Doomsday: A futile exercise in doom and gloom

A huge billboard along a busy highway in my part of the world made sure the message couldn’t be missed:  Judgment  Day May 21, 2011.  The world will end.  The Bible guarantees it.

It’s now Sunday, May 22^nd, and as far as I can see everything's good in my world.  Actually, yesterday (Saturday, the 21^st) the sun came out… the skies didn’t fall… fires were nowhere in my neck of the woods to consume men and the planet.  Nor did I see any of my neighbors being raptured to the heavens.

In other words, Judgment Day (J-Day) was one man’s promise unfulfilled.  Not that I got disappointed, but I felt sorry for all the folks who contributed money and energy on this anticipated doomsday event.  I wonder how everyone involved is handling this very public humiliation?  Are they going to be shunned and ostracized by their friends and social circles?  I know for certain that May 21, 2011, even Judgment Day, was the most recently Googled information on the Internet.

The same believer who boldly prophesied the return of Jesus Christ in 1994 let us down again.  The 89-year old Harold Camping, a retired civil engineer and evangelical broadcaster, spent his personal fortune to promote his May 21^st J-Day prediction.  Camping explained the 1994 non-apocalypse event as “an error in his math,” but he was confident that Saturday, May 21^st this year would be humanity's real date with destiny.  He also made a public statement that for five months after J-Day, non-believers will have a chance to get on board (get spiritually cleansed, that is) because the real apocalypse will happen on October 21, 2011.  Call it heaven's "grace period."

Camping’s prophecy was based on half a century's study of the Bible.  He predicted that at 6:00 p.m. (in all time zones) there would be a monster earthquake on Saturday (May 21^st).  The Earth would shake that would make Japan’s 9 .0 March earthquake pale in comparison.  The souls of true believers “will leave their bodies and enter heaven in a rapture” while the rest (the sinners, no doubt) will be left behind to experience months-long destruction of the world. 

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that such morbid scenario didn’t come to pass.

Supporters of Camping, who is founder and head of the Christian radio network Family Stations Inc. in Oakland, California, have taken his cause to heart by posting thousands of billboards across the United States conveying the J-Day message and driving across the country to share the news that God has given signs that the world was coming to an end (e.g. earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, sexual perversion, moral disintegration).  Apparently, their goal was to save the wayward souls, not to promote public chaos.  (That in itself deserves a Thank You!)

Obviously, money had not been a problem in the fulfillment of Camping’s doomsday efforts.  Besides Camping’s own personal wealth, his supporters had contributed to the $100 million doomsday advertising campaign.  One positive outcome from all of this is that many advertising and billboard folks got into the action and made a great deal of money.

Although I was skeptical about the predicted May 21^st event, I did mention the end-of-the-world possibility to my Bible-educated brother .  His e-mail response:

Do not fear the May 21 doomsday prophecy.  Doomsday is a long way off.  Whoever said that was inspired by satan in order to sow fear among the gullible and the unenlightened.  May 21 will come and go just like other ordinary days.  There are still certain events that need to be fulfilled before the end comes.  What is important is that we are always prepared when our time is up because absolutely no one knows the day and the hour when God will call us home.  While we are awaiting that day, let us continue to do good to all, even to our enemies or perceived ones. 

The good news about this prophesied J-Day is that it shone the light on the need for human spiritual cleansing.  It provided an occasion for people to dig deep into their spiritual roots.  Man’s mortality can come to a crushing end at any minute and it is not a bad idea to be spiritually prepared if and when the end comes.

The positives I gained from this May 21^st non-apocalypse event:

(1) The word "rapture" now occupies a place of honor in my

     vocabulary. 

(2) The “American Idol” finalists will get their moments to shine.

(3)  Even if Kirstie Alley doesn't end up with the DWTS mirrorball trophy, at least 

     she gets a chance to dance her heart out.

(4) The non-event provides rich fodder for late night talk show hosts.

(5)  The Golden People will get to enjoy their hard-earned retirement money after all!

(6)  Movie dvd's will continue to arrive in the mail and my enjoyment of watching

     films won't be rudely interrupted.

The bad news:  TV viewers will get stuck with the new season of that ditzy irrelevant dating show, “The Bachelorette.”  I personally think that this show has overstayed its welcome. It’s time to banish it from the airwaves, apocalypse or not.

If you ask me, we don’t need J-Day to see signs of the apocalypse right here… right now.  Our news media are full of disasters unleashed. 

     .....News correspondents being mauled and sexually attacked during foreign
          assignments.

     .....School kids taking guns to school. 

     .....Armed men going on a shooting rampage in neighborhoods.

     .....Daycare workers molesting the young ones they’re responsible to protect. 

     .....Teachers flirting with sexual disaster in classrooms. 

     .....Motorists hitting pedestrians and not bothering to take responsibility for their

          lethal actions.  

     .....Priests guilty of sexual misconduct. 

     .....Parents being responsible for killing their offsprings and vice versa. 

     .....Suicide bombers carrying out deadly missions because they believe it's the right

          thing to do. 

     .....Homeowners losing their homes and material possessions in a fit of fire rage. 

     .....Greedy financial institutions causing the ordinary citizens' financial downfall.  

     .....People of prominence self-destructing and setting very bad examples.

If there’s any significant positive I gathered from the Camping J-Day prophecy, it’s the possibility that people got on the bandwagon of doing good in a world that has sunk into deepening mud.  Beginning now, if everyone will aspire to mend their crooked, even evil, ways, then Camping’s apocalypse prediction would not have been in vain.  If it had served the purpose of mortals heeding the J-Day message to save their own souls... that’s not such a bad idea at all.