The end of the world begins on May 21, 2011. This from a recent news article on msnbc.com. According to Harold Camping, an 89 year-old retired civil engineer who based his prediction on careful reading of the Bible, "Beyond a shadow of a doubt, May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgement". The actual end of the world is to follow on October 21, 2011. He previously predicted a very high likelihood the world would end September 1994. Despite being disappointed that time he is completely confident this time. His followers seem to be spreading the warning with equal confidence.
These sorts of predictions have been made many times before. Presumably most people have heard at least some of these at some point. You would think that the first thing that would come to mind would be that the prediction success rate for the end of the world is precisely zero. You might then expect considerable reluctance to keep predicting an event that kept not happening. Doesn't seem to work that way. They drink the kool-aid and boldly go there yet again.
On our way to TN a few weeks ago, we passed 3 vans that were painted with this very message. It looked like a small circus until we got closer and I just laughed. I meant to check out the website that was on the van but never did. It made me wonder though who gave the money for the vans. I'm assuming whoever this guy is must have a pretty good following if he's on national news. That's unfortunate. I think they will all be a little disappointed come May 21.
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