Please rate my review of Harold Camping's book (the May 21 rapture author)

Tuvok Obama

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Sat May-21-11 12:41 PM
Original message

Please rate my review of Harold Camping's book (the May 21 rapture author)

I had an idea on how to really screw with Camping: go to the Amazon page for his book, Time Has an End, and click the link that reads "Tell the Publisher! I�d like to read this book on Kindle."

That gave me the idea for the following review, which I just now posted on Amazon:

When is the Kindle edition going to be released?

From what I've heard, the rapture is going to happen sometime before the end of the day. I have less than 14 hours to get on board with this. If Camping's book were available on Kindle, I could download it in less than a minute.

Come to think of it, this book probably should have been released as a Kindle-only edition, without a physical edition of any kind. Because, as much as I hate to be perceived as an infidel, you have to admit, there is a slight chance Jesus Christ might not return in the clouds to take his followers to heaven in the next 14 hours.

If he doesn't, then it will be more than just us 7 billion who are left behind. All the copies of this book will be left behind, too, as smelly, rotting reminders that a sociopath can write anything he wants, no matter how outlandish, and cowards will not only pay to read that garbage, but base monumental life decisions on it.

Not that Harold Camping is a money-grubbing sociopath bent on ruining the lives of the fearful and foolish by selling them garbage. No, Harold Camping is a sincere, trustworthy, God-fearing prophet, and Jesus Christ will return within the next 14 hours. I just wish the book were available on Kindle, so I could read it in time.

I'd love to see this review rated high on the "Was this review helpful to you?" scale.

The link to my Amazon review:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3R3X3129V8IBI/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0533151694&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=

Also, since Harold Camping is no doubt his own publisher, all the "Tell the Publisher! I�d like to read this book on Kindle" clicks will probably be forwarded to his email inbox.

The book's Amazon home page (the publisher's link is on the left, under the photo of the book's front cover:
http://www.amazon.com/Time-Has-End-Biblical-D/dp/0533151694/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305999009&sr=1-4

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Beartracks

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Sat May-21-11 01:27 PM
Response to Original message

1. I understand that he's an engineer by trade...

Edited on Sat May-21-11 01:27 PM by Beartracks

... and began his analysis of numbers in the Bible because he believed they had to make some sort of sense, just like any good engineer might do. But he seems to have started such an undertaking with the premise that the Bible was the inerrant word of God Himself, as opposed to texts written by mere mortals in a variety of cultural settings over thousands of years. Thus, he's been working backwards to find a calculation to match the "answer" that he already presumes is true (i.e. that there will be a rapture, because God said so in these texts).

My point being, I wouldn't necessarily conclude he's a sociopath (granted, I've not read his books or seen him in interviews or heard him on the radio), but I think he's letting his belief system cloud his professional judgment on this one. Again.

And I suppose if one man could produce such a mathematical "proof" that makes sense to him, then it stands to reason that there would be others who agree with him. Those are the ones I feel sorry for.

P.S. Oh, yeah -- nice review, by the way!

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Tuvok Obama

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Sat May-21-11 02:12 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. Perhaps "sociopath" is too strong a word. But the results are the same as if he were one

The man has bilked his followers out of millions of dollars and encouraged them to make drastic changes to their lives (which many of them have followed) while he sits comfortably for media interviews and rakes in the profits from his book.

Here's something interesting from his "FACTS about May 21, 2011" page. He claims one of the signs of the Biblical end times is "the complete disregard of the Bible in all of society today."

What proof is there for the date of May 21, 2011?

The date May 21, 2011 was derived solely from evidence found in the Bible. Mr. Camping saw God had placed, in Scripture, many important signs and proofs. These proofs alert believers that May 21st of 2011 is the date Christ will return for His people and begin a period of the final destruction of the world.

What signs precede the Day of Judgment?

Jesus warned of several spiritual signs, such as the complete degradation of the Christian church, the devastating moral breakdown of society, the re-establishment of National Israel in1948, the emergence of the 'Gay Pride Movement', and the complete disregard of the Bible in all of society today as direct evidence of His return.

http://www.familyradio.com/facts/

I guess this is why it's so easy to imagine he's a sociopath: because it's impossible for me to imagine Camping coming to the logical conclusion that his reckless, ridiculous, failed prediction has greatly added to "the complete disregard of the Bible in all of society today."

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Beartracks

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Sat May-21-11 10:04 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. I have read a bit more today, and yeah...

... "con man" or "thief" may be the right context. And, yeah, there's some kind of ego or hubris there to conclude he alone figured out the secret of God's clues after all these centuries, with enough confidence to actually publish it with absolute certainty, and to let people all over the world regard him as a prophet and send him money (why? what good would it have been after today anyway?) and echo his doomsday message and change their lives (by selling all their stuff and becoming homeless), etc. -- ESPECIALLY since he had done this before, and failed big time. I hadn't realized how many people were (still) following his ill-begotten analyses. Perhaps "complete disregard of the Bible" is what happens when people tune out the book's MESSAGE and instead try to focus on its literal WORDS. It's the Bible, not The DaVinci Code. :eyes:

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Tuvok Obama

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Sun May-22-11 12:46 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. His claim of society's "complete disregard of the Bible" is what keeps coming back to me as...

...the upside-down approach to his method.

I try to imagine the task he'd be up against if all he wanted was to prove his belief that the Bible is the "God's word." That's an uphill battle at best, and one that has been debated for so long that it has reached a stalemate.

But Camping couldn't have gotten much traction with "I can prove the Bible is God's word." And by traction, I mean money and publicity.

So instead, he starts from the premise that every word of the Bible is infallible, uses that to put forth his own interpretation of end-times prophesy, and then -- as if both points can are already be accepted as undeniable facts -- claims to "prove" the exact date and time of Christ's return.

That's one reason I keep coming back to "sociopath." Proving either the infallibility of scripture or the correctness of his own interpretation would have been a mighty enough feat. But Camping had to go for the one pronouncement that was most likely to get him the publicity he needed to bring in the money.

I don't know how much he really has, but this CNN Money article puts his net worth at $72 million...

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/19/news/economy/may-21-end-of-the-world-finances-harold-camping/index.htm

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Beartracks

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Sun May-22-11 03:00 AM
Response to Reply #4

5. $72 mil?? Wow, too bad he gave it all away before the 21st!

Oh, wait a minute. No he didn't.

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