Jim Pace

In defense of Harold Camping… A little… Kind of…

May 24, 2011 | 1 Comment

At a coffee shop and restaurant I frequent I was called on the carpet for what Harold and his devotees have been saying.  My friends’ eyes would gleam as they razzed me for being connected to the same faith as Family Radio.  Honestly, I used to get so angry when a Christian would step up to the bad quote plate and swing for the fences.  I would have to answer for them.  It seemed like every bad quote, every unkind, unreflected on sentiment, made my faith seem more and more silly to more and more people.  These people were seen as jokes and Jesus (and I) was often thrown in with them.

Harold Camping, founder of the Christian station Family Radio, also known as the man who sounded the May 21 Doomsday alarm, warned the world will start falling apart as each time zone reached the six oclock hour.  First we would experience an earthquake that “would put what Japan experienced to shame,” we would experience the Rapture, followed by five months of suffering for those who remained on earth.    The 89 year old Camping has predicted the end of the world before.  On Sunday he was quoted by the San Franciso Chronicle as being “flabbergasted his calculation was off.”  Again.

Oh Harold.

But I don’t get angry at people like this anymore.  I do get angry at the problems they cause.  The followers of his highly obscure teachings, his weird numbering of the 3,000th anniversary of the flood of Noah, a thirty three year season of tribulation of the church, and a level of certainty of the year of the death of Jesus that few share, have been devastated.  Their faith is understandibly shaken.  Life savings’ have been spent on getting the word out about what was to happen on Saturday.  Even Camping’s own family has been torn apart by all this.

I do get angry at that.

For me, I try to look at what is going on in the world around me and look for what God is trying to say to me through it.  What I noticed is that I really don’t think about Jesus’ return very much.  With so many challenges in my life now, Jesus’ second coming rarely comes to mind.  That is not a good thing to me.

Now hear me on this, I didn’t think for a second it would be last Saturday.  Personally I doubt that it will ever be the way that Camping suggests, with followers of Jesus just disappearing, leaving a pool of their clothes behind, just being zapped out of their cars at highway speeds, leaving dogs in mid-walk.  But I do believe Jesus will return.

You honestly believe that stuff?

I get that question a lot.  Typically accompanied by an expression of incredulousness.  “He seemed so sane.”  🙂 Let me be clear here.  I don’t believe Camping’s stuff.  I believe different stuff.  Clear? 🙂

As it relates to the possibility that Jesus will return, either you fall into a camp that says he won’t or one that believes he will. Pretty simple, eh?  Both camps are influenced by what you believe to be true about the world, and the expectations you have based on those understandings.  My world view is guided by the scriptures and the experience of the church over the centuries. Two things are clear:  1) followers of Jesus took his words that he would return to heart; and 2) they have often been wrong about when that return would occur.  This isn’t surprising as Jesus told his followers that  he would return, but they wouldn’t be able to predict when.    If you are interested in my further views on that, just comment back and I’ll be a bit more clear (and verbose) 🙂

My presumption is that Camping really thought it would happen that way. So I don’t revel in his mistake or the embarrassment that has followed.  To feel that you are a voice for God is pretty heady stuff.  To feel that you were called by God to tell the world (and the church) something it didn’t want to hear and didn’t agree with would be a challenge.  Then, to see that you were wrong, that the naysayers (all of us) were right, could be crushing.

So, there is no question that Camping was wrong.  Almost all of us knew it before Saturday ever rolled around.  Even those that believe Jesus will return one day knew he was wrong.  Many of us, including myself, enjoyed and participated in the jokes at his expense.  My favorite still is the rapture hatch above.  But as I reflect on the whole thing, I wish I hadn’t been so quick to jump on his clear mistake.

My hope for Harold is that he comes out today, as he said he would, and seeks forgiveness for misleading so many.  I also pray that he will take whatever funds exist in his Family Radio network and in his own accounts and seek to repay what his followers have lost due to wrong teaching. In doing this he will have the opportunity to show he was trying to do a kingdom of God thing and he was just wrong about it.  If he doesn’t, if he tries to spin this, “provide clarity” as to how he will be right the next time, or try to distance himself from it, then I suspect everyone will see it wasn’t a kingdom of God thing he was doing over the past several years, if it ever was.

People will see the kingdom of Harold Camping flag waving proudly and then move right past him, as they should.

Am I missing something, wrong about something?  Help me out.

Peace, Jim

Categories: Culture, life, Sticky Issues