The End of the World

I haven’t posted lately. I attribute it to the coming end of the world.

That’s not really the reason, but it’s as good an excuse for laziness as anything.

Have you heard? The world is supposed to end on May 21. At least, that what one fundamentalist Christian group claims, having ascertained from it’s careful reading of the King James Bible the exact date of the end of the world.

http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/

Of course, they also maintain that the people who will go on to Heaven have already been selected and the rest of the poor schmucks who inhabit the earth are just outta luck. There doesn’t seem to be any clear indication on how a person can tell if they’ve won that particular lottery, though, which kinda kills the incentive to do anything good in the name of their particular brand of religion in my opinion.

It also kind of flies in the face of the fact that several of them have abandoned their homes and families to drive around the country for the last several months in vehicles with their message plastered all over the side of them warning of the impending end of the earth.

I mean if the end is at hand, and the outcomes are already fixed, it seems like little more than gloating to drive around promoting yourself and your group as some of the lucky lottery winners who are going to move on to eternal bliss.

After all, what’s the point in talking about a party if the invitation list is already set? It’s not like you can hope someone cancels and you get moved up to the “A” list.

I can’t say that I’m terribly worried. People have been forecasting the end of the world since the beginning of time. They tend to lose credibility, though, when you find out that the leaders of the group renew leases on real estate and automobiles not long before their predicted Judgment Day – even when they aren’t expired and won’t renew until after the big day.

If you’re that convinced, why plan ahead? It’d be like booking a study booth in the college library for the week after graduation. Sure, you can, but what’s the point?

It’s much like when Oral Roberts famously said that God would call him home if he didn’t raise an astronomical amount of money.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/decemberweb-only/151-21.0.html

It didn’t happen, and yet he was back on television shilling for donations the next week. I guess he did eventually get called home, since he died in 2009, but the time on hold for that call seems a bit excessive to maintain any level of credibility.

You wanna make me a believer in that kind of crap, let’s see the pics of you floatin’ up to the sky – or even laid out in a casket – on the day it’s supposed to happen, not twelve years later.

So I guess next Saturday sometime we’ll know who’s right. I may change my schedule around a little, just in case – there’s no point in getting the oil changed in the truck if it’s just going to be sitting there after next Saturday, and I’ll probably hold off on mowing the yard until Sunday.

But I am having dessert at every meal this week.