For me, Harold Camping is a gift that keeps on giving. I really don\u2019t think Christians understand this. I read a few articles over the weekend in which Christians talked about how Harold Camping was an extremist and how his belief that the Rapture would occur on May 21st 2011 was ridiculous. I even got a few messages of this kind. But when asked, why his belief was ridiculous, the answer became laughable\u2026 and that\u2019s the gift that just keeps on giving\u2026 that and the fact that Camping now says that the Rapture will happen on October 21st 2011.<\/p>\n
For example, most of the comments I read and received from Christians claim that Camping\u2019s beliefs are ridiculous not because he believes that the people (alive and dead) would be magically raptured up to heaven and that over 6.5 billion people would be left behind to suffer on Earth fighting against massive natural disasters, but rather because Harold Camping picked a date and time and that there is a Bible verse that warns against that sort of thing.<\/p>\n
Let me be clear here, all these Christians who wrote these articles and sent me messages still believe that the Rapture will happen and that Jesus will return. They still believe that God will create massive natural disasters for those who are left behind. They don\u2019t seem to think this is ridiculous or extreme at all. The only part that they find ridiculous and extreme is that Harold Camping picked a date and time. To me, that\u2019s the funniest part of this whole thing.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t tell you how many Christians have quoted Matthew 24:36 to me as if that proves that Camping was the crazy one. I continue to point out that Camping addresses this point on his website. I\u2019m not the one who said the Rapture was coming on May 21st 2011 and yet I have gotten all these messages from Christians telling me about Matthew 24:36. Camping has been studying the Bible for over half a century and has been predicting the Rapture for almost a decade now. Do these Christians think Camping never read that verse? Do they think no one has told him about this? Don\u2019t be absurd\u2026 of wait, never mind.<\/p>\n
I a strange role reversal, I have become a defender of the faith and Christians have become the atheists. I\u2019m not defending Camping here, but he obviously thought that verse was taken out of context (the typical religious response to a Bible verse they don\u2019t like). So on his website, Camping of course talks about why this verse is out of context and makes his own biblical case for why he can know the date and the time and what that date and time is.<\/p>\n
But the point Christians miss is that it doesn\u2019t matter. The Rapture itself is the ridiculous belief. In fact, the idea that a God exists at all is pretty ridiculous. Christians have to realize that Camping isn\u2019t the only one who is being ridiculous. The fact is that all of Christianity is ridiculous and Camping has just exposed this in a very public way.
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