504 Days Until Rapture?

Posted on January 3rd, 2010 by the lion

21


504 Days Until Rapture?

See now, people like this guy are why it is so easy for Atheists to dismiss my faith.

Harold Camping, a Biblical “scholar” (and I use that term very loosely) who also runs an evangelical radio station (Family Radio) has predicted that the day of rapture will come on May 21, 2011. Camping, who is an engineer by trade and claims to have studied the Bible for over 70 years (he is 88), claims that he stumbled upon a mathematical equation a few years ago that revelead to him the true day of Rapture.

Incidently, this discoveries are not new to him. In 1994, Camping and several followers gathered in a Veteran’s building to await the Second Coming – which Camping had been predicting for nearly two years. As we all now know, it never came. Awkward.

A word of warning. What follows next is the mathematical equation Camping used (and some explanation) to determine this new date. Just be prepared.

By Camping’s understanding, the Bible was dictated by God and every word and number carries a spiritual significance. He noticed that particular numbers appeared in the Bible at the same time particular themes are discussed.

The number 5, Camping concluded, equals “atonement.” Ten is “completeness.” Seventeen means “heaven.” Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.

“Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.,” he began. “Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that’s 1,978 years.”

Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days – the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500.

Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500.

Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.

“Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story,” Camping said. “It’s the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you’re completely saved.

This is, as you can see, very subjective. Patterns can be seen in anything. The human mind is particularly adept at discovering patterns in random events. People see faces in paint on their walls or flowers in the ripples of water in a pond. Our minds seek to make sense of things we don’t understand which is exactly what Camping is doing here. If you look long enough (and 70 years seems like plenty long) you will find whatever you want to find.

If this seems familiar it might be that you are thinking of William Miller who predicted the Second Coming over four times during the 1840-1849 time frame. He even had followers that were called Millerites. They gathered in mass for each and every one of his apocolyptic predictions. And, lo and behold, each prediction turned false.

Word to the wise, folks: our Good Book states that we will not know what will bring our end nor will we know when it will come. So, if you think you know how or when the world will end – you are wrong. So keep it to yourself and stop scaring the simple folks.