Yesterday, I mentioned that two billboards in New York City were carrying on the Christmas Wars. Meanwhile, some billboards in Tennessee are carrying a very different religious message: “proclaiming May 21, 2011, as the date of the Rapture.”
The Rapture is going to be a great day for God’s people but awful for everyone else, said Allison Warden, 29, who orchestrated Nashville’s billboard campaign. She’s a volunteer with WeCanKnow.com, a website set up by followers of Family Radio. . . .
According to [Family Radio founder Harold] Camping’s prediction, the Rapture will happen exactly 7,000 years from the date that God first warned people about the flood. He said the flood happened in 4990 B.C., on what would have been May 21 in the modern calendar. God gave Noah one week of warning.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Since one day equals 1,000 years for God, that means there was a 7,000-year interval between the flood and rapture.
A few thoughts on that, in no particular order. First, in response to whether “We Can Know,” Matthew 24:36 seems to say pretty clearly, “Um, no you can’t.” Second, those people who think unbelievers will be “left behind” on May 21 might find a couple of surprises in Mark Shea’s column from Tuesday.
But hey, that’s not to say we should let a good end-of-the-world prediction go to waste. Even the apocalypse has its silver lining (h/t IC reader Chris): [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGPkXqoqZA8 635×355]