So, What Are Your Plans for the 22nd of May?

I've actually known for a few weeks at least that there are a few crackpots people out there who believe that Judgment Day is nearly upon us.  For the most part, I've gotten a good laugh out of the notion that there are people who would so blindly listen to someone who had already missed a prediction (the sun rose on 7 September 1994, presumably to the chagrin of one Harold Camping, the founder of a $100 million enterprise called Family Radio who now is calling for the Rapture on the 21st).  My laughter has been stanched, however, by this article.

Mr. Camping may well and truly believe that Judgment Day is but a couple of weeks away.  Many people have in the past claimed to have been able to divine The Divine's design and been able to convince others of their of their staunch belief.  And there have been many lives destroyed as a result of these failed prophecies.  But something about this article struck me as profoundly sad.  The notion that there are those who, like the Martinezes, have planned every last dime to have been spent by the time they're sucked into the sky hadn't really occurred to me before reading this piece.  I suddenly became aware that there will be an awful lot of people who face not only emotional devestation two Sundays from now, but financial devestation as well.  And some of them, like the Martinez's two-year-old daughter and their unborn child (due after the Rapture) haven't any choice in the matter whatsoever.

It's quite amazing what people are able to convince themselves of in the face of more rational views (the Bible itself, from which Mr. Camping claims to have arrived at the ultimate date, admonishes its readers that no one, not even the Messiah, knows the date).  Mother Jones has a very interesting article regarding the mental gymnastics people do to justify their rationale in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  But it's quite distrubing to see what effect this closed-mindedness can have on the irredeemably naive and particularly those who care about them.  Now, because of a multimillionaire and Christian, there are families being torn asunder as a result of people's abject unwillingness to listen to reason.

At 89 years of age, Mr. Camping, the leader of these poor, misguided souls, will probably meet his Judgment Day before the vast majority of those who have invested themselves in his prophecy.  I just hope it's sometime after 22 May so that he might be able to face the judgment of his flock in a much more corporeal setting.  Hang in there, Mrs. Brown, and try not to be too hard on your crestfallen husband.