The world is going to end on May 21, according to Harold Camping, an 89 year old Oakland, California preacher. Camping is a long-time end-times enthusiast, and previously predicted that Jesus would return in 1994, which, of course, didn't happen. So before you pack up the Winnebago to head for the hills, keep in mind that his record on these things is not that hot.
This time, his prediction seems to have caught on with the media, and he claims to have gotten media-savvy from handling so many media inquiries of late. Of course, he would have been fairly media-savvy even before this, considering that he's been a radio broadcaster for many years. SF Gate:
Camping has scrutinized the Bible for almost 70 years and says he has developed a mathematical system to interpret prophecies hidden within the Good Book. One night a few years ago, Camping, a civil engineer by trade, crunched the numbers and was stunned at what he'd found: The world will end May 21, 2011.
Camping seems like a fairly adorable old gentleman so I'm not going to say anything negative about him--especially not before May 21, on the off-chance, you know, that he might be right.
Many people in most every generation think the world is going to end in their lifetime. Martin Luther did, and so does Aunt Frida. That's because the descriptions of the so-called "end times" in various places in the Bible are applicable to virtually every time in history.
There are always "wars and rumors of wars," and the cosmos often feels out of whack. Everyone faces their own personal "apocalypse" every dang day. It's not surprising that at least a few people would extrapolate from their own existential experience to the whole world.
When around such folks, I like to say, "No, I don't think Jesus is coming soon; in fact, since I don't believe he ever left in the first place, I don't think he's 'coming back' at all." In that crowd, such a statement will get you a curious look since it's so far from fundamentalist conventional wisdom. They can't imagine a worldview that doesn't include Jesus riding in from the clouds and setting (other) people straight.
Photo: Lance Iverson, San Francisco Chronicle
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