"My bad. Now as for 2012,..."
Posted on 05/22/2011 5:36:24 AM PDT by don-o
Harold Camping needs to publicly apologize for being wrong about his doomsday prediction and leading people astray, said a Southern Baptist leader.
The California radio broadcaster’s wrong prediction about the rapture and the end of the world reflected poorly on Christians, said Ed Stetzer, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s missiologist in residence.
Stetzer issued a series of tweets about Camping’s eschatological prediction on Saturday, among which one noted that there was no earthquake in New Zealand after 6 p.m.
“Harold Camping, pls update www.family.radio.com w/your repentance statement & instructions to your now-broke followers,” Stetzer tweeted.
An hour later he tweeted again, “6pm here in Turkey. I’m standing at the Temple of Athena waiting for the Rapture. Nothing happened. ;-)”
For months, followers of the 89-year-old Camping, who previously wrongly predicted the rapture would occur in September 1994, have been warning that the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011. Supporters would hold placards on busy streets in major cities that read: “Judgment Day May 21, 2011.”
Family Radio, a non-profit Christian radio network headed by Camping, was the name seen on the placards, bus ads, billboards and in media coverage on the May 21 prediction.
But surprisingly, many within the California-based radio network do not believe that the first phase of the end of the world begins Saturday.
“I don’t believe in any of this stuff that’s going on, and I plan on being here next week,” a receptionist identified as Esther at the group’s headquarters in Oakland, Calif., told CNNMoney.
Esther said some of her co-workers who believe in Camping’s prediction had bought expensive cars or taken their families on vacation ahead of May 21.
In New York, follower Robert Fitzpatrick, 60, spent his entire $140,000 life savings on 1,000 subway-car placards and ads at bus stops warning about May 21. The ads read: “Global Earthquake: The Greatest Ever! Judgment Day May 21, 2011.”
Another Camping follower, 27-year-old Adrienne Martinez, was planning to go to medical school but decided not to after listening to Family Radio. Martinez and her husband, Joel, had lived in New York City but a year ago quit their jobs and moved to Orlando. They spent their time reading the Bible and distributing tracts, according to NPR. They have a two-year-old daughter and a second child due next month.
“We budgeted everything so that, on May 21, we won’t have anything left,” Adrienne said to NPR.
While some of Camping’s listeners are all-in when it comes to his rapture prediction, Family Radio’s Esther estimates that 80 percent of her co-workers don’t believe their own boss about May 21, according to CNNMoney.
The receptionist is still scheduling appointments for her co-workers after Saturday.
Family Radio has about 350 paid staff working to run 66 radio stations across the nation. The network’s financial documents, according to CNNMoney, shows that it received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009. But Camping, according to documents, has not been paid a penny from the contributions. He has worked as a volunteer at Family Radio.
There is a big difference in buying a damaged generator from a coworker who needed fast cash and a car from someone who had placed his faith in something that you knew beforehand would not occur. The first guy wanted money which you gave him and therefore has no moral or legal right to reclaim the generator. But the second fellow gave you the truck for a pathetic and tragic reason which you knew was false, but you took the truck anyway. That, to me, seems like profiting from someone’s misery. My example to you in the previous post was not to highlight the Rolex but to show the ethical conundrum.
Bait refused.
in my case, this would be before literally wearing the binding off my "NIV" bible before converting, by God's grace, to Catholicism from 20+ years in the pitiful heresy of Protestantism.
“A daily Mass attendee will hear most of the entire bible read to him every two years.”
Ummm...no. Most but not all of the New Testament, and just a fraction of the Old.
13.5% of the Old Testament, and 71.5% of the New Testament. 41% of the New Testament and 4% of the Old if you don’t go every day.
http://catholic-resources.org/Lectionary/Statistics.htm
Ping to #84.
I think alot of people should apologize for being so gullible as to be taken in by a goofy old guy who’s been wrong SEVERAL times before!
"My bad. Now as for 2012,..."
It wasn’t a demand, it was a recommendation based upon biblical principles.
The Baptist “magesterium” is the local church, which wouldn’t apply to the relationship in this instance.
I think he should commit Hari-Kari-on TV.
Because to be "honestly wrong" he had to:
(1) Ignore a significant amount of what is written in the Bible (including the "no man knows the day" teaching by Jesus). This is tantamount to ripping pages out of the Bible, because you don't like what they say.
(2) He had to twist and bend scripture in other areas to support his prophecy. This includes being dogmatic about verses--demanding that there is only once correct intrepretation of a verse: the intrepretation that supports YOUR position.
(3) The Bible bluntly states that those that hold themselves out to be religious teachers will be held to a higher standard by God come judgement day.
(4) This is the second time he has made the exact same "honest mistake." As the old saying goes: once is an accident, the second time is a pattern. And the "honest mistake" he keeps making is placing his own, private interpretation of scripture above what the text of the Bible clearly states--states in such a clear manner that even a child can understand it: no man knows the hour or the day.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.