# A subset of Christians think the Rapture is 21may2011 based on the prediction of.. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097 "2011-05-16T15:48:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/41 "2011-05-18T20:02:51Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > The bible specifically says “No man” will know the day. Then I guess we need to ask a woman and/or a hobbit. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/42 "2011-05-18T20:12:26Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I am very very disappointed that I don’t know any of these people! Sounds like a great way to get some free stuff, not like they’ll need it. And yet it never seems to be the case that they’ll sign over their stuff to you effective on the 22nd. Almost as if they don’t REALLY believe it. ---
**Author:** ![sophia108](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sophia108/32/7558_2.png) [@sophia108](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sophia108)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/43 "2011-05-18T20:13:36Z")
[http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/rapture.html](http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/rapture.html) ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/44 "2011-05-18T20:19:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Actually, it’s just the opposite: there are millions of skeptics and NON-believers who want desperately to believe that most Christians are loonies running around screaming “The world is coming to an end this week!” > > I’m a Catholic who goes to Mass every Sunday, and I never heard anything about this particular Apocalyptic scenario until I saw it mentioned in “Doonesburry” the other day. > > And while Austin is certainly far more liberal and secular than most Texas cities, it IS in the middle of the Bible Belt, so if any significant number of Texas Christians was awaiting the Rapture this week, I think I’d have heard something about it. > > I firmly believe there are more secular comedians following this story in order to mock Chrisitans than there are actual Christians getting ready for the Rapture. We know about it because this group spent money to put up billboards around town. They have people passing out literature to strangers on the street. This is not something atheists have made up to mock Christians. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/45 "2011-05-18T21:21:13Z")
I am not a believer, but I find the “success” of this meme pretty fascinating. From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_end_times_prediction): > [@](#): > > Camping takes the 17th day of the second month mentioned in Genesis 7:11 to be the 21st May, and hence predicts the rapture to occur on this date.[ Can anyone explain the math behind this? I tried looking it up in Camping’s writing, but he seems to treat it as self-evident or unimportant to explain. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/46 "2011-05-18T21:39:38Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > We know about it because this group spent money to put up billboards around town. They have people passing out literature to strangers on the street. This is not something atheists have made up to mock Christians. I didn’t say atheists made it up- I’m saying they’re paying a lot more attention to Camping and his tiny band of followers than most Christians are. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/47 "2011-05-19T00:46:27Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I wonder if it will be 6:30 in Newfoundland? You’ve got me worried now… here I am several timezones ahead of most of you… 21st is all very well but when exactly, and when-where-exactly?! I mean, will I get to midnight at the end of the 21st and heave a sigh of relief only to get surprise-raptured sometime on the 22nd? Although… thinking about it… that could fit with the no-one being able to predict the day… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/48 "2011-05-19T01:00:07Z")
I wonder if he paid for the billboards in advance or put them on a credit card. If the latter, he may have to pay after all. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/49 "2011-05-19T01:15:30Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > You’ve got me worried now… here I am several timezones ahead of most of you… 21st is all very well but when exactly, and when-where-exactly?! > > I mean, will I get to midnight at the end of the 21st and heave a sigh of relief only to get surprise-raptured sometime on the 22nd? Although… thinking about it… that could fit with the no-one being able to predict the day… :eek: Never fear: the guy predicted that the Rapture will take place at 6:00 on the 21st _in your local timezone_. That means many of us will get a good bit of warning–certainly enough time to say the magic words. Nay, child, I shit thee not. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/50 "2011-05-19T01:37:57Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > Never fear: the guy predicted that the Rapture will take place at 6:00 on the 21st _in your local timezone_. That means many of us will get a good bit of warning–certainly enough time to say the magic words. > > Nay, child, I shit thee not. Apparently, God like Californians more than he like New Zealanders. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/51 "2011-05-19T01:53:03Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > The bible specifically says “No man” will know the day. Chill. It’s not this Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/52 "2011-05-19T02:27:50Z")
> [@mrklutz](#): > > Then I guess we need to ask a woman and/or a hobbit. _snort_ ---
**Author:** ![Outofband](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b5e925/32.png) [@Outofband](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Outofband)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/53 "2011-05-19T10:38:49Z")
So if ‘no man can know’ and we can predict the day the world ends naturally, like being engulfed by the sun on a Friday, judgement day couldn’t possible happen. Since if we Thursday by midnight are still here, we will know judgement day is Friday which rules it out. Now if we are still here by midnight Wednesday we will know judgement day is Thursday which rules Thursday out. Now if we are here by midnight Tuesday… oh nevermind 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/54 "2011-05-19T21:54:56Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > Never fear: the guy predicted that the Rapture will take place at 6:00 on the 21st _in your local timezone_. So… if I hop a plane before 0600 here and head west-wards and keep going west I could avoid it? 🙂 > [@Miller](#): > > Apparently, God like Californians more than he like New Zealanders. Unsurprising. Despite this being “[Godzone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God's_Own_Country)” we’re a whole lot less god-bother-y than a lot of your countrymen. Although… California… will you notice the rapture in CA? 😛 > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Chill. It’s not this Saturday. But if we all believe you then it could be Saturday because we’re not expecting it! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/55 "2011-05-20T00:08:22Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > Never fear: the guy predicted that the Rapture will take place at 6:00 on the 21st _in your local timezone_. That means many of us will get a good bit of warning–certainly enough time to say the magic words. > > Nay, child, I shit thee not. Damn. This guy really has God by the balls if he can make Him keep to a schedule and adhere to modern time zones. He’s going to hold him to the current time zones, right, not any of the older ones? I mean, they are kind of modern. If God does the 1 day = 1,000 years thing, it’s been 25 years since they were finalized, which is only 0.025 days or 0.6 hours or 36 minutes, for Him. He might get Nepal wrong, what with being a busy guy. Even England’s GMT has only been on His radar for 3.94 hours. Slip-ups can happen with these last-minute changes. > [@](#): > > Originally posted by wikipedia (time zone) > > Originally, all time on Earth was some local apparent solar time, the time on a sundial, so every city had its own time. When well-regulated mechanical clocks became widespread in the early 19th century, each city began to use some local mean solar time. The first time zone was created in 1847 by railroads on the island of Great Britain using GMT. Sandford Fleming of Canada proposed worldwide hourly time zones in 1879. By about 1900, almost all time on Earth was in the form of standard time zones, only some of which used a hourly offset from GMT. Many applied the time at a local astronomical observatory to an entire country, without any reference to GMT. It took many decades before all time on Earth was in the form of time zones referred to some “standard offset” from GMT/UTC. Nepal was the last country to adopt a standard offset, shifting slightly to UTC+5:45 in 1986. Will he make God adhere to Daylight Savings Time? Will he penalize the old guy if he gets it wrong? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/56 "2011-05-20T00:57:43Z")
Before unlimited-plan Web access and multiple all-news cable networks on the 24-hour cycle, this guy and his particular rambling would have been a big fat zero on the consciousness of anyone beyond actual audible range – until he started buying billboards in major metropolitan areas AND, most importantly, somebody noticed it was not just in their town but in other places as well. Then he would have been what he is: something of a curiousity sensation, for the last-5-minutes “human interest” story in the news or in the inside pages of the newspaper. Sure, the Weekly World News would have run covers about him for weeks, and Johnny Carson may have mentioned him in three monologs, but we would not be getting hit with 30 seconds about him every half hour thus making him seem a bigger hit than he is. Besides that, of course, that time period would also have put him before “Left Behind” and the amazingly fast spread of belief that the “pre-Tribulational Rapture” is the standard Christian doctrine (it isn’t). So even after gaining publicity, people would have presumed him a fringe wacko rather than think that he must speak for a significant group, and not wasted much breath refuting him. I lean towards the belief that the world is not getting any wackier, it’s just that now the fools are on near equal footing with the sensible when it comes to gaining a public stage to speak from; and since they can now find and communicate with fellow fools efficiently, thus realizing they’re not alone, that builds up their confidence and motivation. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/57 "2011-05-20T05:10:01Z")
I guess I’m thinking that this Camping guy doesn’t really believe his prediction, but rather there is probably nothing more effective in getting high volume new Christians than a highly apublicized/talked about rapture prediction. The bulk of the new ones are instant Christians, in for it just in case, and most of them will turn back if The prediction is wrong. But enough will stick around to make it all worth it in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/58 "2011-05-21T09:04:10Z")
I think the idea that God will work by timezone is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/59 "2011-05-21T11:20:29Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > I guess I’m thinking that this Camping guy doesn’t really believe his prediction, but rather there is probably nothing more effective in getting high volume new Christians than a highly apublicized/talked about rapture prediction. The bulk of the new ones are instant Christians, in for it just in case, and most of them will turn back if The prediction is wrong. **But enough will stick around to make it all worth it in the end.** Bolding mine. I want to leave this planet. (Ironically) ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097/60 "2011-05-21T12:10:47Z")
The other day, on my way home, I saw about ten people standing at the corner with what were basically “The End is Nigh” placards. I’m in a fairly rural area- we don’t even have panhandlers out here. So, yeah, there are going to be at least some disappointed cultists today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-subset-of-christians-think-the-rapture-is-21may2011-based-on-the-prediction-of/582097.md?page=4)