6pm

From HuffPo, and a perfect example of saying “this is biblical” when it is not biblical. Respect for the church’s belief in the Second Coming is fine, and some are ridiculing even that.

Here’s how the article summarizes Camping’s method.

Complex Biblical numerology partially based on a literal reading of the King James Bible and partially based and obscure interpretation of the book’s many symbols form the basis for Camping’s warnings.

He says certain numbers repeat in the Bible along with particular themes. The number five means “atonement;” ten equals “completeness;” 17 is “heaven.” Multiply those numbers by each other and multiply the result by itself. It equals 722,500.

Does the Bible say “five” means atonement, or that “ten” means completeness, or that “17” is heaven? No, no, no. Therefore, those points are not biblical at all. Does the Bible then say multiply those numbers? No. So the math is not biblical.

Over and over we need to remind ourselves that our cobbling together is not the same as the Bible.

“Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.,” he says. “Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that’s 1,978 years.”

Do we know Christ died on April 1? that it was 33A? No to both.

If you multiply that number by 365.2422 — the number of days in the solar calendar — it equals 722,449. And if you add 51 (the number of days between April 1 and May 21) to that number, it equals 722,500.

It gets more confusing.

Camping also believes that May 21 marks the 7,000 anniversary of Noah’s flood and the end of a 33-year-year period of Tribulation, during which he claims Satan has ruled churches. He points to the increasing acceptance of gay clergy, for example, or the rise in charismatic and Pentecostal movements as signs that churches have gone astray. To him, rituals such as baptism and confession are worthless….

This for me is the saddest part of this whole bag of nonsense.

The octogenarian hasn’t been able to avoid the alienation many of his followers experience. His six living children, 28 grandchildren and 38 great-grandchildren think his theories are a sham. Only Shirley, his wife of 68 years, believes him.

“Most do not understand at all,” he said of his family. “They think I have lost it.”