My husband Butch and I were driving at 6pm on Saturday, eagerly waiting for the Rapture. Ok, we weren't waiting for it, but we did joke about it quite a bit. One thing we ruminated over was how the backpedaling would unfold. It took some time but Harold Camping finally crawled out of his hotel where he was hiding and talked to the press and his flock. He said pretty much what was expected.He forgot to carry the 5 in his calculation, apparently. The Rapture is now rescheduled for October 21. I'm sure you're all relieved.
Here's the other "good news" which is not original to rapture predictors of days past. He said that this past Saturday was "an invisible judgment day" in which a spiritual judgment took place. "May 21 is the day that Christ came and put the world under judgment." I don't know about you, but I didn't see any signs of Jesus on a white horse with a sword. Go figure. In fact, there wasn't even a ripple in the air. It was as if, .... dare I say it? .. as if ... Nothing Happened!*
That's some very clever bullshit, if you ask me. I'm impressed! I'm sure the thousands of people who believed him are quite satisfied with this Fail and will happily wait for October 21. Of course, there were people who donated all of their savings to Camping's ministries and who quit their jobs and stayed home to pray and wait for the glorious end times. They are destitute now.
What will those people do now? They have 5 months to fill. As a friend of mine said, "If they were dumb enough to believe that crazy old kook, they get what they deserved."
I still feel bad for those people, though. Yes, they were gullible, but they are learning a very harsh lesson. The ones I don't feel sorry for are the ones that haven't abandoned Camping now that he's been wrong twice. He predicted the end times back in 1994. And guess what? He was wrong then too, just like every other judgment day predictor in human history.
By the way, in 2009 Camping's nonprofit Family Radio Int'l reported that they received $18.3 million in donations. They had assets of over $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities. Sounds like they were really expecting the end of the world, huh? No word on what they made in 2010 or so far this year as people were preparing for the Rapture. Camping said he didn't tell people what to do with their money, but there are reports that many gave donations to his ministry to help spread the word.
So, will Camping give back those donations to the now destitute, jobless families? I'd be interested if he does or not. Somehow I doubt it.
*There were a lot of Rapture parties, mainly by atheist groups. What a great way to spread the word of Reason! I guess I won't complain that now we have to have another party in October. Our group has great potluck parties. The food is "divine." :P
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