May 21, 2011 May 21st is 'Apocalypse No,' a day of jokes not Judgment

No Judgment! But a whole lot of joking as Judgment Day, aka the Rapture, aka the Apocalypse, has gone off without a world-ending disaster (little quakes in Iceland don't seem to count). Find Faith & Reason blog on Twitter, Facebook The joke appears to be on Harold Camping and his earnest followers. After all, if you're reading this, you're still standing squarely on earth, not off with the angels where the true believers were supposed to be flown in a flash at 6 p.m. Still, we should enjoy the last hurrah of the prophet's fizzled forecast. So here's some of the Saturday night, post "Apocalypse No" hilarity: On Twitter, Star Trekker George Takei posts: Today's Rapture postponed as Jesus awaits announcement of surprise guest on final Oprah. Savior "hopeful" but "okay with it" if not. The Borowitz Report attends a press confab with God... Dressed in His trademark flowing white robe and carrying a thunderbolt, God seemed visibly irked by the predictions calling for the world to end this Saturday. "I'll end the world when I'm good and ready, Me damn it," He snapped in response to a question from a USA Today reporter. (Alas, not me. I was resupplying at Costco, supermarket to survivalists, knowing I would be going nowhere today.) ...Elsewhere, Harold Camping, the preacher who predicted that the world would end on May 21, issued the following brief statement: ""The world doesn't end this week. Oprah does. My bad, sry." Huffington Post spent Judgment Day posting comedy videos such as this one from Taiwanese Computer animators at NMA, which HuffPost says are famous for their takes on global events. From Bin Laden's death to Tiger Wood's fights with wife , they've used a combination of CGI and humor to produce viral video after viral video. Now, they've created a hilarious account of the rapture... Less funny: The International Business Times speculates that Harold Camping may be in hiding. The selfproclaimed prophet... ... is now maintaining a stoic silence. Meanwhile, the Family Radio headquarter in Oakland, CA display a cryptic message in large letters: "This Office is Closed. Sorry we missed you!" pasted on its front door. According to a Reuters report, Camping's house in Alameda, CA is covered with shades and no one was available. Camping has previously said that he would be watching TV and listening to the radio in his home at the appointed time.

Is this silly? Or really, for folks who changed their lives meet their judgment, kind of sad?

Still here? Don't celebrate until after 6 p.m

Still here? Don't celebrate yet. The Rapture -- when some say Christian believers will be airlifted to heaven while the rest of humanity remains in a cataclysmic mess until the end of the world, set for October -- is not until 6 p.m. That's if you believe this is Judgment Day, the day prophet Harold Camping has predicted from his Biblical calculations (which have betrayed him before but he's really really sure this time). Small wonder that many Americans are scoffing. We are culturally averse to judgment and generally believe all good folks -- particularly folks we like -- go to heaven. Most American religious believers, including most Christians, say eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Christ as their savior in a 2008 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Of the 65% of people who held this open view of heaven's gates, 80% named at least one non-Christian group -- Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists or people with no religion at all -- who may also be saved Need expert reassurance? Theologian Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes that two Biblical verses... explicitly forbid Christians to claim the knowledge of such dates and times. Jesus clearly taught that the Father has not revealed such dates and timing, but has reserved that knowledge for himself. It is an act of incredible presumptuousness to claim that a human knows such a date, or has determined God's timing by any means. And to be double sure, USA TODAY's Doyle Rice asked earthquake experts if one could destroy the world in a single day. Nope. So, will you go make dinner reservations for 6:30 p.m., figuring by then you will know if you are hearing explosions or heavenly harps? What's your plan for this evening?

Heaven can wait: Prophet's non-profit staff expects to work Monday

Many of Harold Camping's employees don't believe that the rapture will take place on May 21 as he has predicted, CNNMoney reports. A receptionist at his Family Radio non-profit estimates that about 80% of her co-workers don't agree with Camping's May 21 belief, the story says. But not even all of his own employees are convinced that the world is ending on Saturday. In fact, many still plan on showing up at work on Monday. "I don't believe in any of this stuff that's going on, and I plan on being here next week," a receptionist at their Oakland headquarters told CNNMoney. A program producer in Illinois told us, "We're going to continue doing what we're doing." The report says the non-profit requested an extension from their July 15 deadline to November 15 for their paperwork in Minnesota, one of the states where they solicit donations.

Camping says the rapture -- where believers will be taken to heaven -- will happen Saturday. Even though "end of the world may 21st" has been a Google trending topic this week, Camping suggests the end of the world will take place Oct. 21. Camping does not take his own salary, CNNMoney says, but the non-profit employed about 350 people and paid $8.3 million in salaries (about $23,000 per person) in 2009. The IRS filings don't show more recent donations and expenses leading up to the May 21 Judgment Day prediction. The Contra Costa Times on its website, reporting that donations have been up recently, posts the 2009 IRS documents: The Oakland-based non-profit has raised more than $100 million over the past seven years, according to tax returns. It owns 66 radio stations across the globe and was worth more than $72 million in 2009. As The End nears, donations have spiked, a board member says, enabling Family Radio to spend millions of dollars on more than 5,000 billboards. Others are quick to make a buck off the prediction, Reuters reports. If May 21 is occasion for prayers among Camping and his followers, it's cause for humor and moneymaking for others. At online retailer Zazzle.com, hip entrepreneurs are selling everything from T-shirts to coffee mugs and mouse pads emblazoned with the May 21 date and such slogans as "I survived Judgment Day" and "I survived the rapture." Camping's calculation has been dismissed by many Christians, including Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind book series fame. Camping said a rapture would happen in 1994 and then recalculated his prediction. What do you think of rapture predictions? Do you have plans for Saturday?