End Of The World Not May 21st - Harold Camping Wrong

As this blog post is written, today is Thursday, May 19th, 2011. If Christian Radio Broadcaster Harold Camping has his way, Saturday May 21st will be The End Of The World. It's not necessary to go into a lot of detail to explain that Mr. Harold Camping is wrong.
Rather than immediately point to any Biblical scripture that reads "The World Will End On May 21st 2011," Camping points to a self-created math that leads him to that conclusion. But, really, it's a conclusion Camping would have come to an asserted without numbers.
It's just like Google using an algorithm to express what really is a set of opinions about how Internet search, and the placement of news, should work. Google execs are fond of pointing to this 'black box' that produces a result, but the fact is, if that black box comes up with a search outcome that's not in favor with their views, it will be altered.
Mr. Camping, originally a Berkeley-trained Civil Engineer long before creating the ministry of Family Stations, Inc., used a mathematical system of his own design to generate his result, which has really nothing directly to do with the Bible. In fact, in an interview in New York Magazine, Camping says...

— but there’s nothing in the Bible that holds a candle to the amount of information to this tremendous truth of the end of the world. I would be absolutely in rebellion against God if I thought anything other than it is absolutely going to happen without any question.

In other words, forget the Bible, the end of the World is nigh!
In this way, Camping is very much like another "expert" on what God is, does, and intends who was attacked in this space: Dr. Stephen Hawking. Hawking is as certain that Heaven's a "fairy tale," much as Camping is sure that the World will end this Saturday, and both hide behind math and science to prove their points.
And the media gives them a ton of attention.
Yikes, man. Yikes.
Camping's backers are every bit as self-righteous as Hawkings's and just as annoying. Both are wrong, but in Camping's case, all it take is for us to wake up and see Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 to know it.

Preachers Line Up Against May 21 Leader

Talk about defending the brand: Christian writers are coming down on Harold Camping with the fervor of Disney lawyers quashing a Mickey Mouse painting at a daycare center.

Camping is the self-taught biblical scholar and radio mogul who says the Rapture is happening on Saturday, May 21, at exactly 6 p.m. local time, whatever your local time is. He’s been delivering this prediction for several years, a recalibration from his earlier prediction that the Rapture would happen in 1994. 

He’s been spreading the word via the 66 stations in his Family Radio Network, on his website www.familynetwork.com, and through billboards in several major cities. His prediction is based on some tangled algebra that sets numerical values for concepts such as "atonement" and "completeness," assumes that Jesus was crucified on April 1, 33 AD, and figures that these numbers actually represent something of importance.

Camping has also declared that every church in the world is false. One might expect that mainstream Christians would either dismiss Camping or ignore him. One would be wrong.

From seminaries, pulpits and personal websites, the condemnation of Camping’s prediction is almost universal. Why are they bothering?

“There is some branding differentiation going on, in that traditional Christians would not want to be lumped in with Camping,” said Mara Einstein a media studies professor at Queens University and the author of "Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age."

“You might compare this to most Muslims not wanting to be associated with the 9/11 hijackers — an extreme case, for sure, but in the same vein,” she said. “Another example you might use is the Susan G. Komen [Foundation] going after anyone that uses the term 'for the cure'" when discussing breast cancer.

While the reactions to Camping are accumulating as the predicted date draws nigh, the rebuttals started years ago. The website for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals has a point-by-point response written in 2004 by a pastor and a philosophy professor.

"We had people writing the organization asking for a thorough evaluation of Camping's thought and, being the organization we were, we felt that we ought to provide it,” said Mark Talbot, a philosophy professor at Wheaton College.

The theological equivalent of brand confusion was a factor in choosing to respond, he said. “His exegesis somewhat took the form of better exegesis, if someone didn't know enough to see the differences."

May 21: The End of the World?!

 
Is the world coming to an end May 21, 2011? Harold Camping says so. The Colorado minister insists Doomsday is this Saturday, so it must be true.
“The whole universe is going to be destroyed by fire," says Camping, who created a formula based on Bible verses to pinpoint the end of the world.
Apparently he's not the only believer. Some followers of his Doomsday theory have already quit their jobs as part of their preparations for the end.
May as well, right? Rapture trumps recession. Safe to say the 89-year-old minister and his backers side with Kirk Cameron over Stephen Hawking.
The 89-year-old uses rather sophisticated equations all tied to one date - the date of the flood from Noah’s Ark. His faithful followers have embraced this.
Of course, there have been thousands of predictions tied to the end of the world or the apocalypse, and all turned out to be BS. So who knows.
If the end is but 48 hours away, we just have to say what an honor it's been providing you with celebrity gossip - and occasional other nonsense such as this story - for all these years. From all of us at THG, we love you, readers.

May 21st Doomsday: Does Harold Camping’s Ministry Have Money

 
May 21^st, Doomsday is one of the hottest search topics in Google.
So in case you haven't heard by now, Harold Camping is the preacher who claims to have the calculations set on May 21, 2011 as The Judgment Day, Rapture Day, Doomstay  -or whatever you want to call it. Camping's apocalypse hype is getting worldwide attention.

Harold Camping, 89, is a former civil engineer and Bible scholar. He is president of the religious non-profit Family Radio based in Oakland, California which fervently preaches the message about the end of the world, now days away. He and a caravan of trucks have been plastering over 5,000 billboards, spending millions of dollars to spread the message.
So, where do they get the funding for all this?
Tax returns indicate that the radio ministry raised a staggering $100 million dollars over the past seven years. The ministry also owns 66 radio stations worldwide valued at $72 million in 2009.
Not to mention donations have soared as well. The contribution comes from radio listeners, according to Tom Evans, board member of Family Radio.

However, Camping claims that it is not about the money, but spreading the message and saving as many people as possible.
"When Judgment Day comes, if someone is a billionaire, how will they take their money with them? If we have any money left, and we will because we have to pay bills up to the very end "... it will all be destroyed because the world will be in a day of judgment.
"The money is not important at all. It's a vehicle to spread the judgment and a vehicle of the Lord."
According to Camping, "I've never taken one nickel out of Family Radio. Many evangelists have become very rich, but my wife and I live very modestly."
"We have no interest in talking about money. We never tell people what to do with their money, that's between them and God."
And in case one might wonder, Family Radio has no intention of giving away their money before May 21.
The explanation?
"There isn't going to be a Saturday. So certainly none of Family Radio's assets will be left because it won't matter," says Evans.
"The last thing people should be concerned with is what Family Radio is doing or what their assets are. They should be concerned with what I am doing and how I will stand before God."

Preacher says May 21st is “Judgment Day”

 
A California preacher's beliefs are getting some nationwide attention these days, even here at home with a billboard and radio ads. He believes the end of the world is near. 
You may have seen the billboard that reads "Judgment Day" is Saturday, May 21, 2011. Or, you've may have heard a radio ad while driving around town. "The time is May 21^st. May 21. May 21^st, 2011," the ad says. 
That's according to preacher Harold Camping. He's running the radio spot in Reno, to remind people of his belief; Christ's second coming is this weekend. 
Camping runs an independent Christian ministry called "Family Radio Worldwide" out of Oakland, California. He believes The Bible is a calendar of prophecies that can be calculated, all his interpretations of course. 
Father Norman King with Immaculate Conception Church says not to worry, "for anyone to speculate a particular date, I think that is totally hokum."
If Camping is basing his prediction on recent catastrophic events like, Mississippi river flooding in the south, major quakes like we've seen in Japan, wars in the Middle East, or invading insects. Father King says it's all happened throughout history, but no apocalypse. "It could happen today.  It could be at six o'clock tonight. It could be anytime," Father King says. 
And even if the messages are aimed at the masses, people we talked with say they're not buying it. "I think it's a guy who's trying to make a lot of money by broadcasting it on his radio and having people subscribe and give him some money," Gavin Jarcia of South Lake Tahoe, California says. 
"The end of the world is not May 21^st, so don't make plans. I would suggest you have a BBQ on May 22^nd," Sandy Masters of Reno says.
Many people say Camping's prediction is false since his last "Judgment Day" prediction didn't come true in 1994.