Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

[rudemonk]

<span style="font-weight: bold">Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'
Christian radio mogul nowhere to be found after his apocalypse fails to materialize.
</span>
By Ben Johnson

| Posted Sunday, May. 22, 2011, at 1:03 PM EDT

If a doomsday prediction dies in the forest, does its
creator make a sound?

Followers of Christian radio mogul Harold Camping
are scratching their heads this morning, after the
Family Radio president’s longtime prediction of the
apocalypse beginning yesterday doesn’t appear to
have come true. Also troubling for those who
mortgaged their lives to help his cause of spreading
the word: Camping isn’t around to admit he was
wrong or make another prediction.

Reuters reports the Family Radio’s network
headquarters remained shuttered, and no one
answered the door at the broadcaster’s house in
Alameda, California after his 6 p.m. deadline for
death and destruction passed.

Camping, whose radio network reaches 66 U.S.
stations as well as international affiliates, said he
predicted the end of the world with the help of bible
verse. He also claimed believers would be sent up to
heaven as various time zones hit 6 p.m. on May 21,
as the planet was engulfed by giant earthquakes and
other disasters, until its final destruction October
21.

“May twenty second will be the second day of
judgment,” Camping told a caller on his radio
program in 2009. “We don’t know what’s going to
happen to Family Radio on that day or to the banks
or to anybody else. But it’s going to be horrible.
Millions of people will die on that day and every day
after.”

This isn’t the first time the radio host’s biblical math
seems to have failed him. He previously predicted
Jesus Christ would return to Earth in 1994. For
those who bought into camping’s latest predictions
— followers and Family Radio reportedly accepted
donations and spent millions on 2000 billboards
and other advertising to get the word out about the
apocalypse — the lack of rapture seemed to offer few
answers.

“I don’t understand why nothing has happened,”
retired transit worker and New York City resident
Robert Fitzpatrick told Reuters. The 60-year-old
retired transit worker had spent $140,000 of his
savings to help spread Camping’s warning of the
approaching Judgment Day.

link:
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/05/2...here_to_be.html

[Q3210]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

Reminds me of the Jamaican reverend Phinn, who claimed by prophesy that former Jamaican PM Portia Simpson-Miller would have retained office after the last general elections.
Then also there was Bedward from August Town....

[Skelly]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

soun like a him one get raptured...lol

[rudemonk]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

I mean you can't make this kind of stuff up!

<span style="font-style: italic">Harold Camping 'Bewildered' After Apocalypse Comes and Goes Quietly</span>

By DEAN SCHABNER and RYAN CREED
May 22, 2011
Harold Camping is &quot;mystified&quot; and &quot;a little bewildered&quot; today that the Rapture did not go as he predicted, an associate of the California preacher told ABC News.

Tom Evans, a board member of Camping's Family Radio International, said today that Camping's wife told him her husband is at their home in Oakland and has no intention to speak or issue any statement today or Monday.

Camping's wife described him as being &quot;somewhat bewildered&quot; and &quot;mystified&quot; that events did not unfold on May 21 as Camping had predicted, Evans said.

Evans said his personal position is that the public is owed an apology and he wants the board -- and Camping -- to meet on Tuesday to figure out what to say and do next.

Camping, 89, had pinpointed May 21, at 5:59 p.m. as the exact time the Rapture would occur, when those chosen by God would ascend to heaven while cataclysmic earthquakes would begin to rock earth. He spread the word on billboards, posters, fliers and digital bus displays across the country.


AP Photo
Harold Camping speaks while holding the... View Full Size

Inside an Armageddon-Proof Home Watch Video

May 21: End of the World? Watch Video

May 21st Doomsday Comes to New York Watch Video

&quot;I am utterly absolutely, absolutely convinced it's going to happen,&quot; Camping said earlier in the week.

Robert Fitzpatrick of New York had put his money where his faith is: The 60-year-old retiree spent $140,000 -- almost everything he had -- on hundreds of billboards proclaiming the Armagedon that Camping predicted.

When it didn't come, he was standing in New York's Times Square, surrounded by jeering tourists in a drizzling rain.

&quot;I can't tell you what I feel right now,&quot; he said. &quot;Obviously, I haven't understood it correctly because we're still here.&quot;

While Camping has his followers, his preaching also drew criticism from many Christians, who pointed out that the Bible says no person can know when the end will come.

&quot;I would classify myself as a skeptic,&quot; said Camping's neighbor Robert Minot told San Francisco ABC News affiliate KGO-TV. &quot;It's going to end sometime, but I think his pages must have stuck together in his copy of the Bible where it says we are not to know the hour or the moment.&quot;

&quot;I hope there are no bad repercussions from it because everybody reacts a different way to these types of things,&quot; neighbor Sheila Doan told KGO-TV.

This is not the first time Camping was mistaken about the end of the world. He once predicted the End of Days to be Sept. 6, 1994, but later said that date was a result of a mathematical error.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[rudemonk]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

Now he's &quot;flabbergasted&quot;...

<span style="font-weight: bold">Harold Camping 'flabbergasted'; rapture a no-show</span>
Will Kane, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 22, 2011

The man who said the world was going to end appeared at his front door in Alameda a day later, very much alive but not so well.

&quot;It has been a really tough weekend,&quot; said Harold Camping, the 89-year-old fundamentalist radio preacher who convinced hundreds of his followers that the rapture would occur on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Massive earthquakes would strike, he said. Believers would ascend to heaven and the rest would be left to wander a godforsaken planet until Oct. 21, when Camping promised a fiery end to the world.

But on Sunday, almost 18 hours after he thought he'd be in heaven, there was Camping, &quot;flabbergasted&quot; in Alameda, wearing tan slacks, a tucked-in polo shirt and a light jacket.

Birds chirped. A gentle breeze blew. Across the street, neighbors focused on their yard work and the latest neighborhood gossip.

&quot;I'm looking for answers,&quot; Camping said, adding that meant frequent prayer and consultations with friends.

&quot;But now I have nothing else to say,&quot; he said, closing the door to his home. &quot;I'll be back to work Monday and will say more then.&quot;

Camping's followers will surely be listening.

&quot;I'm not as disappointed as everyone since I didn't fully believe him,&quot; said one, who asked to remain anonymous Sunday because he worried he would be shunned for admitting he was &quot;upset&quot; with Camping.

The middle-aged Oakland resident said he'd been listening to Camping since 1993, when he said the world would end in 1994.

That was strike one, the man said. And this is strike two. Even so, he said, that doesn't mean the message is wrong.

&quot;I just know he's biblically sound,&quot; the man said. &quot;I've never been one of these guys who think everything he says is true.

&quot;I don't think I am going to stop listening to him,&quot; the man added, heaving a deep sigh before continuing: &quot;I don't know, I gotta listen to him on Monday, see what he says on the radio.&quot;

Outside Camping's compound near the Oakland airport, which was locked and dark on Sunday, a different religious group waited for dejected believers.

&quot;I would encourage them not to lose their faith because they listened to a wolf in sheep's clothing, and Jesus said there would be wolves in sheep's clothing,&quot; said Jackie Alnor.

Alnor, a resident of Hayward who blogs about the rapture, said Camping had twisted the word of God by trying to predict the end. Only God knows when the world will end, she said.

&quot;He's in big trouble with God,&quot; she said.

If that isn't bad enough, she said, Camping's false prophecy could have bigger impacts on religion.

&quot;It's given people who hate Christianity an excuse to hate it even more,&quot; she said. &quot;People can just paint with broad brush strokes.&quot;

Across town, a group of atheists gathered in Oakland's Masonic Center to observe the promised rapture in their own way.

&quot;The issue is the Bible is mythology,&quot; said Larry Hicok, state director of the American Atheists, bluntly laying out his case.

Roughly 200 people attended the hastily scheduled conference to discuss the impact of organized religion on American culture.

&quot;Every ruler needs a religion,&quot; Hicok said. &quot;Everybody knows that's the way you get power.&quot;

He said too many followers of religion get lost in the details of their particular belief.

&quot;Maybe the constant is love, and the rest of it you can let go of,&quot; he said.

E-mail Will Kane at [email protected].

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/22/BAKO1JJIK7.DTL

[neutral]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: monk</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

&quot;I'm looking for answers,&quot; Camping said,

</div></div>


LOL !.....maybe you should abandon that bible of yours and look for your answers on google.

[Q3210]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

Lord no dont say that. Else there be a newborn religion. The Googleites.

[SmoothOperator]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

Doomsday Believers Cope With An Intact World. Let the spinning begin.

As recently as two weeks ago, Gary Vollmer was absolutely certain that on May 21, 2011, God would send devastating earthquakes, raise believers to heaven in the &quot;rapture,&quot; and then destroy the world five months later. Now that it hasn't happened, Vollmer is unfazed.

&quot;God is God; God's going to do what he has to do,&quot; he says.

True, he says, believers got some of the details wrong. But the thrust of the message is right.

&quot;Judgment Day has come and passed, but it was a spiritual judgment on the world,&quot; he explains. &quot;There is no more salvation. Salvation is over with. The fact is we have 153 days, and on the 21st of October, the world will end.&quot;


http://m.npr.org/story/136560695?url=/20...an-intact-world

[Q3210]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

What the hell....no no....noooooooah! Not again! Another date they create.

[rudemonk]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SmoothOperator</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Gary Vollmer ...The fact is we have 153 days, and on the 21st of October, the world will end.&quot;


http://m.npr.org/story/136560695?url=/20...an-intact-world

</div></div>

attaboy!

i find myself completely unable to exhibit mercy or compassion for these mouthbreathers. hard to stoke those feelings when the people you are trying to feel compassion for would have been thrilled with the end of the world and everything in it in an earth shattering zombie apocalypse...

[f0rTyLeGz]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

I kind of get a kick out of The Singularitians. They too are predicting the end of the world as we know it. <span style="font-style: italic">Everything</span> will be different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singularity_Is_Near

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kFw0MYAS9qA&amp;feature=youtube_gdata"></param> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kFw0MYAS9qA&amp;feature=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> </embed></object>

[johnnycakes]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

40,

An interesting video but a very poor one if you are a Singularitarian and have a better understanding of exponential technological growth than did the producers of that video.

Top on the list of problems with this sometimes good sometimes trash video is the projections past the Singularity which Kurzweill and most others agree is not something anyone can know or even guess at with any sense that you'll have more than a 50% chance of being correct. It's a coin flip as to what happens after the AIs surpass the accumulated total of all human knowledge .


I have found that too many people base what they think will happen in the technological leaps with which we are just about to bottle rocket into the future will bring the TV robots who want to kill everybody a la the &quot;Terminator&quot; or &quot;I, Robot&quot; or any number of run amok robots films of the far future.

Relatively very few people have read &quot;The Singularity Is Near&quot;. Most people would be unable to grasp a great many of the concepts and science contained within the book and the theory itself.
A great many well educated people simply cannot get their heads around the concept of that greatly accelerated EXPONENTIAL pace of technological advance.

Humans have a predilection for thinking of technological and other progress in LINEAR terms which throws everything Kurzweil has so far successfully predicted way off into the future and not by the 2045 date Kurzweil swears by.

The other thing I can see people doing is assuming that we, as a race, will not evolve societally to keep pace with the power and ability to do heretofore impossible things and that this disparity will lead to disaster.

Kurzweil answered this question by saying that our ability to adapt and use the new technology will also evolve pointing out that the original telephone took tens of years for people to adapt to and the cell phone just a matter of months. Computers? , today nine-year old kids can understand and operate them better than I can.


Don't underestimate what the mind of man (and woman) can do.

There are whole sections of our brain that appear unused by human beings which may be intended for a future use that evolution will reveal.

The Singularity would seem to be a good time for this to happen.

[f0rTyLeGz]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

I understand exponential growth. But you have to think that since Kurzweil says that the AI that will arise here will expand quickly throughout the universe, that there must never have been a high tech society in the history of the universe?

14 billion years, and billions of galaxies, countless stars and their planets, all coming and going... if technology increases exponentially... can we assume that no culture has become as advanced as we are throughout the entire universe in time and space?

[johnnycakes]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: f0rTyLeGz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I understand exponential growth. But you have to think that since Kurzweil says that the AI that will arise here will expand quickly throughout the universe, that there must never have been a high tech society in the history of the universe?

14 billion years, and billions of galaxies, countless stars and their planets, all coming and going... if technology increases exponentially... can we assume that no culture has become as advanced as we are throughout the entire universe in time and space? </div></div>


40,
There are lots of reasons why we have not seen any evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

Among them is the fact that humanity on Earth has only been here roughly 100,000 years which is a drop in the ocean of time..

WE started looking for them only within the last hundred years or so.


Secondly,. the vast distances between the galaxies and planets that could evolve intelligent, technological life with which we could communicate probably equal in effect time in the shrinking of chances we will meet another intelligent race.

So far the speed of light seems to be the limit to what we can acieve and that with a great deal of difficulty.

Arthur Clarke wrote 60 years ago that it would take twice the bulk of any spacecraft TWICE its bulk in totally converted atoms to get the power necessary to propel a ship to just 3/4 the speed of light.
So unless science can unlock the speed-of-light limitation, we are more or less stranded on a rich beautiful little island in an unimaginably huge ocean of space.

Kurzweil also says that it is not just AI that will make huge leaps in ability but humans as well.
The learning centers of the brain are even now being mapped ( the whole brain mapping project IS underway.) New ways of learning with direct feed into your brain from a super smart computer will IMO end illiteracy and a host of other unwanted learned behaviors.

That sort of thing will involve a drastic but fully expected change in how societies are run at that time in the future.

What the layman has to watch out for is thinking that the technology will change exponentially but humans won't and that the stupid and uncivilized way we are now will kill us all with the new high tech abilities.

You saw how the Arab world boiled up overnight. That alone shows that once people grasp the correctness and morality and the good life that is possible, they will move really quickly in the direction that is best for them

When logic directs that thinking you will get very good results..

&quot;Hold on to your hat&quot;

[f0rTyLeGz]

Re: Harold Camping AWOL Day After 'Judgment Day'

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: johnnycakes</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: f0rTyLeGz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I understand exponential growth. But you have to think that since Kurzweil says that the AI that will arise here will expand quickly throughout the universe, that there must never have been a high tech society in the history of the universe?

14 billion years, and billions of galaxies, countless stars and their planets, all coming and going... if technology increases exponentially... can we assume that no culture has become as advanced as we are throughout the entire universe in time and space? </div></div>


40,
There are lots of reasons why we have not seen any evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

Among them is the fact that humanity on Earth has only been here roughly 100,000 years which is a drop in the ocean of time..

WE started looking for them only within the last hundred years or so.


Secondly,. the vast distances between the galaxies and planets that could evolve intelligent, technological life with which we could communicate probably equal in effect time in the shrinking of chances we will meet another intelligent race.

So far the speed of light seems to be the limit to what we can acieve and that with a great deal of difficulty.

Arthur Clarke wrote 60 years ago that it would take twice the bulk of any spacecraft TWICE its bulk in totally converted atoms to get the power necessary to propel a ship to just 3/4 the speed of light.
So unless science can unlock the speed-of-light limitation, we are more or less stranded on a rich beautiful little island in an unimaginably huge ocean of space.

Kurzweil also says that it is not just AI that will make huge leaps in ability but humans as well.
The learning centers of the brain are even now being mapped ( the whole brain mapping project IS underway.) New ways of learning with direct feed into your brain from a super smart computer will IMO end illiteracy and a host of other unwanted learned behaviors.

That sort of thing will involve a drastic but fully expected change in how societies are run at that time in the future.

What the layman has to watch out for is thinking that the technology will change exponentially but humans won't and that the stupid and uncivilized way we are now will kill us all with the new high tech abilities.

You saw how the Arab world boiled up overnight. That alone shows that once people grasp the correctness and morality and the good life that is possible, they will move really quickly in the direction that is best for them

When logic directs that thinking you will get very good results..

&quot;Hold on to your hat&quot; </div></div>

&quot;At this point, the only possible way to increase the intelligence of the machines any farther is to begin converting all of the matter and energy in the universe into similar massive computers. A.I.s radiate outward from Earth, first into the Solar System and then out into interstellar space, then galaxies in all directions, utilizing starships that are Von Neumann probes with nanobot crews, breaking down whole planets, stars, moons, and meteoroids and reassembling them into computers. This, in effect, &quot;wakes up&quot; the universe as all the inanimate &quot;dumb&quot; matter (rocks, dust, gases, etc.) is converted into structured matter capable of supporting life (albeit synthetic life).

Kurzweil predicts that machines might have the ability to make planet-sized computers by 2099, which underscores how enormously technology will advance after the Singularity.

The process of &quot;waking up&quot; the universe could be complete as early as 2199.

With the entire universe made into a giant, highly efficient supercomputer, AI and human hybrids (so integrated that, in truth it is a new category of &quot;life&quot would have both supreme intelligence and physical control over the universe. Kurzweil suggests that this would open up all sorts of new possibilities, including abrogation of the laws of Physics, multiple omniversal and Godversal computer minds, interdimensional travel, possible infinite extension of existence (true immortality), controlling and becoming all coherence hierarchies, the sphere of imagination (everything imaginable), everything unimaginable, everything beyond, and omni (truly everything).&quot;
................... ....................... .....................

I agree that a 100,000 years is a drop in the bucket in 14 billion years. My point is that since this transformation that Kurzweil predicts obviously has not happened yet to the universe, does that mean that since technological advancement is exponential, that we humans are the only intelligent beings in all time and space that have ever developed a computer technology?