Raptor

I've been hearing all this crap about a raptor ending the world or something this weekend.  Apparently, I misheard... it was the 'Rapture' that they were talking about, not a prehistoric thingy.  The 2011 End Times Prediction they were talking about is a prediction made by Christian radio host Harold Camping (the President of the Family Radio Christian Network) that the Rapture (in Christian belief, the taking up into heaven of God's elect people) will take place on May 21st, 2011.  There are several 'biblical proofs' that he has argued, this being one of them:

1. According to Harold Camping, the number five equals "atonement", the number ten equals "completeness", and the number seventeen equals "heaven".

2. Christ is said to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD and April 1, 2011 is 1,978 years.

3. If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar year, not to be confused with the lunar year), the result is 722,449.

4. The time between April 1 and May 21 is 51 days.

5. 51 added to 722,449 is 722,500.

6. (5 × 10 × 17)2 or (atonement × completeness × heaven)2 also equals 722,500.

Thus, Camping concludes that 5 × 10 × 17 is telling us a "story from the time Christ made payment for our sins until we're completely saved.  Further, he claims that the end of the world as we know it will occur 5 months later on September 21st, 2011.  He previously stated that the world would end September, 1994.  After doing a little research, the only tragedies that happened September, 1994 were the premieres of both Friends on NBC and the Howard Stern radio show, both pretty scary in their own right.  I suppose the lesson to be learned here is that evil hair (the 'Rachel' and the 'dried out frizz') came out of those shows?

I think this is a lot of thinking about something that we really don't have any control over.  Frankly, I hope that it does come true.... let all the bible pounders be swooped up so there are some parking spaces under my favorite tree at the church where I usually wax my truck on Sundays... and the gays can have a peaceful parade without some wing-nut, hyper-Christian spoiling the fun.  We're queer, we're here... and you're not!  End of story.

Maybe this is what they meant by 'the meek shall inherit the earth'?