May 24, 2011

  • The End of the World As We Know It And I Feel Fine

    Was REM prophetic or what?  (J/K!)  All kidding aside here, Mr Camping took a lot of time, resources, and manpower to get his message out to the entire world of his Doomsday prediction.  Most of my friends who are Christians did not buy into the prediction and were very concerned about all the hype.  They were concerned about the negative publicity Christians would receive in the event that May 21, 2011 would come and pass.  In addition, a lot of caring Christians expressed anger towards Mr Camping on behalf of his followers who were giving 110% of their faith into what that man predicted.   

    Those who weren't Christians weren't as sympathetic towards the followers.  They (the followers) were ridiculed, mocked, and satirized because of their belief.  Most of the followers went to extreme in their expression of faith by selling and giving away their material possessions, to actually attempting to mercy kill their own children.  From what has transpired during the past three days since the predicted Dooms/Judgement Day came and went has been nothing short of insensitivity and cynicism.  Mainstream Christianity has received another public perceptual black eye from the media.  (As if the Tea Party, anti-abortionists, anti-same sex marriage activists, and the Fred Phelps crew hadn't done enough damage already)

    People who didn't believe that this past May 21, 2011 was Judgment Day have expressed a lot of differing opinions on Mr Camping and his followers.  While Mr Camping will deal with the consequential scrutinies in the aftermath, I wanted to emphasize something that hasn't been brought to the attention of the public: the fact that the followers of Mr Camping were viewed as being "naive," "gullible," and "stupid."  There were Christians that didn't buy into the prediction who reached out to the followers afterwards.  Their reaction and view towards the followers, though not as harsh and blunt as the non-Christians, still fell into the category of patronizing:

    "Prayer request for all those mislead "sheeps" to be able to remain faithful, and to be blessed with discernment..." ect

    Though prayer requests such as that meant well, I want to put out another angle on the situation: The Gift of Gullible/Naivete´ 

    So how is that supposed to be a "gift?" 

    Think about every innovation, invention, accomplishment over the course of human history.  If there was no sense of gullibility, or even naivete, would any of those accomplishments ever occur?  Granted others may attribute such success as to "having faith."  I agree to a certain point, but I would like to challenge that not only is there a fine line between faith and gullibility/naivete," but crossing the line to gullibility/naivete side is what fuels accomplishment.  While being gullible and/or naive can be costly, I would like to say that being gullible/naive comes with an equal benefit.

    Consider this:

    Had the Wright Brothers not have been naive or gullible enough to believe that its possible to create a mechanism to enable humans to fly, would we be able to benefit from air travel?  How about Edison's naivete?  Would we still be reading under candles?  When I was 15, (this was 1985) one of the older adults joked with me about conducting a phone call from his truck. (I didn't know he was joking) Excitedly, I hurried over to the truck cab only to be met with laughter among the group.  They asked me how "stupid" could I have been to believe that he had a phone in his truck.  Apparently, from that time until now, a business executive became "gullible" enough to believe that a hand-held WIRELESS phone which could fit in someone's pocket, would be a common item among the masses. 

    As I watch and observe the aftermath of May 21, 2011, I want to express a message to the followers of Harold Camping: 

    Thank you for your gift!  It IS a gift because it has helped accomplish many wonderful achievements in human history.  While many people will pray for you to lost such a gift, and others will ridicule and mock you for it, I will hang onto the hope that your gift will soon benefit the entirety of humanity.