See you tomorrow…and Sunday

I might as well weigh in on this. Apparently there’s this fellow, Harold Camping, who heads up a church ministry somewhere, and who has quite a following. If I’m understanding the news stories right, he claims the world will end tomorrow, Saturday May 21; I think I heard at 6 p.m., but I don’t know what time zone; God’s judgement will soon follow.

Now, I try not to discuss religion much here, most of my readers know me and have an idea what I believe. Perhaps someday I’ll start another blog with a more pointed message, “Life as I see it…Here’s the Truth”!

The last thing I want to do here on Poppy’s Front Porch is to start arguments about religion. My vision for The Porch is still to reminisce about good times, and create something new from time to time…come to The Porch! We’ll have fun!

But now I think a bit of personal background is in order. Yes, I am a Christian, I have been since age 11 when I was baptized and received into membership in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. Here’s part of what I believe…

Humanity was created to serve God and live in fellowship with Him. But as a result of Adam and Eve’s rebellion, we are estranged from Him and spiritually dead through our first parents’ original sin, inherited through the generations; not to mention the multitude of our own sins. All of us in our natural state are fallen and unable to reach God’s perfection. By ourselves we cannot avoid death and God’s judgment and punishment.

That’s all people through all time…with one exception.

In God’s plan of redemption when the time was right, the eternal God the Son was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary. Born in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ of Nazareth taught, called disciples, healed the sick, and performed miracles. More than that, everything Jesus said and did was in complete obedience to the will of God the Father. His life of humble service was a life of perfect faith and purity. He never missed the mark, and there was no sin in Him.

But most of all, He came to ransom us. Offering himself a sacrifice on the cross, Jesus took on our sins – all of them – and took the Father’s wrath against sin in our place, to the point of death and the grave. On the third day, God raised him from the dead, and Jesus appeared to many of the disciples, who witnessed this new life. Days later, he ascended to His Father’s heavenly kingdom.

Our old sinful human nature, does not, cannot accept any of this. This one faith that saves is strictly a grace gift from God, a work of the Holy Spirit.

So what about this end of the world and imminent judgement day prediction?

As a Christian, I do believe everyone will stand before God eventually. At some point in time there will be a judgement day, Jesus Himself spoke of this. And it could happen in my lifetime, though I suppose it’s as likely – if not more likely – that due to some reason or circumstance I’ll draw my last breath and pass away as my parents, grandparents, and for that matter everyone else who has lived their natural span has done up until now.

My problem with Mr. Camping’s prediction is (and I’ll bet you’ve heard this before and were waiting for me to get to the point) found in Mark chapter 13. Jesus had spoken to his disciples about the coming downfall of the temple in Jerusalem, and Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him when this would happen. Jesus then warned them not to be deceived by false prophets who would come in His name, and not to be alarmed by wars and rumors of wars, and earthquakes in various places. Then…

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33 – also see Matthew 24:36).

This speaks to me of considering every day a grace gift, and a reminder to walk in the faith daily. Apparently Mr. Camping thinks he’s seen hints in scripture that clue him in to when the day and the hour will be. As interesting as such number crunching might be, it’s just not the way we’re meant to read God’s plain word.

I’m concerned that all this numerology does is set his group up to be a laughingstock on Sunday May 22, when the day dawns normally and everything will be business as usual. Worse than that, scoffers in the secular media will jump at the excuse to paint all Christians with a broad brush and call us all fools. Well, not that they need that excuse, unbelievers do that anyway.

For what it’s worth, I can vouch for the fact that most Christians I know aren’t worked up about this. All the chatter I've heard has been news articles on the internet and one mention on the local TV news.

The funny thing is, if it weren’t for the media, I never would have heard of Harold Camping. I think I did see one of the billboards, but as I was watching traffic to merge to an exit lane, I didn’t even notice who was claiming the end of the world.

I fully expect to see 6 p.m. come and go Saturday without incident, except for the media fuss about the botched prediction.

Of course I could be wrong, but in this case that would surprise me.