Judgment day

Since I don't unusually write on Saturdays, and the world as we know it is coming to an end tomorrow, I thought I would get that final piece in today on tomorrow's Rapture. You've seen the stories, right? Harold Camping, 89-year-old leader of the ministry Family Radio Worldwide, has predicted that a five-month destruction of humanity will commence Saturday with a Rapture, in which believers will ascend to heaven. Camping uses a mathematical formula linked to prophecies in the Bible. He once predicted Sept. 6, 1994 as Judgment Day, but that math didn't quite work out. This time around, Camping's organization took out an ad in Reader's Digest, stating: "The Bible guarantees the end of the world will begin with Judgment Day May 21, 2011."

Many are sponsoring Rapture parties, Sunday, and asking those who believe Camping if they can have their stuff. And it is all fun and games (unless he's right, of course).

And who is the loser in all this(unless he's right, of course)?

I suspect the believing Christian. Not the believers in Camping. God forbid. But the believers in Christ who understand that even Jesus did not know the day the Lord would come again.

Those who don't believe might think Camping nuts (unless he's right, of course), and the problem comes when they lump all believers with Camping (unless he's right, of course). We all get put into the same basket. We're all naive, nutty, backward believers.

And someone who might have been thinking about trying this Christian stuff because their life isn't working might just say, well, they're all nuts (unless he's right, of course).

That's the serious side of what promises to be a joke tomorrow. This is all about bringing people to Christ (and he's right, of course).