Apparently Harold "Ruptured Rapture Dreams" Camping has figured out that the rapture did...well sort of...begin last Saturday. Now in order to explain the lack of 200 million people suddenly disappearing, Mr Camping has concocted the idea that May 21 was a "spiritual" rapture.
Reference to all this nonsense HERE.
Now I feel like a 14 year at the beginning of trout season thinking "gee, just where could I go first?". I mean there are just so many ways this could go in terms of thought and comment. Since I'm feeling very good this morning, I'll keep it simple and brief: my gut is that Harold Camping sincerely believes in what he spews, but the problem is that he's trying to make others sincerely believe that as well. I applaud anyone who had a decent amount of faith, but a loathe anyone who screws with the lives of others simply because "god told me".
God told me that Thomas' English muffins are evil. Does that mean there are people out there who will now (if I had the charisma of an 89 year old man) all of a sudden be casting all of their English muffins from the fire of the toaster into a raging bonfire? That very action may in fact impede the "nooks and crannies" action of the muffins. Anyway, I suspect that some people would in fact sacrifice their muffins for the greater glory of "god".
The above incredibly stupid example does beg the underlying question though: is this madness really all the "fault" of the Harold Camping's of this world, or is the "fault" really one of society as a whole? If you have never seen Mr Camping, (HERE is a picture) you pretty much know that there is nothing physically compelling about the guy. In fact he looks like he could go the way of the rapture any moment now. So what? Well maybe...just maybe...we have a classic example of personal responsibility at work. Yes, I do think that in a more prefect world Mr Camping would:
a) Admit his error
b) Try to make his followers "whole" again to the extent he can financially
...but we know this will not happen. These folks CHOSE to believe that the world was going to end on Saturday (or in October...or...whenever), so to a very great extent they now have to deal with the aftermath. And they are. Let's just hope though that whatever Higher Power does exist out there can, at least for some with an open heart, touch the lives of those impacted in order to turn this whole farce into something positive.
In life you make choices. I've made choices. Some have been very good. Some have been very bad. Mostly though, I try to learn from my choices. The fact that some around me (or in the world at large, such as Harold Camping) seem unable to learn from their choices is saddening, but yet it does remind me all the more that my choices are my responsibility.
In the end, I am not sure that God is in the business of protecting us from ourselves.
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