Getting Ready For The End of The World

Have you seen one of those billboards yet? The ones that say the world is ending on May 21st? I talked about them a here. They’re popping up all over the world. I’ve personally seen them in Sydney and Brisbane, but I hear they’re everywhere. Well, the 2st is this Saturday. Are you prepared for the end of the world? If not, are you prepared to explain to people next week why the world didn’t end? Here are some useful resources.

Salon has an article on these billboards and the man behind them, Harold Camping. You can read it here. It amazes me that this man predicted the end of the world in 1994, yet people still follow him when he was proven to be wrong. The last paragraph left me with mixed feelings – a combination of admiration and sadness. People who adhere to these teachings have 100% faith in them coming true. There’s no margin for error. So much so that if the world doesn’t end on Saturday they have no plans or means for living after that. That’s commitment. And I admire that. But I believe there rational for their faith is seriously flawed. So I’m sad for them as I think they’ll wake up to a massive shock on Sunday morning.

For more about the theology of Harold Camping and how he has arrived at his position, there’s a series of blog posts at the Westminster Seminary California website. This quote demonstrates how really far from the mark Camping’s teaching is:

Camping’s presentation of God’s mercy is from beginning to end unbiblical and unchristian. He has no Trinity, no cross, no faith alone in Jesus alone, and no assurance. His vision of God and mercy is more Muslim than Christian. If Camping still believes in the Trinity, in Jesus and his cross, and in justification by faith alone, then his recent teaching shows that he is a failure as a teacher of the Gospel and his call to repentance lacks enough content for sinners to find salvation in Jesus.

And lastly, Something Positive has this to say about the whole deal. (Warning: NSFW)

So, what have you got planned for this weekend? Ready for the end of the world? Or prepared to deal with the fallout from the inevitable non event?