Rapture Didn't Come May 21, Atheists and Humanists Blamed

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Rapture Didn't Come May 21, Atheists and Humanists Blamed

Opinion by Jerome McCollom
(20 Hours Ago) in Religion / Religion in Society
May 21st, 2011 was supposed to be the supposed Rapture, as predicted by Harold Camping.

Camping is one of many individuals who had stated the time of this supposed event, which didn't come to pass. Some Christian fundamentalist types have said that even though he is wrong, the rapture will come.

No, it won't. It's a fairy tale. The idea that individuals (Christians or Christian fundamentalists in particular) will be teleported (or whatever the means) off the face of the earth is something out of a Stephen King book.

To be fair, part of me was hoping this Rapture event would come about. If we could get rid of people such as Pat Robertson, Camping, Rick Santorum and their still-powerful religious fundamentalist influence on our politics/public policy, that wouldn't be a bad thing. We could have same-sex marriage, a right to die and no more bans on sex toys (they exist in Alabama).

I was listening to conservative talk radio, and who was blamed by one caller for reporting about Camping? Humanists! Yes, humanists like me. See, we supposedly have so much control of America (we have elected a grand total of about 1 out of 535 members of the U.S. Congress) that we humanists planned to have Christian conservatives embarrassed by reporting on this nutjob, Camping, and his supposed Rapture.

See, the same people who want us to be a Christian theocracy get mad when those who don't want that, report on their fellow fundamentalists being wrong. Once again. People spent and gave all their money away because they believed that this Rapture would happen on that day and they wouldn't need it. Is Camping going to compensate them? Of course not. His radio network, called Family Radio, is worth $72 million dollars. Why anyone would give money to this fraud and charlatan I have no idea.

Oh, by the way, a latter caller on the same radio program stated that musical entertainers such as Lady Gaga, Madonna and even Beyonce were trying to turn us into devil worshipers with their music. The first two are somewhat controversial but Beyonce? Really? She went to church and has sang gospel music. Wait, she sang John Lennon's Imagine during a competition. It imagined a world without religion!

A world that would come about if the Rapture did happen! The ironic thing is, there are many people who think songs such as Imagine or even this column, are the work of a devil. They believe any support for free-thought and rationalism is the work of this being. We should pay attention to them, until the point they are so disbelieved, that they hold no more political power and influence over our lives.

Source: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/raptu...manists-blamed

[COVID-19]

Some of those suckers spent their life savings and got rid of all their possessions to promote the rapture.

I see that he pushed back the date again. This guy's world will only end when he's dead.

[Evil Abed]

I'll take the hit for this one.

I dropped the ball on this one.

My bad.

[Rip Chudd]

I don't get how people could be so blind to fall for this dude's crap.

[Evil Abed]

I don't get how people could be so blind to fall for this dude's crap.

It could be worse.

[The Monk]

Only in America....

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What bothers me is that one of my fave song is "imagine" thus, I patronize the work of the devil.

[oc9979]

I am a Christian but I didn't believe in this crap about the rapture. The only person to blame is that guy Camping.

[Evil Abed]

Preacher says world will actually end in October
AP

Harold Camping AP – Harold Camping speaks during a taping of his show 'Open Forum' in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 23, 2011. …

By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press – Tue May 24, 3:56 am ET

OAKLAND, Calif. – A California preacher who foretold of the world's end only to see the appointed day pass with no extraordinarily cataclysmic event has revised his apocalyptic prophecy, saying he was off by five months and the Earth actually will be obliterated on Oct. 21.

Harold Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven Saturday before catastrophe struck the planet, apologized Monday evening for not having the dates "worked out as accurately as I could have."

He spoke to the media at the Oakland headquarters of his Family Radio International, which spent millions of dollars_ some of it from donations made by followers — on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message.

It was not the first time Camping was forced to explain when his prediction didn't come to pass. The 89-year-old retired civil engineer also prophesied the Apocalypse would come in 1994, but said later that didn't happen then because of a mathematical error.

Through chatting with a friend over what he acknowledged was a very difficult weekend, it dawned on him that instead of the biblical Rapture in which the faithful would be swept up to the heavens, May 21 had instead been a "spiritual" Judgment Day, which places the entire world under Christ's judgment, he said.

The globe will be completely destroyed in five months, he said, when the apocalypse comes. But because God's judgment and salvation were completed on Saturday, there's no point in continuing to warn people about it, so his network will now just play Christian music and programs until the final end on Oct. 21.

"We've always said May 21 was the day, but we didn't understand altogether the spiritual meaning," he said. "The fact is there is only one kind of people who will ascend into heaven ... if God has saved them they're going to be caught up."

Josh Ocasion, who works the teleprompter during Camping's live broadcasts in the group's threadbare studio sandwiched between an auto shop and a palm reader's business, said he enjoyed the production work but never fully believed the May 21 prophecy would come true.

"I thought he would show some more human decency in admitting he made a mistake," he said Monday. "We didn't really see that."

Follower Jeff Hopkins said he spent a good deal of his own retirement savings on gas money to power his car so people would see its ominous lighted sign showcasing Camping's May 21 warning. As the appointed day drew nearer, Hopkins started making the 100-mile round trip from Long Island to New York City twice a day, spending at least $15 on gas each trip.

"I've been mocked and scoffed and cursed at and I've been through a lot with this lighted sign on top of my car," said Hopkins, 52, a former television producer who lives in Great River, NY. "I was doing what I've been instructed to do through the Bible, but now I've been stymied. It's like getting slapped in the face."

Camping's hands shook slightly as he pinned his microphone to his lapel, and as he clutched a worn Bible he spoke in a quivery monotone about some listeners' earthly concerns after giving away possessions in expectation of the Rapture.

Family Radio would never tell anyone what they should do with their belongings, and those who had fewer would cope, Camping said.

"We're not in the business of financial advice," he said. "We're in the business of telling people there's someone who you can maybe talk to, maybe pray to, and that's God."

But he also said that he wouldn't give away all his possessions ahead of Oct 21.

"I still have to live in a house, I still have to drive a car," he said. "What would be the value of that? If it is Judgment Day why would I give it away?"

Apocalyptic thinking has always been part of American religious life and popular culture. Teachings about the end of the world vary dramatically — even within faith traditions — about how they will occur.

Still, the overwhelming majority of Christians reject the idea that the exact date or time of Jesus' return can be predicted.

Tim LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling "Left Behind" novels about the end times, recently called Camping's prediction "not only bizarre but 100 percent wrong!" He cited the Bible verse Matthew 24:36, "but about that day or hour no one knows" except God.

Camping offered no clues about Family Radio's finances Monday, saying he could not estimate how much had been spent advertising his prediction nor how much money the nonprofit had taken in as a result. In 2009, the nonprofit reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.

Goddammit......

This guy needs professional help.