Ha Ha Harold is a fraud.
OMG, I'm loving evey minute of this, how stupid can some people be?
California preacher Harold Camping is unrepentant following his second unsuccessful attempt to predict Judgment Day, and now says true believers should pack their bags for ascension to heaven on 21 October. Camping's first stab at nailing the Rapture advised Christians to get their earthly affairs in order before 6 September …
Camper's whole doomsday already happend, just neither him nor many others noticed the ascension crap but proof is at El very Reg: only the only REALLY holynoshitty iThing ascended to heaven in due time: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/20/vaz_ipad_nicked/
How to correctly claim this to the insurer remains to be seen but given that the world as we knew it already ended it that doesn't really matter, does it?
Got his maths right now has he? Removed the imaginary numbers from his equations perhaps?
"Camping now says he simply misinterpreted the word of God"
As do the millions of others who use the so called word of god to control, manipulate and subjugate the gullible.
Misinterpreted?
Because scripture and the alleged word of god are usually interpreted to agree with and support the motive, morality and agenda of those doing the interpreting. I would be very surprised if a correct and unbiased interpretation of any scripture ever surfaced.
3 in 7000 is 0.04%. At that attrition rate, half the world's population would go missing in 1,617 days, which is about four and a half years. I'm willing to bet we'd be noticing if persons went missing at that rate.
The global death rate is about 155,000 people per day, currently. Three million "saved" could be gleaned in twenty days at that rate, and REALLY nobody would notice.
... and I fail to see how much more of an arse he is than the others I-have-an-invisible-bearded-friend-in-the-sky types (or the "astrologues"). He is however a bit more ridiculous, everyone in the business knows the absolute rule is "never give hard deadlines", that's just distributing sticks and begging to be beaten with'em.
Actually his strategy is quite alright: if he or his followers keep predicting the end of the world for long enough they will probably end up being right once (although I'm not sure about this rapture thing; I feel like it might be a bit hard to breathe from the stratosphere up)
Plenty of people claiming religious authority end up being found guilty in court. If there's a problem, it's more that the victims are called on to forgive the perpetrator (and do so). For serious crimes, this still doesn't stop the law provided they can obtain enough evidence.
I'm not saying there isn't a time and place for forgiveness, but it shouldn't prevent the law from following its normal course. Harold is clearly continuing to make fraudulent claims and should be stopped. He cannot claim the Bible supports his statements either, because it also expressly warns against people who do this. In other words, this was always serious fraud whether you claim to be a Christian or not.
If I stand out in public saying that I hear voices and screaming at the top of my voice that they're telling me that the world is going to end I'd get a nice new jacket with the long sleeves that tie up round the back.
But apparently if I claim that the voice in my head is god I would instead get media coverage.