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 This time around, there are no RVs or signs carrying the "awesome news" of the end of the world.
October 21st, 2011
06:00 AM ET
The End, again? If it is, we thank you for your timeBy Jessica Ravitz, CNN (CNN) - In case you are reading this, might we suggest you read really fast? The world may end any minute now, if the latest doomsday prediction is on target. We realize October 21 didn’t get the shout-out that May 21 did, so our apologies if this comes as a surprise. But if you had heard the complete message the first time, you would have known. “The warning is out,” Dennis Morrell, 44, of Jacksonville, Florida, reminded us a couple of days ago. “There’s nothing else you can do.” Earlier this year, and with the backing of the Christian broadcasting network Family Radio, billboards touting May 21 as Judgment Day dotted the landscape. RVs plastered with the fateful date crisscrossed the country as believers wearing T-shirt announcements and waving fliers sounded the alarm. That was to be the day when a select 2% to 3% of the world’s population, predetermined by God, would be raptured up to heaven. Everyone else, the story went, would endure months-long judgment amid chaos, destruction and unspeakable suffering. A massive earthquake would ravage the land, bodies would be tossed about and terror would reign for the duration. Five months or exactly 153 days later, it was said, the world would disappear – which brings us to today. This was the schedule laid out by God’s word in the Bible, the faithful said. It was the plan deciphered and shared by Harold Camping, now 90, the founder of Family Radio, based in Oakland, California. Camping, who has an engineering degree, had spent more than 50 years combing through his Bible and crunching numbers embedded in scripture. Sure, he’d made a similar end-of-the-world prediction for September 6, 1994, but who hasn’t been tripped up by biblical verses? With additional studying, calculations and new signs that would be revealed later, he said earlier this year that he had no doubts this time around. “I know it’s absolutely true, because the Bible is always absolutely true,” he told CNN before May 21. “If I were not faithful that would mean that I’m a hypocrite.” Problem is, May 21 came and went, and the world remained the same. Soon the billboards disappeared. The T-shirts and hats worn by believers got tossed. The RVs were quietly parked, tucked away in storage yards, possibly sold. Camping came forth, two days later, with an explanation - and his last news conference. October 21 would still be the end, he said, but a “loving and merciful” God had opted to spare humanity the five months of turmoil. A couple of weeks later, Camping had a stroke. He is said to be recuperating at home after a hospital and rehab stay and has only made a handful of radio addresses in the months since. Family Radio declined our requests to interview him. Fred Store, a 66-year-old retired electrician and longtime Family Radio listener, dedicated seven months of his life to sharing the “awesome news” that was the May 21 message. He led a caravan of believers, five RVs strong, on a tour of the United States for Family Radio. He was in Boston in May when he expected to be raptured up to heaven. When nothing happened, “We were caught by surprise. ... But we realize now that it’s very possible that we misunderstood some of the things we thought were true,” Store said this week from his home in Sacramento, California, where he has put up a number of caravan friends. “I believe that October 21 is the end, and I trust in God. Whatever way he chooses to end things will be perfect.” On the Family Radio website, the May 21 events, or nonevents, have been clarified. “What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what he wanted to happen. That was to warn the whole world that on May 21 God’s salvation program would be finished. ... For the next five months, except for the elect (the true believers), the whole world is under God’s final judgment,” the statement reads. As for that massive, body-flinging earthquake anticipated by believers, well, it turned out to be less literal. “We always look at the word ‘earthquake’ to mean the earth, or ground, is quaking or shaking violently. However, in the Bible the word ‘earth’ can include people as well as ground. ... Therefore we have learned from our experience of last May 21 what actually happened. All of mankind was shaken with fear. Indeed the Earth (or mankind) did quake in a way it had never before been shaken.” No one was raptured on May 21, but that’s just because “universal judgment” will come on the last day. “The elect” or “true believers” are still guaranteed their day of rapture, and everyone else will be “annihilated together with the whole physical world.” For Paul Anatiychuk, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, the way this played out has been a relief, a blessing. A husband and father of two children, ages 8 and 9, he wasn’t sure if his own family members would be saved. The thought of leaving them behind on May 21, to suffer what would come over the next five months, troubled him. “God tortures them while we’re hanging in the clouds?” he said this week. “It didn’t completely fit.” Now, Anatiychuk said, he can take solace knowing that when he’s saved, sinners will simply die. “Of course (the world) has to be destroyed and burned up by fire,” he said. “But it’s going to be very quiet.” Finding a way to save faith, and face, is part of the process when a prophecy fails, said Lorenzo DiTommaso, an associate professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal, who has been studying apocalyptic worldviews for a dozen years. He said those who become disillusioned aren’t quick to talk, and the rest find a new way to spin what has transpired. When nothing happened on May 21, Camping was left with a choice, said DiTommaso, whose book, “The Architecture of Apocalypticism,” is scheduled for publication next spring. Camping could have admitted he was wrong. He could have said the calculations were off and needed further analysis. Or he could have spiritualized the apocalypse, which is exactly what he did, DiTommaso said. That tack, that way of looking at the apocalypse, has a long history, he said, and dates back to early Christian theologians. Tyconius, in the late fourth century, took this approach, as - more notably - did Augustine in the early fifth century. Augustine “preferred to understand the millennium predicted in the Revelation of John in spiritual and metaphoric rather than literal terms,” DiTommaso said. He “sought to diminish the emphasis on hard calculations.” The obvious advantage of this sort of interpretation for a man like Camping, who has prided himself on his numbers, is that he can “divorce himself a little bit from the fact that he was so darn wrong.” What Camping will say - if anything - come Saturday, assuming there is a Saturday, is anyone’s guess. But DiTommaso said a new explanation, perhaps a new doomsday date, may be on the horizon. It would be just another in a long line of end-time predictions across the ages. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see another attempt” by Camping, he said. “If he were an artist, this is his masterpiece, his life work.” soundoff (2,353 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Next »
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nut cases
all of them should burn in hell
Camping may not be a hypocrite, but he is a hyper-nut. Usually they don't let the dementia cases on the radio at all
Well...that depends on the radio station! 😉
Well, I'm heading off for a week of 'camping' at Disney World this week. If the world ends before I get to enjoy my new tent, I'm going to be VERY, very put out! (Somehow, I don't think that's going to be a problem...) 😉
My dad bought into the '94 nonsense. Even as a teenager I knew it was hooey. I absolutely never let him live it down – mainly to prevent him latching onto Camping's B.S. again. It worked. 😉
If he predicts every day from now until he dies, he'll eventually get a rapture out of it.
Ok, in all seriousness:
Miracle or no Miracle?
Case: I woke up this morning and went through my normal routine (had a little issue with the alarm clock, namely that it didn't go off which I can't explain, but no matter) I went to the refridgerator and grabbed my waterbottle out of the freezer. Every night before going to sleep I fill it up a little bit and put it in the freezer on its side so that the next morning when I fill it up, it has a built in icepack, this morning however the water somehow froze over the course of the night to do different sides of the waterbottle, as if something was wedged in the middle all night long and kept 2 halves of the water from meeting. How is this possible? Answer: Must be god.
Only if it is now wine....
Cool maybe, but not a miracle.
How about this one. 20+ years ago a man puts a 30-30 to his head and pulls the trigger. He survives, but it destroys his left ear and a huge chunk of his jaw. Fast forward 20 years and a group of people are praying for him for something unrelated and he can suddenly hear out of that ear. Over the next 2-3 weeks his jawbone regrows.
The above is a true story about a friend of mine. The look on his face when he heard the first time out of that ear was, well, amazing and so was feeling the progress of the bone regrowth.
Power outage? Happened at my place yesterday.
No, my alarm was actually set an hour behind what it normally is set to, but my clock was an hour ahead, so my alarm was technically 2 hours off.
and it was a miracle, god came to my apartment, placed himself in my water bottle between two small bodies of water and froze them in place. Milagre!
Jared: A miracle maybe that the man survived a 30:30 shot to the melon. All that other stuff I don't believe.
Pride and vainglory are 2 of the "7 Deadly Sins" – and these bozos are exhibiting plenty of both.
If they believe in G-d yet think they know exactly what he is thinking, and that they are necessary to his achieving his plan – sorry, no rapture as reward for that.
i have high hopes the rapture is really here, this is the only way to get all believers to shut up... they either go up to heaven or are left behind to sulk... its beautiful!
Problem is that the rapture already came and went and all the true Christians went to heaven. Of course to the rest of us it just seemed like a couple of extra missing person reports that day.
Ok this is just part of the stupidity of why I don't do religion! Guess what, the sun will go down tonight as it has done for billions of years and surprise, surprise the sun will come up tomorrow morning, just as it has done for billions of years. My alarm clock will go off tomorrow morning as it does every morning, and I will still be here as will all of you. For those of us who are not sheep, who have minds of our own, as well as the rest of you, religion is just stupid!
you hope your alarm clock goes off...LOL
yummm, brains!
Your alarm goes off on Saturday? That makes me sad 🙁
YOU may not be here... you may be dead. But, your alarm will still go off.
IDIOMS: Out of the mouth's of babe!!!
AGREED!!!
and i wasn't criticizing science. Just criticizing evolution. If you would read, then you would know. And I can take it like I can dish it. there is no need for me to get bent out of shape because its not my nature and nothing in my explanations have warranted anything other than what i have just said.
You attempt to criticize evolution by saying it's based on theories. So is gravity. You're only exposing your own lack of scientific knowledge.
ummm.........gravity can be proven. Nobody in this world can disprove it. So I don't believe I lack scientific knowledge. Someone just decided to call gravity gravity... coulda called it something else but this seemed to fit the bill...Whatever you called it tho, it will do the same. I jump up, I KNOW I WILL COME DOWN. Thats not a theory. Its a fact. Gravity was never a theory.
Just continue showing us your lack of science. Yes, things fall. Objects with mass are attracted to eath other. But our understanding of how this happens is incomplete. We can only accurately model gravitational behavior under certain conditions. We can also show evolution. It can be observed. It is a fact. We can see species evolving. We can see bacteria mutate. It is a fact.
Gravity exists, just as we can easily SEE that evolution exists. Our understanding of gravity – our scientific models of it – are incomplete. It is a theory. Just as evolution, as a scientific model, doesn't have all of the answers. It doesn't make it any less real. Attempting to criticize evolution because it is a theory is a baseless and ignorant argument. But if you want to continue to expose your lack of knowledge of science and the scientific method, feel free to continue entertaining us.
You idiot! Anyone with an ounce of brains can tell you GOD CREATED EVOLUTION!
Brad, evolution has been observed, and proven. In contrast, the claims of your religion such as the existence of an omnibenevolent god are obviously false.
Your problem is that you are stupid. Unfortunately, there's no quick fix for that, and the world has to suffer through the stupidity of folk like you until we manage to shake off your stupid supersti-tion. But you can be sure that we're working on it.
@Brad: 'theory' You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
You seem saying theory when you really mean hypothesis. And you seem to be saying fact when you really just mean 'evidence of'. Evolution long ago left the realm of hypothesis.
Theories do NOT graduate into laws.
Scientific laws explain things, but they do not describe them. One way to tell a law and a theory apart is to ask if the description gives you a means to explain 'why'.
Newton could use the law of gravity to predict the behavior of a dropped object, but he couldn't explain why it happened.
There are 5 laws in the theory of evolution.
1) Evolution as such.
This is the understanding that the world is not constant, nor recently created, nor cycling, but is changing; and that the types of enti.ties that live on it also change.
2) Common descent
This is the understanding that every group of living enti.ties that we know of on this planet descended from a common ancestor.
3) Multiplication of species
This is the understanding that species either split into or bud off other species, often through the geographical isolation of a founder species.
4) Gradualism
This is the understanding that changes take place through the gradual change of population rather than the sudden production of new individuals.
5) Natural selection
This is the understanding that individuals in every generation are different from one another, or, at least some of them are. In every generation some individuals survive and reproduce better than others. Their genes multiply.
A scientific theory is not a hypothesis much like a theory might be construed colloquially in ordinary life, it is rather based upon observed and repeatable facts about reality which are then used to predict behavior. Just as gravity is a scientific theory which has withstood the scrutiny of the scientific community, been responsible for sending men/satellites into space, and much more, evolution explains how our species evolved over millions of years. If you actually read and learned about it, then perhaps you could gain some insight into how we came to be. Religion is a failed science and the bible is exactly what you'd expect it to be if it had been written by 1st century bronze aged Palestinians without any revealed knowledge about the world, but rather with the knowledge available to them at the time, namely, squat.
Yay for Evolution!!! Look up the Galapagos Island... its full of fantastic evolution stories that are fascinating 🙂
I became a convicted believer in Christ, but even during my agnostic times, have never accepted Evolution.
No other time in human existance have we ever experieinced an effect without a cause, and we can never replicate it. But we cling to claiming it's 'science', although it fails the scientific method each and every time.
Also, the mathematical probability of one simple cell replicating itself and it's information in error to the degree of producing the abundent and complex life forms that exist today is uncalculable. Based on this alone, I would find it easier to believe in alien life forms before I believe in evolution.
This doesn't include that the theory of Evolution defying the Laws of Thermodynamics regarding going from chaos to order(cannot happen), and energy having a beginning, or point of origin(energy always existed).
And yet there are ALOT of self professed intelligent people who embrace this without really looking into this.
@Neareau
We probably need to define evolution here. Are you talking micro evolution or macro. Macro evolution has not been observed or proven. It is merely a theory, and one which some scientists have wide takes on. One of the popular explanations is that aliens seeded the planet. And the idea that if you have enough time that nothing will become something is rediculous. Although strangely enough, that is what the Bible says happened. Nothing... Nothing... Something.
Micro evolution is more observable, but even it isn’t as solid as you might think. Darwin’s finches for example ended up netting no real change in the beak size in the population over the long term.
@Jared,
The same can be said for gravity. We can observe and measure gravity on Newtonian scales but can only scratch the surface at relativistic scales. Gravity is a theory that many theoretical scientists have a very wide take on.
@Jaunito,
It would seems you've been fed a lot of misinformation. A lot of your arguments lack basis. For example – the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Those that use the 2nd law to argue against evolution lack an understanding of the law. The law only applies to closed systems. The earth is not a closed system since it receives external energy from the sun.
@Jared, go look up "scientific theory". Come back when you understand the term, or just stop bothering us.
Thanks for the laugh. Gets my weekend off to an excellent start...
Can these idiots just simply admit that they are complete idiots and that their magical, invisible sky fairy is nothing more than a mass delusion? THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO END OCTOBER 21 OR ANY OTHER DAY FOR THAT MATTER UNTIL THE SUN BECOMES A PLANETARY NEBULA SOME 4 BILLION YEARS IN THE FUTURE. GROW UP YOU MORONS!
of course our beliefs MUST make room for your beliefs right? LOL your brain sux
Unless of course, humans in our infinite stupdity do something somewhere along the lines to destabilize the sun, then it could be sooner rather than later, but yes, the world and us will still be here tomorrow morning alive and well.
Now being the born again agnostic that I am, I and everyone else on the planet cannot say for 100% sure that there is a heaven, hell or even a God for that matter as I have not died and comeback to report my findings which is why I am an agnostic (I will believe it when I see it), but how I see it is that if you are basically a good person and don't "covet" anyone's anything, if there is a heaven I will see ya'll there somewhere down the line.
Yup...it will swell into a red giant and probably engulf the earth then shed its outer layers to form a nebula as the remainder shrinks into a white dwarf to slowly cool over billions of more years. The earth will first be consumed in fire and then if it hasn't been completely vaporized it will freeze solid. Not a pleasant future if we haven't figured out how to relocate to a new solar system. But we have a lot of time to work on that problem if we stop focusing on stupid myths.
Forgive me, but your belief that the earth will end when the sun becomes a planetary nebula in 4 billion years is just as moronic as the religious persons story of the end. They are both unproven theories.
The difference, though, @George, is that one based upon sound mathematics and physics – models that can be tested and evidenced, and the other is based on a single book with zero ancillary evidence of its supernatural claims.
@George
Despite your ignorance we know a great deal about stellar life cycles. Our star, the sun is a very common G-type yellow dwarf star. Direct observation of many of these stars in all stages of their life cycle and calculations of the rate of consumption of its hydrogen "fuel" tell us quite accurately how much longer it will continue to shine and how it will die. Of course you probably slept through science class in high school so I'm not surprised that you are unaware of what science has revealed to mankind. What surprises me is how you can continue to use your "sciency" computer when it clearly goes against your beliefs.
"But we realize now that it’s very possible that we misunderstood some of the things we thought were true,” Store said
Oh, the irony.
Of course, now 'earth' may mean 'people'. It's funny to me how bible followers cherry pick from the bible, misinterpret and reinterpret the bible, ignore passages in the bible. Some of it is parables, some is literal.. of course, they are the ones who decide which and what. The Bible has been twisted so many times to meet different kook agendas and reinforce what THEY believe. Look at all the different demoninations.. they are right and all the others are wrong.
When are you people going to stop drinking the koolaid! Jesus was quite clear and literal when he said: "Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.". Guess what, kids. It didn't happen. You can reinterpret it any way you want, but it still means the same thing!
Cults! Nothing more, nothing less.
Thanks for that great post, Jojo. Made my day.
I enjoy reading the bible. I don't enjoy someone else telling me what it means and then asking me for money.
Personally, I'm thrilled to have a great theme party. The roomies and I are throwing a rapture bash – attendees must come dressed as one of the 7 deadly sins (preferably the one they will be "left behind" because of). We're ready to get our rapture on! And of course if it really does happen, at least we'll go down partying 😉
I don't know who is dumber...this idiot pastor who keeps trying to predict the end of times or all the other followers who say it is imminent but that we cannot know the day or hour. Believing that the world will come to an end because god is ticked off with us is lunacy in either case.
They don't know when the actual rapture will be because jesus likes surprises. He pretty cool like that.
i wonder if getting nailed to the cross was a suprise?
good call derp
Nope, he made it pretty clear that He knew it was coming.
this is the end, my only friend, the end!
I love the smell of false preidictions in the morning. Smells like, victory.
should have said naplam! but no worries.
the men don't know, but the little girls understand
If the world is supposed to end today, why does there tv station (KFTL) have events planned for tomorrow?
NOW THAT IS FUNNY!!!!!!!!
Nice one! (I'm a different Rob.)
What' do Camping, Paul and Jesus have in common?
All 3 predicted the end of the world in their lifetime or within the lifetime of present company.
“What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what he wanted to happen."
-------
I'm very entertained by the fact that these people think they can know the intent and workings of God, and predict God's actions by interpreting a book composed of writings by human beings(the Bible). Then, when their ridiculous predictions do not occur, they backtrack and justify, and again suggest that they know what God is doing and has done: "October 21 would still be the end, he said, but a “loving and merciful” God had opted to spare humanity the five months of turmoil"
I first heard the church saying the end of the world was in 1984
Since then they have generally said the same thing every few years.
Thankfully we grow up and say, OH they were lying again.
OK ... simple question ... simple logic
IF God is omniscient and Jesus is God ... then Jesus is omnicient.
NOW if this statment is true Matt 24:36:
"But no one knows the date and hour when the end will be. Only the Faterh knows"
Then Jesus is NOT onmiscient. So he is not god. Right ?
*** OR ***
IF Jesus DOESN'T know the date nor the hour... how can we trust what he says about other things ? He is dare I say "HUMAN"?
To add.........Jesus also spoke of Noah and the flood in Matthew. Had Jesus been truly omniscient he would have known that such an event never happened.
BLASPHEMER!!
After uttering such insidiously evil statements you'll be lucky if god doesn't lab a holy hand grenade at you!
But if the Father is God and Jesus is God, then wouldn't he know, too? Just playing devil's advocate 🙂
@Brother Maynard,
To be fair, only soem Christian sects belive that Jesus WAS God, others believe he was turly just the son OF God, subtle but important distinction (though I agree you have a very interesting point that claim he was).
That proves that there is god for god works in mystery. lol
The Trinity is simply the Christians' way of getting around the inconvenience of having declared that theirs was the one and only god. Then later, when they needed more than one god and they ended up needing to explain how Jesus was also a god, they fixed it with a little numerical sleight of hand. An educated Christian (not one of these whack jobs this article is about) would probably reply that the father, son and holy spirit are three different aspect of the same god and are therefore not identical. The son doesn't know everything the father does and the holy spirit doesn't know everything the other two do.
Of more interest to me is the hubris of this Camping fellow, who claims the bible is absolutely and literally true, but then says that it's not true because he does know the time of the end, in direct contradiction to his holy book and his god, Jesus. How can one say they believe Jesus is god, and the book about him is flawless, but still say that Jesus was wrong in the passage you quoted?
Wait, let me try, using the same kind of logic they use. In the bible, 'no one' actually means 'no one not named Camping', so you see that Jesus was actually right about this. Clearly, in fact, the bible proves that Camping is right and today is it. I think I'll go eat some chocolate, now. At least I don't have to worry about getting fat anymore.
HellBent sez:
"After uttering such insidiously evil statements you'll be lucky if god doesn't lab a holy hand grenade at you!"
Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?
🙂