Prophecy, smophecy: Revisited
Now you may be wondering why I didn’t preview my next 2012 doomsday theory in my last column. Well to be honest, I didn’t have one. So since I couldn’t find one (and I promise it won’t happen again), I decided to revisit a past masterpiece of mine: Prophecy, Smophecy.
May 20 of last year, I decided to the unspeakable – I , Jerry Tyler O’Brien, predicted the world was not going to end. I was right by the way. If you weren’t aware or don’t remember what was going on last May, let me refresh your memory.
Harold Camping, an 88-year-old civil engineer turned self-taught biblical scholar, predicted the rapture, the return of Christ, would happen on May 21, 2011. He claimed that he had closely studied the bible for 70 years, and over the years, developed this mathematical equation that when solved showed the date that Christ would return.
By way of radio and billboard advertisements, Camping mustered up hundreds of followers and believers. These people gave up their worldly possessions, emptied their bank accounts, including their children’s college funds, and gave it all to Camping.
The charisma of the false prophet never ceases to sicken me. You see, in September of 1994, Harold Camping, using his same equation, had predicted that Christ would return. Hundreds gathered awaiting the return of their savior and to their dismay, he did not show.
Camping told his followers that it was an error in his math, and vowed to get it right the second time, which brought his prediction in 2011. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I detest false prophets, but they’re not all to blame. There are the — and I’m using the nicest word I can to describe them– gullible people who choose to follow them.
What now?
I find it almost comical and very tragic how fast we can lose our way. For years I’ve wondered how so many people could be easily wooed into these, well, “cults.” When I say cults, I’m not just talking about matching jump suits and hidden compounds somewhere in the woods. But how can so many claim to follow a faith, one that has its rules and functions written down, and allow it to be twisted right in front of their eyes?
Now, I can’t say for certain that any of Camping’s followers or Camping himself was aware of past false prophets, the most widely know being Jim Jones and David Koresh. But seriously, it is written down in black and white. The Bible warns multiple times of false prophets, and yet many still flock to these men seeking salvation.
It is sad, but I can imagine something even sadder – seeing the followers after the apocalypse doesn’t happen. I’ve wanted to always know what they do the day after. It has to be pretty awkward to look around and see that nothing has changed or to look in your family’s eyes confused and without explanation.
So what do they do? Well in the case of Camping’s followers, they continued to believe. Harold Camping had publically apologized to his followers and the rest of the world for his controversial comment saying that God had stopped saving people who did not believe in his May 21 spiritual judgment day predictions, according to the Huffington Post. Camping had asked his followers to be patient and leave God in charge, a noble act I must admit considering what happened with Jim Jones and his poison Kool-aid, and of course with David at Waco.
If there is anything at all I respect when it comes to these believers, it is their tenacity. Two failed prophecies, and still Camping and his followers continue to believe. That is what I have in common with even the most demented follower, the fact the no matters what happens or what is said, I hold strong in what I believe.
I am often asked what I will do when I die and discover that God does in fact exist. It is a fair, yet troubling question, given the consequence for those who do not believe in him. So what would I do? Well, nothing. I won’t beg for forgiveness or mercy. I won’t even entertain him an explanation. You see, I feel a man should be judged by his actions, his thoughts, and the words of his mouth. If I live an honest life, do good and hurt none, then I don’t see why someone of my character would be denied eternity in heaven. I refuse to blindly worship and follow someone who can’t prove, he or she exists.
Before I continue, I would like to apologize to anyone expecting me to completely trash Christianity in this column. I am not that kind of atheist; some of my closest friends are followers of God.
I am a man of science. I always have been and always will be, and in the world of science, if you claim something to be true or to exist, there needs to be testable evidence. Could you imagine a world without skepticism? I couldn’t. A world without skepticism would be a world torn asunder.
So now I ask you, what will you do the day after? What will do if you’re a believer of the 2012 prophecy and nothing happens? What will you do if you’re not a believer in the 2012 prophecy and something does happen?
Waiting for the end
As to why we are so obsessed with end of all things, I will never understand. But what I do understand, is that it is not something you can put a date on. I mentioned in my first column, since my birth, a hundred and sixty some prophecies were made and failed. As I said in my piece “Prophecy, smophecy,” “There have been many who have predicted the end of the world, and they have all been wrong. Imagine our existence as a huge book. When you start, you only know what is happening on the page you are on. You can’t predict the ending of the book; you have just started it.”
So far I’ve talked about super powers and volcanic explosions, but I think it’s time to talk about one astronomical theory that will have you buying sun block in bulk – solar storms! We’ve all heard that in five billion years the sun will expand into a super nova and destroy the planet, but what if it takes out life first? Look for my next column to find out!
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