Sunday, May 22, 2011

may 22 and still here

Most folks by now have heard of Harold Camping's prediction that the Rapture would take place on May 21. It didn't obviously.

I read a story earlier in the week about the formulations Camping went through to get to May 21, 2011 as the Rapture date. Here's a piece from:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/149511/20110521/may-21st-doomsday-end-of-the-world-may-21st-doomsday-2011-harold-camping-apocalypse-earthquake-new-z.htm

How he does make this superhuman finding is interesting: In the Bible, it is said that Noah had been given 7 days to prepare for the flood. He was alerted that the flood will wipe out anyone and everyone who was not on board his vessel, animals and human beings included.

Likewise, Camping says the '7-day warning notice' has been in place and he has actually decoded it precisely. Camping says though, that instead of a 7-day warning, it's really been a 7,000-year-warning.

"Seven thousand years after 4990 B.C. (the year of the Flood) is the year 2011 A.D. (our calendar)," he says in his website. "4990 + 2011 – 1 = 7,000," he calculates. "One year must be subtracted in going from an Old Testament B.C. calendar date to a New Testament A.D. calendar date because the calendar does not have a year zero."

And here's how he arrived exactly at the date: 'Amazingly, May 21, 2011 is the 17th day of the 2nd month of the Biblical calendar of our day. Remember, the flood waters also began on the 17th day of the 2nd month, in the year 4990 B.C."

I am amazed and disappointed at so simple a calculation. The flood, really?! I had at least assumed that he would have a complex arithmetic incorporating all kinds of verses from Matthew and 1 Peter and Revelation as well as some OT sprinkled in. This sophomoric math is sad.

What's sadder by far is that he duped a lot of people who quit jobs and sold their possessions and made no plans for today with something so blatantly false.

We may hope that those folks who didn't expect to be here today will turn toward their faith in Jesus, instead of rejecting Him. We may hope that Camping can focus on living for Christ here and now, and not let the future comsume him.

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