the End (May 21?)

Okay, so let me start right off by saying I don't agree with the teachings of Harold Camping, and I don't think that trying to determine the exact date of Christ's return is ever a useful exercise for followers of Christ. 

With that said, I do think that Christ is clear that there will be a day when he will bring about the completion of the work that he started. In other words, there will be an End. The world as we know it will not exist forever, and every deed will be brought to light. Justice will have its day, and the voice of the oppressed will be answered.   

Of course, this is something that everyone should come to terms with, as we all will admit that this is true for each of us individually. There is an End for each one of us, though it will most likely come at different times and dates for each of us. 

Therefore, we should be prepared, regardless of whether this End is communal or individual, or whether it should happen on May 21, 2011 or May 21, 3011. 

But let me give you two reasons why we shouldn't get into the practice of trying to guess the exact date. 

1. Be Ready to Live, not Die

Here's my problem with picking a date and going with it. Over and over again I read in Scripture that God wants us to live ready, meaning that our entire lives are to belong to him, not just in the days leading up to a specific date. It's much easier to just prepare for a month or two of living for God, but I think God wants more than that. I think he wants our whole lives, whether that means one month or one hundred months of putting our faith in and following Christ. 

"So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober"

- 1 Thessalonians 5:6 

"Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."  

- Matthew 24:44 

2.  The Bible Says What Harold Camping is Doing is a Bad Idea 


Okay, so let me give you the actual verses: 

• Acts 1:6-7, "It is not for you to know the times or the season, which the Father hath put in His own power."
• Matthew 24:36, "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." 
• 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, "As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way" 

Dang...those verses are pretty clear. But let me give you one more important verse and fact about all of this. Harold Camping already predicted that this day would come...in 1994. And he was wrong. So check this out: 

• Deuteronomy 18:20-22, "But any prophet who...presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak--that prophet shall die. You may say to yourself, "How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?" If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken." 

I'm definitely not saying that we're supposed to execute anybody. But God is pretty clear that we shouldn't trust the word of someone who was already wrong once about a prophecy. Harold Camping was already wrong once. He does not speak with authority.