A few thoughts about the not-so-rapturous May 21st Harold Camping Trip...

Yesterday I was on the "Drew Mariani Show", on Relevant Radio, talking a bit about Harold Camping's prediction that "the Rapture" will occur this Saturday, May 21st—aka, "Judgment Day"—ushering in a six-month period of great tribulation leading up to "End of the World" on October 21, 2011. (The show is archived; select "Hour 2" and go to the 21:30 mark.)

I'm fairly confident that few, if any, Insight Scoop readers are planning to be raptured up, up, and away this weekend, so my two or three remarks here are more observational than apologetic in nature. First, if you've not see it, do read Jimmy Akin's excellent piece, "Major Supernatural Event This Saturday! (Rapture Prediction Analyzed!)" (May 16, 2001; National Catholic Register), in which he provides a helpful breakdown of Camping's attention-grasping mixture of numerology, sketchy exegesis ("sketchegesis", perhaps?), and doomsday-ism. Evangelical author Gary DeMar sums up Camping's approach very well:

Camping’s prophetic methodology reads like theKabbalah, a hermeneutical principle of finding hidden meanings in the text of Scripture. The human language of Scripture is examined and interpreted according to its numerical equivalents.

DeMar wrote that, however, not about Camping's 2011 predition, but his 1992 prognostication about the year 1994. DeMar continues:

By interchanging numerical equivalents, letters and words could be created, thereby 1994? is a mixture of the allowing for new interpretations. The following example will illustrate that Kabbalah, numerology, and an overactive imagination that is typical of Camping’s methodology. Camping’s methodology and preoccupation with numbers may have something to do with the fact that he earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1942.[3]

In John 21:1–14, we learn that Jesus’ disciples were about 200 cubits out from the Sea of Galilee engaged in their trade as fishermen. On this day the disciples catch 153 fish. According to Camping the Bible is teaching that the 200 cubits represent about 2,000 years between the first and second comings of Christ.[4] Since Jesus was born, according to Camping, on October 4, 7 B.C., one needs only to add 2,000 years minus one year for the year zero and “presto change-o,” out comes 1994! What about the 153 fish? The number 153 equals 3 times 3 times 17: “The number three signifies the purpose of God whereas the number seventeen signifies heaven. Thus we learn that [the] purpose of God is to bring all believers that are ‘caught’ by the Gospel into heaven.”[5]

Read DeMar's entire piece as a Google document. Not surprisingly, Camping and Co. aren't showing much, if any, humility in the light of his failed 1992 prediction, which features (as DeMar indicates) a dizzying and subjective mixture of numbers, dates (did you know that the exact day of Adam's creation is known?), and wild jumps of, er, logic. As I asked back in January, what is it with engineers and the Rapture?. Not surprisingly, the Family Radio site takes exception to any and all doubters:

Didn't Harold Camping say that the world would end in 1994?

In 1992 Mr. Camping wrote a book entitled 1994? In that book Mr. Camping highlighted the abundant evidence pointing to 1994 as a probable year of Christ's return. Given the abundance of information pointing 1994 and the urgency of time, the book 1994? was written. Mr. Camping felt as a teacher, he must share the Biblical information he had found and warn the world. Important subsequent biblical information was not yet known, so this book was incomplete. Mr. Camping warned there may be something he overlooked therefore the question mark was prominently placed on the title.

Mr. Camping wrote on pages 494 and 495 of the book 1994? he believed 2011 was the most probable year of Christ's second coming. Given the fact 2011 is the 7000 year anniversary of the flood, but he misunderstood Jesus' teaching in Matthew 24 verse 22 "except those days should be shortened" At the time Mr. Camping concluded the period of "great tribulation" would be shortened from twenty three years, as the Bible teaches, to 2300 evening mornings or six and one third years. .

Mr. Camping wrote in 1994?: "God appears to be declaring that this final tribulation period should be a certain length of time. If it were that length of time, it seems it would fit perfectly with God's plan of 7000 years. Judgment Day would be 2011 A.D. But for the sake of the elect those day will be shortened."

Why is there no question now?

In the nineteen years since 1994? Was written the biblical evidence for 2011 has greatly solidified. Today there is no longer any question, May 21, 2011 is the day in which Jesus Christ will return.

If that isn't hubristic enough, there is also this:

What if May 21 ends and nothing occurs?

The Biblical evidence is too overwhelming and specific to be wrong. Christ's people can look with great confidence to this date because God promises His "beloved" He will not come upon them as a thief in the night. God in His mercy has revealed the vital information needed to know the day. Judgment Day on May 21, 2011 will occur because the bible declares it. Anyone whom God has not saved will arrive at that day with no hope for salvation. God warns simply the "door will be shut."

Most Rapture-ites/dispensationalists avoid specific date-setting, in part because of Jesus' statement, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matt. 24:36), but also because of the practical concern of looking like an idiot and quickly losing followers, reputation, and income. But Camping is almost ninety years old (he was born on July 19, 1921). What does he have to lose? But I don't think that this is a stunt on his part; I've known folks who have been convinced about this or that date of "The Rapture" or "The End", and they were as sincere as they were wrong: 100%. One concern, however, is that some people will associate such date-setting silliness with authentic, serious, hope-filled Christianity, and will then reject or mock all Christians because of the falsehoods promoted by Camping and Crew. Such is the nature of things, as Christians are often, to loosely rework Chesterton, the main stumbleblocks to folks becoming Christian.

Near the end of my book, Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today’s Prophecy Preachers (Ignatius Press, 2003), I wrote, "Despite its pessimistic spirit, discredited history, and illogical premises, dispensationalism’s unique mixture of Christian fatalism, apocalypticism, and neo-Gnosticism continues to mesmerize millions of Americans." Camping isn't as widely known as Tim LaHaye, creator of the Left Behind books, and his teachings differ from those of LaHaye in certain respects. But LaHaye has stated, in his 1998 book, Rapture Under Attack, "My prophetic studies have convinced me that we Christians living today have more evidence to believe we are the generation of His coming than any generation before us." The difference between Camping and LaHaye is a matter of degree, not of kind. Both men, however sincere, are selling eschatological snake oil.

Compare the speculative, obsessive "dispensensationalism" (DeMar's witty term) of those men with this remark by Pope Benedict XVI in the epilogue of Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection:

The questioning about times and seasons is explicitly rejected. Speculation over history, looking ahead into the unknown future—these are not fitting attitudes for a disciple. Christianity is the present: it is both gift and task, receiving the gift of god's inner closeness and—as a consequence—bearing witness to Jesus Christ. ... Vigilance means first of all openness to the good, to the truth, to God, in the midst of an often meaningless world and in the midst of the power of evil. It means that man tries with all his strength and with great sobriety to do what is right; it means that he lives, not according to his own wishes, but according to the signpost of faith. All this is presented in Jesus' eschatological parables, especially in the parable of the vigilant servant (Lk 12:42-48) and, in a different way, in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Mt 25:1-13). (pp. 282, 288)

Related Links:

• A Short History of the "Left Behind" Theology | Carl E. Olson | From Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"?
• Eschatological Fact and Fiction: Catholicism and Dispensationalism Compared | Carl E. Olson
• Want to be a future failure? Try engineering the Rapture! | Carl E. Olson
• "How To Write an End Times Novel Before the Rapture Takes Place!" | Carl E. Olson
• The End Times: The Secret Hidden From the Universe | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• 06.06.06 | Is the End At Hand? | An Interview with Michael O'Brien | Valerie Schmalz

Comments

[Ed Peters]

("sketchegesis", perhaps?). Good one, Carl.

Is there a specific time on May 21? GMT and all that? Just curious.

[Charles E Flynn]

As Freud would undoubtedly have said had he lived long enough, "Sometimes a cubit is just a cubit".

I dare Harold Camping to sign a contract turning over all of his remaining worldly assets to one Carl Olson of Oregon, USA, at midnight on October 20, 2011. After all, he will not have any further use of them, will he?

[Carl E. Olson]

Ed: Thanks! I've searched a bit, but cannot find a specific time. But I suspect there is one given somewhere (by Family Radio, not the Bible).

Charles: I'll take Camping's radio equipment. He can keep all of his notes.

[Mary Kochan--Catholic Lane]

Here's an article about this by a man who used to be in an apocalyptic cult: http://catholiclane.com/a-few-thoughts-about-judgment-day-and-may-21-2011/

[mel]

Carl,

I know you didn't write this:

"Camping’s methodology and preoccupation with numbers may have something to do with the fact that he earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering"

Wow, what a slam to us Engineers. I can't even get away from the slams on Ignatius Insight!

[Joyce Donahue]

Thanks for weighing in on this Carl - good points about dispensationalism. When I was doing the research for the Council of Illinois Catholic Bishops for the "Statement on 'Left Behind' I read your book. As to the time question, Camping says it will start at 6 p.m. "somewhere"- with a major earthquake and we will suddenly all become aware of its impact. There is a good description in this CNN interview: http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/17/harold-camping-prepares-for-judgment-day-may-21-2011/

[Kanakaberaka]

I also heard on WABC radio that a world-wide earthquake would begin a little before 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight time. Of course, like everyone else here, I'm not worried about it happening.

[Gregory Williams]

mel, Carl also wrote this in the January post he linked to.

"Need I add that this is not a knock on engineers, whose abilities to create, calculate, build, and invent I greatly admire? Just be careful when it comes to engineering the end of the world!"

[Ruth Boll]

The world will come to an end in our lifetime--for us. Just like everyone else before us, we get one lifetime of varying lengths and then we die to the world. If God wants to take everyone else with me at the same time--so be it. But I am living my life as a finite event, of unknown length, regardless.

[Nancy D.]

Which is why any Day can become our Judgement Day.

[Mary Grace (ProudCatholic)]

Jesus said that nobody knew the day only the Father in Heaven. Enough said.