Radio evangelist Harold Camping said in a special broadcast Monday night on his radio program Open Forum that his predicted May 21, 2011 Rapture was “an invisible judgment day“ that he has come to understand as a spiritual, rather than physical event…. “It wont be spiritual on October 21st,” Camping said, adding, “the world is going to be destroyed all together, but it will be very quick.” Camping had previously pointed to October 21 as the last day on earth for all humanity.
His former assertion was that a faithful three percent would be physically pulled into heaven by God through the Rapture on May 21, to be followed by a five month period of great suffering known as the Tribulation, ending, finally, on October 21. On Monday’s broadcast, Camping speculated that perhaps a merciful God decided to spare humanity five months of “hell on earth.”
Is “invisible judgment day” like Dean Wormer’s double secret probation at Faber College?
I wish that a merciful Camping would spare us all another five months of this crap.
Well, I’ll give him an “A” for creativity. I wonder what story he’ll come up with on October 22nd.
“Pulled” where exactly? Mankind is able to understand earth’s atmosphere and outer space where, obviously, no physical body can survive without the proper equipment. He is a primative. People who ignore reality for their little ancient fantasy. Sad, except he’s gotten extremely wealthy from others stupidity.
God must really hate humanity to give her messages to a loudmouth moneygrubbing American male.
I don’t usually answer trolls but will make an exception. You are a sexist twit.
October 21st?! He’s going to pop the whole universe in the head 10 days before Halloween? Why not wait a week and a half and do it with some pizazz? Yes it would be chessey, but the universe only ends once so why not drop the ‘tude and roll with it? God’s lack of style = best evidence yet that he really does hate the gays.
@3: Actually, more like a C+ for creativity. This is basically how the Seventh Day Adventists got started.
Just so we’re clear, the atheist billboard isn’t quite accurate: the Rapture is a 19th-century invention, a much later spin on the idea that Jesus would make a second appearance on earth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispensatio…
Have you seen how OLD this guy is? I think he’s hoping he’ll be dead by then so he doesn’t have to come up with another lame excuse.
Why is the media paying any attention to this guy? Is there a tape of him f–king Paris Hilton?
He seems to be saying that the judgement has already taken place and so there is no point in being “saved” between now and October. Not a very “Christian” thought.
How does he KNOW that it didn’t happen, and he just wasn’t left behind with us atheists and gays?
How convenient they only have to cover up May with a strip that says October on all of the billboards and advertising they’ve alread paid for.
Sweet, now I have a reasonable deadline for that threeway I wanted to have.
Do you think they paid rent on those billboards for after May?
Shorter Camping: “I’m not quite finished fleecing every red cent from my gullible flock yet, so I’ll keep this con going for a few months longer.”
I thought that hell was on earth already…
God had to postpone the rapture! I mean, Oprah’s last show is this week, and God doesn’t want to piss her off! Then there would be hell to pay!
slackerina @ 9. You’re right that the modern idea of the Rapture hasn’t been with us for 2 millenia, but the idea of a literal [you can point to it on the calendar] Judgement Day that will be the final throw-down between Good and Evil, has been around since Zoroaster–far in excess of 2000 years. And though it was different than the hogwash of today, Jews at the begining of the Common Era were expecting the Kingdom of Heaven in their time, as have Xtians since then.
In addition, most Xtians with a “biblical worldview” are entirely unaware of the history of their own faith, and that their tradition is an invention of the 20th century, having little resemblance to the worship–and in some cases dogma–of Xtianity through the centuries. Therefore any of these little pedantic points are irrelavent to highlighting the ridiculousness of the faithful.
Wow! Only three percent will go to heaven. God is a horrible gambler if he creates humans and only 3% turn out good enough. All powerful? Doesn’t sound like it.
I would have taken the Rapture last Saturday, if only because it would have gotten those assholes handing out fliers and wearing “May 21” t-shirts off the street. Now I’ve got to deal with five more months of the same assholes with “October 21” shirts this time.
Sunk cost means that plenty of the people who gave money the last time will participate this time.
@22: 3%? I thought it was supposed to be some 300k TOTAL, worldwide.
@13: because there was no earthquake.
Dammit! Does that mean I have to give my Christian neighbor’s car and house back now?
Can we please stop giving this senile confidence man free publicity now? The spectacle’s over. No rapture. Time to move on.
Now that we have been judged and God has already decided who is going to Heavan and who is going to Hell, we are all free to do whatever we want! Saints can commit murder and get into Heavan. Previously chaste Christians can go out and have homosexual orgies! For those of us who have already failed, abstaining from murder/sexual depravity/shellfish won’t do any good, so keep having fun! (Not that I like murder or shellfish.)
So if god can spare us the tribulation out of mercy, why couldn’t he spare the whole world the Rapture out of similar mercy? Given the higher level of suffering, wouldn’t there be even greater cause for mercy?
Similarly, why should god not show mercy to atheists, heathens, and infidels who try to live morally but don’t believe in him? Or even those who live generally sin-filled lives but at least aren’t mass murderers or child rapists? Hell, a truly endlessly compassionate god would find a way to show mercy to pretty much everyone. Maybe the proof of god’s mercy is that there is no hell, not for anyone?
@29, stop trying to pick apart Christianity rationally. It won’t work.
Nothing in the Bible about lying, then?
@31 I don’t think he’s lying, as such. He seems sincere. He’s just deluded.
Which doesn’t help the people who quit their jobs and gave away their life savings one bit, of course. 🙁
I hope the old guy doesn’t die before October 21 comes and goes without event. He needs to be humiliated some more.
@11, I had the same question about this craziness, but after learning about his multimillion dollar campaign, and seeing the billboards in my own neighborhood, I came to understand that this guy was too damaging to society to be ignored.
So, rather than decide he was wrong about the Rapture, he’s decided to say that the Bible was wrong about the Rapture. Yes, clearly that makes everything better. *snort*
That’s on my birthday! 🙂
I need awesome party suggestions.
Why can’t someone just ask him to put his money where his mouth is? If we make it to November, he agrees to give away all of his property and never speak of a rapture again
If there were a just, loving, and yet “jealous” god that concerned himself with the antics of men, isn’t it likely that god is angry at having his reputation sullied by a bigoted, ignorant, self-righteous prick who evangelizes his delusions onto innocent followers — and has therefore staged this whole thing just to expose Camping for the charlatan he is.
I hope that come 10/22/11 a bunch of very pissed-off ex-fundies lynch this human prion.
@12: The alternative corollary to what he’s said is that since *nobody* has been pulled bodily to heaven, that we’re *all* fucked.
Which makes sense, since the pious are all complete assholes too.
Well, as for me I think all those good Christians have indeed been raptured and replaced by lookalike clones. Now they’re up there with god, eating pop-corn, laughing at us down here who think their clones are the real thing, and waiting for god to kill us all off so that they can achieve perfect happiness. The end.