# Will the world end on May 21, 2011? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485 "2011-05-11T05:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/21 "2011-05-11T09:33:07Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > No, Christ Himself said no man knows the day or hour. Yes, Christ himself said it would be soon. Within the lifetime of the people he was adressing. Oops, guess he was just another of those doomsday prophets… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/22 "2011-05-11T11:41:32Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > So, what do you think? I would like to hear from people who believe in God and/or practice Christianity as well as from people who don’t. I am quite new to this forum and a little nervous about even posing this question. > > You may think I’m a fool for even asking this, but the whole business is getting quite disturbing, and I would like to hear some intelligent discussion, not simply dismissing Camping as an imbecile or Christians as deluded in general. Why shouldn’t Camping be dismissed? It’s possible he’s being a cynical businessman instead of a deluded fool, but either way, there’s no reason to take this kind of numerology seriously. It’s all made up. People find it dramatic and interesting, but that doesn’t mean it’s credible. As for me, I was planning to celebrate my birthday on Saturday, so that timing would suck. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/23 "2011-05-11T12:15:35Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > Here’s what’s important: There _are_ people who seriously believe it, and there are a lot of them, and they are vocal, and the effect they are having on others is not trivial. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I don’t think there are _that_ many of them. Their effect is indeed trivial, and will be more so in a couple weeks. Look, somebody somewhere predicts the end of the world pretty much every year. Maybe once per decade one of these predictions becomes popularized and a certain crop of credulous people who have psychological reasons for _wanting_ the world to end will latch onto it. I don’t see any reason to think that _this_ time is any more meaningful, in any way, than any of the previous times. I haven’t personally spoken with one single person who takes this one _seriously_. That might be seen as saying something, since I live in an area so evidently conducive to “End Times” thinking that we have a t-shirt joking about it (there was a genuine little Y2K cult here). ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/24 "2011-05-11T12:22:03Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > That’s a rather sneaky way to present an _ad hominem_ argument, which I understand is not allowed here in this forum. Moreover, I did not say that I seriously believe it or that I seriously do not believe it. I simply am curious about what people think. But this isn’t about me. > > Here’s what’s important: There _are_ people who seriously believe it, and there are a lot of them, and they are vocal, and the effect they are having on others is not trivial. > > In a previous message to this thread, I post two links to this effect. > > -Grace There have been people who believed the world would end in their time for thousands of years. For some people it ‘will’ end with their death. and some people believe anything! ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/25 "2011-05-11T12:24:40Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > Oh yes, I know about his earlier prediction. So do all the people who are riding around in caravans spreading the news about the Apocalypse. So what it is about THIS prediction that has enthralled so many people? And I mean, you need to read what Camping says to understand this. If Jesus was correct the world should have ended in the first century. He was going to come in his father’s glory while some of them standing there were still alive! ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/26 "2011-05-11T12:27:59Z")
> [@matt](#): > > A common theme in Apocalyptic prediction is that there will be a series of disasters to foretell the coming End. Various big earthquakes and floods and the Fukushima reactor leaks and the global financial crisis have all primed the world’s for this particular prediction. To put it simply, we’re in the mood > > The world won’t come to an end on May 21st and a lot of people are going to be dissapointed about that. There have alwys been earth quakes and floods all through the time earth formed and will continue.Each century has had it’s people thinking the world was going to end. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/27 "2011-05-11T12:42:38Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > Will the world end on May 21, 2011? Yes. Yes it will. And to make your transition to heaven easier, please transfer all of your worldly wealth to me. The only real question is what the excuse will be for the lights not going out. Miscalculation? God’s pleasure of their faith? ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/28 "2011-05-11T12:45:40Z")
> [@graceful1](#): > > Oh yes, I know about his earlier prediction. So do all the people who are riding around in caravans spreading the news about the Apocalypse. So what it is about THIS prediction that has enthralled so many people? And I mean, you need to read what Camping says to understand this. There aren’t many people enthralled, it’s just that the internet magnifies nutcases. And reading Camping doesn’t help, he makes no sense whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/29 "2011-05-11T12:50:21Z")
> [@Sandwich](#): > > Regrettably, he made a simple error in his analysis. The world will end on 21 May _20011_. Which makes quite a difference in practice. All due respect to the bloke for getting as far as he did though. Laugh now, laugh at the Believers. But you won’t think it’s all so funny at Judgment Day, eh? Who’ll be laughing then, Mr. Skeptic-pants? No so funny when the Beleivers get proven right, eh? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/30 "2011-05-11T12:57:45Z")
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how Camping came up with this bit? [QUOTE=Wikipedia] According to Camping, the number five equals “atonement”, the number ten equals “completeness”, and the number seventeen equals “heaven”. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/31 "2011-05-11T12:58:36Z")
I am a terrible Catholic. I vacilate between belief and non-belief all the time. Actually, I try really hard not to think about it critically, because part of me wants to believe, and if I think about it rationally, I won’t. 🙂 I don’t think the world is going to end on May 21. Numerology is seven different kinds of horseshit… and these types of preditions seem like the worst kind of confirmation bias. Anyway… If the the world does end, so what. My life is going to end at some point. Nothing I can do about that, nor can I predict when it will happen. So I have to keep living as best as I can, right? ---
**Author:** ![scissorhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@scissorhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scissorhead)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/32 "2011-05-11T13:09:37Z")
Camping is not a false teacher; he is an erroneous teacher. False connotes an intention to mislead or deceive whereas erroneous means he’s just damn wrong. Camping sincerely believes that what he is teaching is correct, and therefore thinks it his obligation to warn the world. The distinction between false and erroneous is important because come May 22, it will be the “Christian” crowd who will eagerly rush, en masse, to get the wooden posts, rusty spikes and iron hammer ready for Camping. But what they’ll fail to understand is that the reason why guys like Camping exist is because of their own immature, apocalyptic-motivated faith. The problem with modern, evangelical, Christianity, particularly the United States version, is that it lacks a uniform and concise theology. (Compare to let’s say Catholicism which for all it’s wackiness sticks to its centuries old dogma come hell or no high water) But before we rush to substitute the theologians for Camping on the cross of vindictiveness, let’s heed the words of Bart Ehrman: “For most people, the Bible is a non-problematic book. What people don’t realize is that they’re reading translations of texts, and we don’t have the originals… Given the circumstance that (God) didn’t preserve the words, the conclusion seemed inescapable to me that he hadn’t gone to the trouble of inspiring them.” “There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty.” ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/33 "2011-05-11T13:14:26Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > Yes, Christ himself said it would be soon. > Within the lifetime of the people he was adressing. > > Oops, guess he was just another of those doomsday prophets… Doomsday did come within that period- Doomsday upon Jerusalem, Judea & Galilee, the Herodian dynasty, the Priesthood-Temple Establishment, the Mosaic Covenantal system, the Julio-Claudian Caesar line. And Jesus’ Kingdom slowly but surely started expanding & will continue to do so. 70 A.D.- the Great Tribulation came & went & all I got was a stack of Left Behind novels! _L_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/34 "2011-05-11T13:16:45Z")
> [@scissorhead](#): > > Camping is not a false teacher; he is an erroneous teacher. False connotes an intention to mislead or deceive whereas erroneous means he’s just damn wrong. Camping sincerely believes that what he is teaching is correct, and therefore thinks it his obligation to warn the world. I am not sure about your view on the connotations. Nor am I convinced Camping is doing this because he’s sincere. He may just be trying to get his name in the paper (if that expression still exists) and win new followers so he can get rich, or richer. But I don’t know much about the guy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/35 "2011-05-11T13:30:48Z")
Well, Obama is the anti-Christ, so this guy has that going for him. Is there any way I can buy puts on this prediction? ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/36 "2011-05-11T13:45:56Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Doomsday did come within that period- Doomsday upon Jerusalem, Judea & Galilee, the Herodian dynasty, the Priesthood-Temple Establishment, the Mosaic Covenantal system, the Julio-Claudian Caesar line. And Jesus’ Kingdom slowly but surely started expanding & will continue to do so. > > 70 A.D.- the Great Tribulation came & went & all I got was a stack of Left Behind novels! _L_ Nice, but your (re)definitions make it a rather Doomsday-light version of the normal interpretation as in “the END of the WORLD!!”. Also Jesus’ promised kingdom is now only “The spread of christianity”?? Bit of a let-down, I must say. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/37 "2011-05-11T13:47:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Will the world end on May 21, 2011? Actually, even if you believe this silly nonsense it won’t. Did you read the Wiki page you linked too? > [@](#): > > The 2011 end times prediction is a prediction made by Christian radio host Harold Camping that the Rapture (in Christian belief, the taking up into heaven of God’s elect people) will take place on May 21, 2011[1][2] and that the end of the world as we know it will take place five months later on October 21, 2011,[3] These predictions were made by Camping, president of the Family Radio Christian network, who claims the Bible as his source and says May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment “beyond the shadow of a doubt.”[4]. His followers claim that around 200 million people (approximately 3% of the world’s population) will be raptured.[5] > > Camping’s predictions have not been embraced by most other Christian groups;[citation needed] some have explicitly rejected them.[6][7][8][9] Christianity Today reports that Camping’s teachings have “drawn a flurry of attacks, including sermons, a January seminar in New York that drew 70 pastors, and a Web site ([www.familyradioiswrong.com](http://www.familyradioiswrong.com)).”[10] So, on May 21 200 million people will be beamed up to the starship Heaven, and the rest of us schlubs will mope about for another 5 months, until October 21st when the world will end…or something. So, what we need to be looking for on May 21st is evidence that 200 million people suddenly disappeared…that will be the sign that the end is near. What would be really funny is if Camping and these other guys roaming about and tearing their hair over this were still here on May 22nd, while the skeptics were the ones who were raptured out instead. 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/38 "2011-05-11T14:04:20Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > What would be really funny is if Camping and these other guys roaming about and tearing their hair over this were still here on May 22nd, while the skeptics were the ones who were raptured out instead. 😛 An evil practical joke would be to start rumors that various people have gone missing starting on May 22nd. Make Campings followers think the rapture happened and that they just missed the boat. “My mom disappeard and we’re not sure where she went.” “Did you here Jeff Goldblum wandered off from the set of the movie he was filiming last week, and no ones sure where he went”. “They canceled all Obama’s big campaign appearence yesterday at the last mintue, I wonder why” ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/39 "2011-05-11T14:09:32Z")
“That XT guy hasn’t been posting lately…wonder what happened to him??” “Who cares?!? He’s not posting anymore!! WOOHOO. What are you guys doing for Halloween this year…?” -XT ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485/40 "2011-05-11T14:34:04Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > An evil practical joke would be to start rumors that various people have gone missing starting on May 22nd. Make Campings followers think the rapture happened and that they just missed the boat. > > “My mom disappeard and we’re not sure where she went.” > > “Did you here Jeff Goldblum wandered off from the set of the movie he was filiming last week, and no ones sure where he went”. > > “They canceled all Obama’s big campaign appearence yesterday at the last mintue, I wonder why” That Gadhaffi guy. No one has seen him lately, either! Osama bin Laden was shot by Navy Seals. Riiiiiight… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-world-end-on-may-21-2011/581485.md?page=3)