May 21, 2011, has been penciled in for Rapture

End of the world and apocalypse predictions have existed for as long as mankind has had religious beliefs to gently (or not so gently) suggest how they should think and behave. May 21, 2011, will reportedly be the day of the Rapture. WFMY 2 News in Greensboro, N.C., reports that billboards are heralding the grand day of judgment.

Some say, ‘The Bible guarantees it’

Camping, a Family Radio network founder in Oakland, California, put on billboards to “Cry mightily unto God,” since May 21, 2011 is going to be Judgment Day. The broadcast is scheduled to air May 21 from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Family Radio affiliates, of which there are more than 150 across the U.S.

True Christians are anticipated to be gathered together with the Rapture to be with Jesus Christ on May 21, 2011, according to Camping. Camping thinks the Earth and universe could be wrecked five months later on October 21, 2011. Camping has made predictions in the past. He made these in 1994, in Sept.

No science in End of the world forecasts

Like several before and several who will come after him, Camping has attempted to use Biblical metaphor to ascertain the end times. Seven days becomes seven millennia, and through a series of mathematical calculations that seem to change depend upon who is solving for x, end of the world is “pinpointed.”. Camping used the Hebrew calendar to determine when 7,000 years from the day God told Noah judgment would be is. He decided it was May 21, 2011.

“The Bible has given us absolute proof that the year 2011 is the end of the world during the Day of Judgment, which will come on the last day of the Day of Judgment,” says Camping on FamilyRadio.com.

Proven untrue for end of the world predictions

Here are four doomsday forecasts that were proven untrue:

1806’s The Prophet Hen of Leeds

Leeds is an English town that allegedly had a chicken in 1806. Its eggs said, “Christ is coming,” supposedly. This was proven untrue when viewing the egg laying process.

The Millerites guessed April 23, 1843

New England farmer William Miller believed the Bible indicated life would end between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. With his followers the Millerites, he ended up deciding upon April 23, 1843. Followers sold much of what they owned. They did not even sell it for much money. Some did go on to found the Seventh Day Adventists, however.

Halley’s Comet, 1910

A tail of Halley’s Comet would be something Earth would hit in 1910 according to 1881 Astronomers. Stories about mass extinction via poison gas made the front page of the New York Times, but by 1910, scientists knew better.

Believing in 1997 with Heaven’s Gate

There were 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult that took their lives in a mass suicide. The alien spaceship was expected to be coming in 1997 when really it was the Hale Bopp comet. Heaven’s Gate leader Marshall Applewhite assured his followers the only way to get on board for paradise was to leave their earthly bodies behind.

Information from

FamilyRadio.com

familyradio.com/index2.html

LiveScience

livescience.com/7926-10-failed-doomsday-predictions.html

WFMY News 2

bit.ly/ksDgPL

Wikipedia entry for Harold Camping

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Camping

Doomsday and apocalypse (Beware: Contains scripture)

youtube.com/watch?v=djH4NZo78Rw