Remember Harold Camping? You know, the rapture guy? Well, he’s back, and although he might have been sliiiightly off with his whole May 21st judgment date thing, he insists that a “spiritual rapture” did occur, and that the world is definitely (probably) going to end on October 21st. That would be this Friday. You may be thinking, “hmm, there seemed to be a lot more hype the first time around.” You would be correct.
I was hard-pressed to find as many news articles about this upcoming end-of-the-world shindig. This is probably because back in May, some hardcore believers spent thousands of dollars on billboards and other crazy advertisements to warn us all about Judgment Day. People donated their life savings to Camping’s radio group and quit their jobs to caravan around the country, preaching the prediction. That’s pretty considerate and all, but I feel like they should probably have had a backup plan in case things didn’t really go as planned, because oh yeah, Camping is a nutjob. I’m no expert, but doesn’t it say somewhere in the Bible that no one will be able to predict the end of the world anyway? Maybe he skipped that part while doing his doomsday calculations, but if you’re putting all your faith (and cash) into a guy who doesn’t even read his own textbooks thoroughly, you should probably reconsider. Maybe that’s just me.
I kinda feel bad for the guy, although that sentiment is lessened by the fact that he isn’t really returning anyone’s generous donations despite him kind of not being right about the devastation we non-true-believers are supposed to be feeling right now. In fact, I think he got the worst of it, having a stroke just after his May 21st judgment deadline and still needing to deal with the total embarrassment of being wrong in national news. Hopefully the backlash won’t be terrible if he ends up totally wrong about Friday, which– and this is just a guess– is likely to happen. I feel a little sorry for the people who donated huge amounts of money to his cause, too. I wonder if their billboards caused anyone to repent, after all?
So if the world really does end October 21, bring it on– at least I won’t have to take my two Monday exams. And if this prediction, like so many others, is a bust? Hey, there’s always 2012.
