So yesterday was May 21st and–if we believe some true believers–the world should have ended. It’s fair to note that most Christians didn’t actually believe this was the day, and that only one mega church (led by 89 year old doomsday-er Harold Camping) really pushed this date as the end. BUT it wasn’t just followers of his church that believed today would be the end, and a pretty good portion of the globe didn’t just seem to accept it was the end, they were downright looking forward to it.
I want to point out that absolutely no one should have believed Camping. First, because he has already been wrong about this day once. He originally forecast the end of days in 1994, and was wrong. Then he “recalculated” the date and came up with one conveniently almost two decades later when Camping probably doubted he’d still be alive (the man is currently 89 after all), but not so distant it wouldn’t make him filthy rich as people prepared. And that’s the second reason no one should have believed this. Camping and his church have become extremely rich (some estimates north of 100 million).
People will say “Well, no kidding,” but even though we’re used to charlatans promising the end of the world for their own gain (Glenn Beck), it’s easy to take for granted just how–excuse my heathen talk–fucking weird that is. All salesmen sell things people want, and it’s virtually impossible to make a sale without tapping into some core emotion that the product promises to fulfill. Weight loss pills, hair removal, and Rogaine really sell sex, as people will want to have sex with you more if you use it. Cell phones, car alarms, and guns primarily sell security. Then there’s the industry of armageddon, what in the hell (pun intended) could that be selling that people would want?
It’s selling a better life. It’s really the be all and end all product. You will ditch your shitty job and your shitty wages and your shitty relationship and your shitty problems and your shitty life, and go live eternal, loved and happy, in heaven. The unspoken secret is that human life is very hard to maintain, trying to sustain happiness can prove downright miserable, and we’re all afraid that it could be so much worse the next day we wake up. Armageddon and the devoted going to heaven–and in this scenario, everyone who believes thinks they’re going to heaven, and everyone who doesn’t believe will be the ones paying the price–changes all that anxiety. It’s like getting a lifetime, unpaid membership to your favorite spa.
People want The Rapture to come before they die so they can make sure that’s what happens before they die. Actually seeing it all play out is confirmation the faithful have never had. They can believe but they really don’t know to a certainty. So, once again, The Rapture did not come, and the proof a lot of people want–as well as that better life in heaven–becomes ever more elusive. Some people that gave all their money away are depressed (“I just don’t know how this could happen”), some people who stand to make a lot of money off the next armageddon date are spinning a new lie (“We miscalculated the date again, The Rapture is now on May 21st 2021”), and then there’s the rest of us. People like me who hope the majority of people will stop looking for The Rapture, stay a while, and actually choose to invest in solving the problems here on Earth. Instead of hoping to travel to a problem free Utopia, people should try creating their own.
There’s some good points in here. Ultimately, people have to quit waiting for Jesus to change their life/their world and they just change it themselves.
Fantastic posting. I couldn’t believe the amount of money I have read that some have spent on this bucket of lies.
Keep posting great articles!
Wow Brody, succinctly put as always. I was about to get all “witty” then I read this sentence, “… and then there’s the rest of us. People like me who hope the majority of people will stop looking for The Rapture, stay a while, and actually choose to invest in solving the problems here on Earth.”
Well put,