IBTimes.com

Christian radio host Harold Camping made a 2011 end times prediction that the Rapture will take place on May 21 this year and that the end of the world will take place five months later on October 21. However, will the May 21 be another September 4 or September 6, 1994?

Camping, president of the Family Radio Christian network, has presented several arguments, or biblical "proofs", in favor of the May 21st end time, and claimed the Bible as his source saying May 21 will be the day of Rapture and judgment "beyond the shadow of a doubt". Meanwhile, his followers claimed about 200 million people will be raptured.

But, most other Christian groups have not supported Camping's predictions. And, some have explicitly rejected them.

"I was an engineer, I was very interested in the numbers. I'd wonder, 'Why did God put this number in, or that number in?'...'There must be a reason for it.' " Camping said in an interview with SFGate.

Camping counts the date of the Great Flood back to 4990 BC. Citing the prediction in Genesis 7:4 ("Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth"), and combining it with 2 Peter 3:8 ("With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day"), Camping concluded that the end of the world is in 2011,7000 years after 4990 B.C..

Meanwhile, takeing the 17th day of the second month mentioned in Genesis 7:11, thus, he predicted the rapture to occur on the 21st May.

Camping did not predict the exact timing of the event, saying "maybe" we can know the hour. He said that "days" in the Bible stand for daylight hours particularly.

Camping's prediction, and his other teachings and beliefs, have caused some controversy in the Christian world. The critics often quote Bible verses (such as Matthew 24:36) which they claimed imply no one but God can know the date of the end.

Camping is incorrect in attempting to nail down a date, said James Kreuger, author of the book Secrets of the Apocalypse.

"For all his learning, Camping makes a classic beginner's mistake when he sets a date for Christ's return," Kreuger said. "Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:36, 'Of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only.' "

But Camping and his followers said that this principle only applied to the "church age" or "pre-tribulation period", however, can not apply to the present day, citing other verses (such as 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5:5) in their rebuttal.

This kind of failed speculation about the end  of the world can lead Christians to social passivity instead of working for the world's redemption, Theology professor Matthew L. Skinner said.

Some columnists have mocked the prediction with humorous columns from a skeptical viewpoint.

The group Seattle Atheists has formed the Rapture Relief Fund that they will use to help survivors of any Armageddon-sized disaster in the Puget Sound area.

According to  the group's statement, if the rapture fails to come, the money will fund a camp that teaches children about critical thinking.  The group American Atheists has sponsored billboards in several American cities declaring the Rapture to be "nonsense".

Camping predicted that the End Times would come in September 1994. When the Rapture failed to occur on the appointed day, Camping said he had made a mathematical error.

"He will inevitably explain, on May 22nd, that there must have been some error in the calculation, the rapture is postponed to . . . and please send more money to pay for updated billboards,"  Evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins dismissed Camping's prediction..

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