You know those billboards in Nashville which say Jesus is coming back on May 21st, 2011?
We laugh at those people because they’re wrong and deluded. And it’ll be hilarious to rip them a new on on May 22nd when Jesus hasn’t come back and they send out some explanation for why they were off…
But here’s what’s really entertaining: When other Christians disavow the same people.
Like KenGurley, blogging on the Houston Chronicle website, who explains the math behind the date:
To arrive at May 21 requires even more tortuous number-crunching. On page 196 of the online book referenced above, we discover that a Second Jubilee period began on September 7, 1994. Count backward 2,300 days from that date to account for the Great Tribulation (Daniel 8:13-14) and we arrive at May 22, 1988. Add the infamous 23 years to this and we arrive at May 21, 2011.
…
Most Christians believe in the Second Coming of the Lord. Most also believe that no man knows the day nor the hour (Matthew 24:36). But, the May 21 group believes that Noah knew when the flood would come and so should those who are alive at the Lord’s Second Coming.
Groups such as this do little to help further the message of Christ’s Second Coming. Actually, they can do much harm. For when the predicted date passes, more people grow disillusioned and scoff at the notion of the Lord’s Return.
Umm… wow… he’s right about that. He makes sense! Good for Ke—wait, he’s not done yet:
Jesus could come today. That’s good enough for me.
In other words, it’s silly to say Jesus is come back on a specific date.
But it’s not silly to say Jesus is coming back during your lifetime.
*sigh*
Jesus. Isn’t. Coming. Back.
Ever.

Sorry, children, you’ve been lied to.
Saying he’ll be back in 2011 makes as much sense as saying he’ll be back by 2050 or 2075 or in your lifetime. Many Christians’ lifetimes have passed with Jesus not even making a peep. And yet, Christians cling to this notion that at some point in the future he’ll come back for them.
He won’t. And KenGurley does as much harm to the public perception of Christianity as the nuts who think he’s coming back next May. You’re all crazy if you think Jesus is ever returning (or, frankly, that he left in the first place).
It might be cute if this were all just the product of an overactive child’s imagination. But it’s not. These are adults who never let go of the fairy tale. I would pity them… if they didn’t have so much power in this world. Instead, I fear a world where people who are so easily duped by nonsense like this are in charge of schools, businesses, and governments.
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