Biblical Scholar's date for the rapture...May 21st 2011

[Joanne98]

Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012.

"That date has not one stitch of biblical authority," Camping says from the Oakland office where he runs Family Radio, an evangelical station that reaches listeners around the world. "It's like a fairy tale."

The real date for the end of times, he says, is in 2011.

The Mayans and the recent Hollywood movie "2012" have put the apocalypse in the popular mind this year, but Camping has been at this business for a long time. And while Armageddon is pop science or big-screen entertainment to many, Camping has followers from the Bay Area to China.

Camping, 88, 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.

This is not the first time Camping has made a bold prediction about Judgment Day.

On Sept. 6, 1994, dozens of Camping's believers gathered inside Alameda's Veterans Memorial Building to await the return of Christ, an event Camping had promised for two years. Followers dressed children in their Sunday best and held Bibles open-faced toward heaven.

But the world did not end. Camping allowed that he may have made a mathematical error. He spent the next decade running new calculations, as well as overseeing a media company that has grown significantly in size and reach.

"We are now translated into 48 languages and have been transmitting into China on an AM station without getting jammed once," Camping said. "How can that happen without God's mercy?"

His office is flanked by satellite dishes in the parking lot that transmit his talk show, "Open Forum." In the Bay Area, he's heard on 610 AM, KEAR. Camping says his company owns about 55 stations in the United States alone, and that his message arrives on every continent.

'I'm looking forward to it'
Employees at the Oakland office run printing presses that publish Camping's pamphlets and books, and some wear T-shirts that read, "May 21, 2011." They're happy to talk about the day they believe their souls will be retrieved by Christ.

Continued>>>

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/01/BA8V1AV589.DTL&feed=rss.news#ixzz0bYsswbTL

I'm putting my money on the Mayans. The Christians have never been right about anything.

[jwirr]

1. Bah Humbug.

[lapfog_1]

2. Let's see

Preachers of various sorts have been predicting the "end times", the "rapture", and the "second coming of Christ" for hundreds and hundreds of years. Probably at least a few hundred of those predictions have been taken seriously by their sheep, er, followers. They have been wrong 100% of the time. What are the chances that THIS one is the correct prediction?

[Enthusiast]

3. There is no rapture or

end times coming at any date. This is pure mythology and it is pathetic.

Of course it is not my part to tell people what to believe. You are welcome to believe stupid shit if you want. Just don't run my country accordingly, as espoused by James Watt.

[LiberalFighter]

4. For anyone that plans to be raptured I will buy your home

for 10 cents on the dollar.

[dgibby]

5. And yet, the very book he believes in states that no man will know the exact time.

Mindboggling stupidity.

[AndyA]

7. That's right. So if someone goes on record as to the exact date,

that pretty much guarantees it won't be on that date! :eyes:

These "christians" need to address the hatred being spewed around the world in the name of christianity. Folks like Rick Warren, James Dobson, and all the others who preach hatred, discrimination, and the like.

Whatever happened to the story of casting the first stone?

Whatever happened to not judging others?

Whatever happened to do unto others?

There are some pretty serious flaws in their interpretation of "christianity." They give religion a bad name, and it doesn't need to be helped.

[bertman]

6. He's using one of those pre-Y2k calculators. No wonder he was off on the last one.

"We are now translated into 48 languages and have been transmitting into China on an AM station without getting jammed once," Camping said. "How can that happen without God's mercy?" Well, to answer your question, Mr. Camping, how about "massive human gullibility and stupidity" for my first guess?

[3waygeek]

8. Look at the bright side...

if this guy's right, we won't have to endure the 2012 campaign.

[Demeter]

9. We Couldn't Be That Lucky

unless we helped to Rapture all these idiots....

[Joe Bacon]

10. What if Harry's gang is left behind?

Wow, I wonder what Harry will say if REAL Christians are raptured, and he's left behind with all the other gasbags? Just imagine--Pat Robertson and Rick Wareren urging their followers to have "666" tattooed on their heads :evilgrin:

[noel711]

11. Ever listen to this Camping guy? He's an idiot...

And if he's a 'biblical scholar,'

I'm the freaking queen of England.

He doesn't know squat about the Bible.

But anyone with the cash can put on a radio show,
and espouse any crap that deludes the teeming masses.

Not everyone who wears the name christian
believes that swill.

[yellowcanine]

19. Yep, he is a real nut job. But apparently it pays well.

Christian Executive Salary Review lists the non taxable income of Family Radio as $78,306,906, but yet Harold Camping, listed as the President, is paid nothing. Right. And I am the freaking queen of England.

[NICO9000]

12. "I'm looking forward to it" - me too!

Too bad it won't happen.

There's a great Simpsons episode where Homer becomes an end-timer. In a nod to George Carlin, theres a scene where he's warning of the imminent end of the world (so you won't be "left below") and he's yelling "God loves you! He's gonna kill you!"

[ChazInAz]

13. Snort!

No true Biblical scholar would make such idiotic statements. The "Rapture" is completely non-Scriptural, conceived by an extremely tortured, ill-informed reading of the most deranged book in the world (Revelations). As for a date for the end of the world, even Rabbi Yeshua declared that he didn't know, didn't care, and that it shouldn't concern us: we have more important things to do right now rather than fretting about some unknowable future happening. I do believe that I'll follow the good Rabbi's advice and teachings, rather than give any credence to some yo-yo who can read neither Hebrew nor Greek.

[Harry Monroe]

14. I call first dibs on all his worldly possession!!

[abq e streeter]

15. Well that just freakin' figures...me with a hot date on the 22nd

[formercia]

16. Perhaps not the hot date you expected...

:evilgrin:

[abq e streeter]

18. nope... and a day early too

:rofl:

[8 track mind]

17. oh boy Harold Camping

haven't heard much out of him in a while. I think he still runs a high power shortwave station spewing his crap worldwide

[mwb970]

20. What a nut.

It's amazing that there are so many people shallow and ignorant enough to fall for crap like this. I guess if a country has enough conservatives in it, any whack job can make a big impression. The poor dears. So easily fooled!

[Capt. America]

21. I wonder if he's also calculated the number of angels that can fit on the end of a pin?

[liam_laddie]

24. Answer? ALL of them.

[hatrack]

22. Blah blah blah BLAH BLAH blah blah blah BLAH BLAH BLAH blah blah

I think that covers most of the points Camping raises here.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. A Biblical scholar with no formal theological training

Uh-huh.

Another free-lance fundie, another representative of unorganized religion.

[nolabear]

25. I don't think "scholar" is the word you're looking for.

He's making stuff up the same way any pseudoscientist or mystic does.

[winyanstaz]

26. I am so sorry that they missed the Rapture....

A lot of us were raptured way back in 1983.
I am so very very sorry for all you that missed it...it was totally awesome!! :)
We all went to heaven and sat around with God and talked about the bad guys still making wars and lying and stealing from the people. (By the way...Jesus is mad as hell about that too.)
We are already all back now, trying like hell to wake the world up for the two thousand years of peace :)
The date of 12/21/2012 is not for the end of the world...its for the end of an age and the beginning of trials for the war criminals. :)

[struggle4progress]

27. I'm confused: Didn't Harold's world end September 6, 1994?

[struggle4progress]

28. Wait. "The Complete Idiot's guide to the Book of Revelation" says Harold admitted that was a mistake

on September 7, 1994. Apparently, September 29 and October 2, 1994, were also miscalculations, together with March 31, 1995. See Page 251:

http://books.google.com/books?id=bu6AoIcaa-oC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Complete+Idiot%27s+Guide+to+the+Book+of+Revelation&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

A lesser man might become discouraged ...