Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Pangea Blog

Home

Home
Progressive Christian
Beware, Or You Too May Be – Left Below! (When the Simpsons and Harold Camping Collide)

Beware, Or You Too May Be – Left Below! (When the Simpsons and Harold Camping Collide)

Last updated on: October 17, 2011 at 12:07 pm by Kurt Willems

Beware, Or You Too May Be – Left Below! (When the Simpsons and Harold Camping Collide) 2011-10-17T12:07:07-07:00 Kurt Willems

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Leave it to Homer Simpson to help us understand the “end times” better. Beware, or you too may be – Left Below!

This warning filled our TV screens, our newspapers, and our digital news feeds. The world watched as people quit their jobs, gave all their money to advertising the rapture, and traveled throughout the world to spread the message of May 21, 2011. Through various internal mathematical calculations, Harold Camping and followers, convinced themselves that they could predict the second coming of Jesus. On May 22, the world was unchanged except for the poor folks who had given up their various forms of livelihood for this false teaching.

When Harold Camping spoke out about his false prediction, instead of recanting, he’s convinced that God truly did come back. Here is the explanation from the Family Radio website:

What really happened this past May 21st ? What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what He wanted to happen. That was to warn the whole world that on May 21 God’s salvation program would be finished on that day. For the next five months, except for the elect (the true believers), the whole world is under God’s final judgment. To accomplish this goal God withheld from the true believers the way in which two phrases were to be understood. Had He not done so, the world would never have been shaken in fear as it was… Therefore we have learned from our experience of last May 21 what actually happened. All of mankind was shaken with fear. Indeed the earth (or mankind) did quake in a way it had never before been shaken. God had come spiritually to bring judgment upon the whole world.

To summarize:

Salvation is no longer available to anyone as of May 21, 2011
God didn’t reveal exactly what his “coming” on the 21st of May would look like
The world was to be “shaken in fear” as a result
God came and judged the world spiritually

The explanation concludes:

Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on October 21, 2011, on the last day of the present five months period. On that day the true believers (the elect) will be raptured. We must remember that only God knows who His elect are that He saved prior to May 21.

So, ultimately, Camping believes that on October 21st, only a few days from now, the entire cosmos will be annihilated. This includes the ultimate fate of the non-elect who will be permanently destroyed (interestingly, he doesn’t hold to eternal torment). Those of us who are “left below” will be destroyed… wiped out of existence.

Obviously most of us don’t believe any of this nonsense. The bible isn’t a complex code book, but a narrative. In fact, it’s a story that begins in creation (Gen 1-2) and ends in renewed creation (Romans 8, Rev 21-22). God longs, according to Romans 8, to liberate the cosmos from its bondage to decay so that the whole world experiences the freedom that the children of God will one day know. When Christ returns, all things will be set right. I long for the time when earth and heaven will be one.

Many Christians are against the types of theology that would predict the return of Jesus, but quickly embrace an underlying assumption that drives the impulse to know: escapism. One mantra of the church in the world continues to be: “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through.”

Are we simply passing through? What about the many issues that plague this world as we pass through? Creation is dominated by violence, ecological disaster, preventable disease, hunger, and injustice. These things certainly could lead us to desire an escape from the darkness of the world, but the New Testament writers make clear that “escapism” is not God’s answer. The hope of the Christian life is the renewal of all creation when God will bring the “kingdom… on earth as in heaven.” Heaven will come here, not the other way around.

So I ask: Is there an area where escapism is looming in your life? God invites you into the “here and now” of the Kingdom. Is God calling you into some sort of unique kingdom ministry opportunity that you keep putting off because you find your escape in settling future issues first, such as: who you will marry, graduating, getting settled into a career, having kids, putting those kids through college, paying of loans, making enough money so you can eventually become as generous as you wish you could be now? I wonder if God might be inviting us into the risky realization that we were “left below” for a purpose. We were “left below” to reflect the realities of the Kingdom of God breaking into our “here and now” situations.

Any time we attempt to delay Kingdom actualization for another day, escapist views win. October 21 will come and go just like any other day. How wonderful it would be if Kingdom minded Christians were intentional about reflecting the reign of God on the earth, on a date marked out for evacuation.

Previous Post

October 13, 2011

Can You Lose Your Salvation? Greg Boyd and Mark Driscoll in Dialogue

Next Post

October 17, 2011 Theology is Greed? Henri Nouwen (Quote to Ponder)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category (Series) All Out War-Spiritual Warfare (Series) Church Plant Journal (Series) Dear Reader... (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times? (Series) Entering the... Conversation (Series) Evangelical Culture Myths (Series) Everything is Meaningless [Pete Enns] (Series) Evolving Evangelicalism (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares? (Series) Hidden Worldviews (Series) If Evolution is Right, what about Adam? (Series) in less than 300 words (Series) Jesus and Nationalism (Series) Liberating Women for Ministry? (Series) Life-Changing Books (Series) Markers of Church Plant Movement (Series) Nonviolence 101 (Series) Philemon - Reconciliation (Series) Quote to Ponder (Series) Red Letter Dialogues (Series) Resource of the Week (SERIES) Revelation Sermons (Series) Share Something Sundays (Series) Simplicity in the Burbs: $2 a day (Series) The Binding of God [Open Theism] (Series) The Creed: Anabaptist Reflections (Series) Values for Church Leadership (Series) Video to Ponder Anabaptism Animal Advocacy Books Church Ministry Church Planting Community Culture Eschatology Eucharist Evangelical Reject Evolution Fundamentalism Greek Greg Boyd Guest Contributors Hell Holy Spirit Israel/Palestine Kingdom of God Lent Missional N. T. Wright Nationalism New Creation Nonviolence Open Mic Open Theism Parenting Passover Paul Philemon Podcast Politics Restorative Justice Revelation (the book of) Rob Bell Ron Martoia Sermon Shane Claiborne Social Justice Speaking Engagement Spiritual Warfare Spirituality Temple Theology Tim Geddert Tribulation Uncategorized universalism Video Blog Women in Ministry Worship Music Youth Ministry

Select a Month August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What food did Jesus multiply to feed 5,000 people?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Quail and manna Grapes and figs Loaves and fish Bread and wine

Support this
Column