It's the End of the World (As We Know It)

No doubt, by now, you've heard of the prediction that tomorrow is Judgement Day and the end of the world will begin with the rapture happening sometime tomorrow, Saturday, May 21st, 2011. Harold Camping, who somehow got to a point where he owns a network of 150 "religious" radio stations around the country, has been espousing this message for months now. I'm okay when so-called "experts" or self-proclaimed theologians start spouting out theories like this as fact. Mostly because, when Sunday May 22nd comes around...no one will ever listen to this yahoo again. But... What if? I know, I know...but entertain the thought for awhile. If we all really knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, how would we behave? Would there be any need to go to war today? Any reason to harbor ill-will towards another human being? If the end of the world was coming within the next 24 hours, and we all face the same fate...then we're all equal today. How would that change the way you behave? How would that affect the way you live the next 24 hours? Maybe sometimes these nutjobs are good for us. Maybe they make us ask important questions of ourselves. Maybe, we can all be better human beings by at least entertaining such outrageous claims about the end of the world. People who have "near death experiences" often change the way they live. What if we treated this prediction as a "near death experience?" Maybe we laugh off such notions because we truly don't want to change. Maybe we laugh at these predictions (and perhaps rightfully so) because we don't want a near death experience. But maybe we all need our cage rattled every once in awhile, huh? I, for one, don't believe Camping's claims. No matter how elaborate his mathematical equation for figuring out the end of the world. Because God told us very clearly:

"But about that day or hour no one knows,

not even the angels in heaven, nor the

Son, but only the Father."

--Matthew 24:36 (NIV)

Not even Harold Camping.

But wouldn't it be nice if the whole world lived that way...just once?