Oh the Rapture (nothing happened!)

David Heath
Sunday, 22 May 2011 12:22

Opinion and Analysis

Rolling around the world, at 6pm in every time-zone, Saturday May 21st was the day all good christians would ascend to heaven, leaving the rest of us heathens to flounder in the mud.  Unfortunately (for the christians) nothing happened.

The exact date and time was based on very careful calculations by TV evangelist Harold Camping where he noted that a variety of numbers were used in relation to specific text or themes within the bible. 

The theory was summarised like this, The number 5, Camping concluded, equals "atonement." Ten is "completeness." Seventeen means "heaven." Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.

"Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.," he began. "Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that's 1,978 years."

Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days - the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500.

Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500.

Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.

"Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story," Camping said. "It's the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you're completely saved.

"I tell ya, I just about fell off my chair when I realized that," Camping said.

Yes, people believed this.

Not only that, but this was Camping's second attempt.  He'd originally specified the date as September 6th 1994, another date that passed uneventfully.

Based on the position of the stars at 6pm local time, one might attempt to identify exactly where in the heavens this rapturous god lives.