First the background. Harold Camping, founder of the Family Radio network, has been insisting for months, via broadcasts and billboards, that on Saturday, May 21, at 6 p.m., The Rapture will take place and the end of world, as we know it anyway, will start. He’s done this before, in 1994 to be precise, so it’s a bit odd that he’s getting so much attention this time.
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For many Christians, “The Rapture” refers to a moment when those who are authentic believers will be “caught up” into the clouds with the returning Jesus Christ. There are a range of interpretations about what that means. Then there comes stuff like the Tribulation, Armageddon (the real one, not the asteroid movie), Final Judgment, Eternal Life, with plenty of argument over the sequence and timing of these events.
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Most Christians who accept these doctrines take them seriously. But Camping has convinced some to take it very seriously indeed, as this excellent CNN video report, “Road trip to the end of the world,” makes clear: “They walked away from work, families and communities in places as far-flung as California, Kansas, Utah and New Jersey. Among them are an electrician, a TV satellite dish installer, a former chef, an international IT consultant and a man who had worked with the developmentally disabled.”
The distinct impression from the relevant New Testament passages — especially 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 — is that The Rapture will happen very suddenly, with some number of people just disappearing in the middle of whatever they’re doing.
Like, watching the NBA or NHL playoffs. Or being in the playoffs. Or orbiting the space shuttle Endeavor around the earth on its last mission.
Or … backing up the entire corporate sales, billing and financial reporting database for the month. Or troubleshooting the CEO’s iPad 2. Or launching the new, mission-critical, e-commerce website.
But forewarned is forearmed. Here are the 10 things you need to know in case Camping, this time, gets it right.
10. Don’t panic.
The only people being caught up will be Christians. If you, and your staff, are pagans, Wiccans, garden-variety atheists (including many who actually attend church), followers of other religions (mainstream or tiny rivulet), devotees of Hawking or Dawkins, or refugees from the ’60s, you have *nothing* to worry about. So, considering the state of religious or irreligious belief today, the odds are in your favor.
9. Having said that, automate everything.
God moves in mysterious ways. It’s possible that someone who doesn’t appear to be Christian, and doesn’t even think he is one, could be at risk for Rapturing. (It’s complicated. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is not typically regarded as a hotbed of Rapture-ism, affirms [paragraph 847] that “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience — those too may achieve eternal salvation.”)