Did you know the world ended last Saturday? I heard it was guaranteed. Apparently God didn’t get the memo.
So basically there’s a “preacher” named Harold Camping who uses mathematical calculations supposedly based on the Bible to figure out when the Rapture and Apocalypse will happen. He figured it would be May 21, 2011. He’s not just your average garden-variety fruitcake, though. He is rumored to have spent about $100 million advertising his “prophecy”. He promoted it on 55 radio stations and 2000 billboards, plus all the free news coverage he got for it.
As you might have noticed, there was a lack of end-of-the-world events last weekend. Seemed quite normal to me. I thought maybe I just slept through it, but it seems like it would’ve been on the news had something of such epic proportions actually happened. So it’s probably safe to say this guy was wrong.
In this day of extended news coverage, of course reporters asked this guy what happened. How do you think he responded?
A) Admitted his mistake and apologized.
B) Said it was (another) miscalculation.
C) Blame it on Global Warming or Bush.
D) Pretend he was still right.
Well, A would’ve been the ideal thing to do, but that didn’t happen. B is what he’s done before. C is what some people do on all kinds of topics, whether it applies or not. D is the craziest option, though that’s exactly what he did. Camping said his dates were correct, that it was “an invisible judgment day” and the final judgment and destruction will happen on October 21, 2011. He also said we cannot understand the Bible, which I thought was really ironic because he claims to be basing his “prophecies” on the Bible. (Never mind that his prediction is unscriptural; he must have missed that verse.)
I heard of a humorous tweet about the whole thing:
If this Rapture doesn’t get started soon, my rental Ferrari demolition derby last night wasn’t as fun as I thought. ~ David Burge, 5/21/11
My favorite response so far to all the hullabaloo is this billboard that someone made after the doomsday prediction was proven false. This is awesome.
Well played…
Buffet o' Blog 
Holiday Inn Express
I think you missed the best options for dealing with a wrong prediction.
E) Don’t answer the door, phone, or emails ever again, maybe the media will think you’ve gone.
F) Sneak off to the tropics the night before you scheduled the world-end with all the donated money. Live on the beach like a king until someone finds you or the money runs out. Then, act surprised (I’ve been living on this beach for 2 years, and you’re telling me this isn’t heaven?), or come back to the country and claim to have been abducted by aliens.
BeBop
or….
G) “It’s Bushes fault that my prediction didn’t happen. So I am throwing my support for an Obama re-election.” Don’t fight the media, embrace it.
H) If the end is all math, then publish your calculations online and have a few REAL math wizards figure it out. Then start up your propaganda machine. just saying a little street cred can go a long way.
Thomas Wayne
How about an end to end-of-the-world predictions?
According to this guy, from an article I read elsewhere, supposedly the Rapture was going to happen at 6 PM in each time zone. That doesn’t seem to fit with how Jesus described it. Plus it would give people time to repent, because news travels fast these days. Well, except for the first time zone — they would have no warning.
Beppo
Well, October 21 passed (a few months ago), and the end of the world still didn’t happen, despite his revised date. Just the other day — March 8, 2012, over 4 months later — he finally admitted he was wrong. He said he doesn’t plan to make any more predictions. He spent millions of dollars putting up billboards for his previous predictions.
I’m still amused by the picture above of the billboard in response. Just think — one verse in the Bible could’ve saved him millions of dollars…