# Why do many people seem to think that the world will end on May 21, 2011? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 24, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621 "2010-05-24T21:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/61 "2010-05-25T18:13:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Why doesn’t anyone ever discover that the end of the world is going to happen on November 10, 3084? Fitting that it would end on a Monday. On the other hand, the newly elected US president (whoever he/she/it may be) is going to be mighty peeved. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/62 "2010-05-25T19:46:09Z")
> [@jasourdough](#): > > “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again” Ecc 1:7 > What sort of man understood thermodynamics thousands of years prior to anyone else? You know, I took thermodynamics, and I don’t quite recall the section on “rain ends up in the sea.” ---
**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 25, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/63 "2010-05-25T19:59:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Fitting that it would end on a Monday. Did you remember that 3000 won’t be a leap year? ---
**Author:** ![SGT42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@SGT42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SGT42)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/64 "2010-05-25T20:29:05Z")
> [@jasourdough](#): > > "… > Notice Eve added a couple of words just to make God’s word sound a little more convincing. “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die”. Satan immediately recognized this in the next verse “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:” > > … Can you please say where in the Bible is said that the serpent and Satan are the same being? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/65 "2010-05-25T20:32:42Z")
> [@SGT42](#): > > Can you please say where in the Bible is said that the serpent and Satan are the same being? Isn’t there an index in yours? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/66 "2010-05-25T20:43:01Z")
> [@SGT42](#): > > Can you please say where in the Bible is said that the serpent and Satan are the same being? _Paul’s Hastily-Scribbled Note to the Galumphians, Chapter 1, verse 9._ It’s in the Apocrypha. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/67 "2010-05-25T21:01:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Did you remember that 3000 won’t be a leap year? I did remember that. However, I just used the Unix ‘cal’ command to generate the calendar for November 3084. No need to compute anything the hard way. ```auto November 3084 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/68 "2010-05-25T22:24:43Z")
I grew up in the church that Brother Harold split off from back in the 80s- Alameda Christian Reformed. The CRC is not wacky at all, beyond the normal mainstream Calvinist theology. Camping, however, has always been a bit nutty. When my grandfather was the pastor there, Harold showed him his original manuscript for “1994?” in which he figured that the end would come in the late 70s. He has obviously revised that at least twice. When challenged with the “hour or day” verse, he countered that that does not exclude knowing the month or year. Hence his prediction range of several weeks in September 1994. He led a cult of personality in his adult Sunday School classes before the service. When the Consistory of Elders finally got up the gumption to remove him and teach the classes themselves, he left with most of his followers to set up his own church. He never found a permanent pastor (go figure) and has declared the age of the church to be over because he owes several hundred thousand dollars to his followers (or so I’ve heard). ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/69 "2010-05-25T23:48:32Z")
And, he has looked like he’s had one foot in the grave for as long as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![jasourdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jasourdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasourdough)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/70 "2010-05-25T23:56:04Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > There’s no worldwide residue of a global flood. If it had happened we should be able to dig down and see a layer of silt everywhere on earth. It’s not there. Plus there’s the question of how the salt water and fresh water fish both survived. And how the land species were able to get to the New World and Australia. And where the water came from and went. > > It’s a fairytale. Believing in it makes as much sense as believing in unicorns. “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the\*\* fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened\*\*.” Gen 7:11 “When he uttereth his voice, there is a **multitude of waters in the heavens** , and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures” Jer 10:13 and Jer 51:16 Deep space water clouds? Your God(man) didn’t confirm this until the 1960’s. ---
**Author:** ![jasourdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jasourdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasourdough)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/71 "2010-05-26T00:00:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Mine is based on research done and reproduced by scientists over an extended period of time, and it comports with geology, archeology, history, and the laws of physics. Yours is based on a literal interpretation one of many English translations of one chapter of a myth written down a few thousand years ago. Which one of us is running on faith here? Enlighten me Mr. researcher. Just exactly what occurred during the first 1 x 10-43 seconds of the formation of the universe? ---
**Author:** ![jasourdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jasourdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasourdough)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/72 "2010-05-26T00:02:36Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#): > > **jasourdough** - You seem very assured of the claim that there’s less than a year to go before Jesus comes back. I assume you’ll be raptured up and won’t have need of your worldly possessions. Why don’t you write me a check post-dated to May 22, 2011? You’re not going to need money where you’re going, and I’ll even promise not to spend your life-savings on hookers and beer! What do you say? Sorry to confuse you with facts. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/73 "2010-05-26T00:05:08Z")
I noticed you conveniently ignore the objections you didn’t have a potted answer for. If the flood happened, where’s the layer pf silt? If the flood happened, how did both the freshwater and the saltwater fish survive? If the flood happened, how did kangaroos get to Australia? > [@](#): > > Deep space water clouds? Your God(man) didn’t confirm this until the 1960’s. What are you talking about? There aren’t any “deep space water clouds”. You’re just making up stuff at random. ---
**Author:** ![jasourdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jasourdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasourdough)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/74 "2010-05-26T00:10:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Interesting. I forgot about that after high school. I’d heard of Carbon-14 dating. I don’t think **jasourdough** will be enthused about that either. > > Now that I think about it, **jasourdough** , does it matter that you were drastically wrong about the timing of [the proposed population bottlenecks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck#Humans)? If you’re going to accuse people of having “blind faith” in science you should probably take care not to get both science _and_ the Bible wrong at the same time. Those mistakes show you believe in your story even though the facts don’t support it, which could be described as… well, you know. But the fact is that these bottlenecks are theorized and not proven, so they don’t provide much support for your view. And if they do, you got all the details wrong: the bottlenecks happened too early and were not narrow enough. > Note that this is around 65,000 years too early for your theory, and that if the population never got lower than about 15,000, Noah is gonna need a bigger boat. > This is a smaller number over a longer period of time - so it was not caused by a catastrophe like a flood - but it’s still tens of thousands of years before “Noah.” What is the method of dating Mr. researcher? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/75 "2010-05-26T00:12:09Z")
> [@jasourdough](#): > > Sorry to confuse you with **facts**. I don’t think this word means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![jasourdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jasourdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasourdough)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/76 "2010-05-26T00:12:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So what are you saying? That “No man knows the day of the hour” was correct at the time it was written but is no longer correct? That parts of the Bible were true in the past but are no longer true? “Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment.” No skin off my nose if you continue to ignore the rest of the bible. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/77 "2010-05-26T00:13:55Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Will the world end before or after lunch? After, I hope. I plan to have lunch at Fogo de Chao and pay for it with a credit card. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jasourdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jasourdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasourdough)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/78 "2010-05-26T00:16:40Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Wow. As a Born-Again Christian and former Preacher Of The Word of God, I’d like to say this is the most willfully ignorant thing I have ever read, and I cannot believe I read it here. > > As a Christian, jasourdough, your goal should be Truth. So remember this: Science is your friend. > > (And so is grammar. The Lord God didst divide the To and the Too, ne’er the twain to be intermingled.) > > But please don’t be disgusted by the apostates here and turn away, jas, because the entertainment value of your “logic” is, well, inspired. Keep posting. I’m sure you’ll make some converts, or at least enlighten all of us a bit. > [/sarc] > > Seriously, you are bringing up some arguments that I have never heard before. And that is something. I really would like to hear more. Then please, prove or disprove radioisotope dating techniques beyond 5000 years? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/79 "2010-05-26T00:17:36Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Camping has a company (headquartered in Oakland, California), that owns radio stations all over the country. He apparently broadcast his prediction on his talk show. Doesn’t look to me like he took into account the Gregorian shift. He’s off by 10 days. BZZZZTTTT! ---
**Author:** ![jasourdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@jasourdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasourdough)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621/80 "2010-05-26T00:20:54Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > You know, I took thermodynamics, and I don’t quite recall the section on “rain ends up in the sea.” Differentiating temperatures drive weather. If you “took” thermodynamics you should understand it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-many-people-seem-to-think-that-the-world-will-end-on-may-21-2011/540621.md?page=5)