So, as it is Thursday morning and as Saturday is a mere two days away, you have no doubt heard about this.
If you live in southern California, you may have even seen a series of billboards about it.
The link above is quite long winded, but what it claims, in essence, is that Saturday, May the 11th 2011, will be Judgment Day. This means that, according to the people behind that page, and a hefty amount of other people, The Rapture will occur and all good Christians will ascend to Heaven, leaving the unsaved to suffer through a Hell on Earth for five months, which will culminate with the real, actual, honest-to-goodness-we-mean-it-this-time End of the World happening on October 21st.
To the best of my knowledge, no one I actually know personally believes this to be true. In fact, many people I know personally have mocked those who do believe this to be true. Even I have indulged in a little mockery and tomfoolery (no one uses the word tomfoolery anymore, such a shame). If you believe the world will end in October after five months of horror and chaos to begin on this coming Saturday, then I do feel very sorry for you. I do not mean that in a condescending way, as “Oh, you poor fool”, but rather “Oh, you truly believe you only have a few days left on this Earth, how troubling that must be”.
Personally, I do not believe this will happen. You may try to convince me otherwise, I am open to debate, but I sincerely doubt your ability to convert me in this instance. Now, there is a very small part of me that is fearful, if for no other reason than if someone cries wolf enough times, statistically they will at some point be accurate in heralding the presence of a wolf. I am not fearful because I feel the world may end this Saturday. No, I am fearful because I would simply hate for this sort of person to be right about something. Especially this something.
There is, no matter how minuscule, a small chance that the world may implode on May 21st or, failing that, October 21st. It is entirely possible, much the same way it’s possible that a meteor will crash into our planet and cause it to crumble to dust. Much the same way it’s possible that someone will ignite a nuclear war that would obliterate all life on Earth in a matter of moments. Much the same way it’s possible Galactus will appear in orbit and devour the energy from our planet for sustenance (no sightings of a silver guy surfing around in the skies lately, I trust?).
In any case, one of two things will happen this Sunday morning. Either we will all awaken to find that we are naked and floating upward toward the sky (or, should we be amongst the “unsaved”, we may see a side of our neighbor we’d never cared to see before), or…
Nothing. We’ll all go about our lives as normal, perhaps some of us will spend a bit longer in church than usual, perhaps some of us will feel very silly for being so afraid, perhaps some of us will sleep in and be totally unaware that nothing had happened at all.
There is really just no way to know for certain. All we can do is hope, maybe pray, and go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean film on Friday night, instead of waiting for a Saturday matinée.
Just to be safe.
Ramblings and Musings 