The fact that a 100 mil was spent on signage and other assorted media mystifies me - from whence does this kind of money come? But more than this, the human cost. Camping capitalized on the mystique of end-times prophecies. Folks desperate to escape, and folks eager to show their spiritual superiority, line up for this junk, and junk it is.
As always, the church needs to have a strong educational dimension to it's preaching. N.T. Wright's work on this is extremely helpful.
If Camping had been selling stocks and bonds, he'd be arrested for fraud and imprisoned. He's no different than Madoff, who likely believed in what he was doing, too, and thought he was a pretty good guy. But a crook is a crook - whether it be a Wall Street Dandy stealing money, or a wolf in sheep's clothing stealing faith and hope.
Maybe the rapture DID happen. And he got left behind. :-)
ReplyDelete(After all, I haven't seen the folks down the street ever since)