hour that the world will end, and that only God himself is in possession of that fact. But I am not alone. Other Christians, even other Christian fundamentalists see Camping's dating methods as "fatally flawed."
To me, waiting for the end of the world is not only a bit creepy, it is also quite dangerous. Rather than doing everything they can to make the world we live in a better one, camping and his followers are patiently waiting for the end. I say, regardless of your beliefs, you are responsible for your own life here on this planet. Rather than wasting your time waiting for that life to come to an end, embrace the time you have. Treat every day as if it were your last, but don't plan as though it is. ( yahoo.com )
Jonah 3:8 is about man and animal laying down on a sackcloth and crying out to God for forgiveness. I'm not entirely sure what the animals did wrong, but according to familyradio.com, man needs forgiveness from things like gay pride, which is, apparently, a sign of the end.
The site belongs to the proprietor of "family radio," Harold Camping. I did a little bit of research on Camping, and found that Harold has been using the Bible to date things for decades. In his book "Adam When?" he explains that the world began in 11,013 B.C. (despite all scientific evidence to the contrary) And the Great Flood in the Noah's ark story to 4990 B.C.
According to Amazon.com, 1992 saw the publication of Harold's book "1994," in which he outlined the rapture as set to occur not in 2011, but in 1994. Interestingly enough, 17 years later, we are all still here. When 1994 came and went, Camping claimed that he had made an error in his biblical calculations.
As a rationalist, all of this seems a bit silly to me. Certainly, I don't believe in the Rapture at all. I am, however, well acquainted with the Bible. It says that no person will know the day or the hour that the world will end, and that only God himself is in possession of that fact. But I am not alone. Other Christians, even other Christian fundamentalists see Camping's dating methods as "fatally flawed."
To me, waiting for the end of the world is not only a bit creepy, it is also quite dangerous. Rather than doing everything they can to make the world we live in a better one, camping and his followers are patiently waiting for the end. I say, regardless of your beliefs, you are responsible for your own life here on this planet. Rather than wasting your time waiting for that life to come to an end, embrace the time you have. Treat every day as if it were your last, but don't plan as though it is. ( yahoo.com )
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