By Frank Wessling
Anyone looking for a goal date in this year should look at May 21. That’s the day that Harold Camping, a millenialist Christian radio minister, calculates for the apocalypse, when Jesus will come in glory to take up the saved in the “rapture” while the rest of humanity is left to endure a period of terror and destruction before the final end of time.
It isn’t necessary to believe as Camping and his followers do, that the Bible, especially the Book of Revelation, is a secret information source for calculating events in history. But it is always useful to meditate on our own end, our purpose and goal.
The Gospel reminds us that we do not know the day when our life here will end, when our work will be finished, ready or not, and we’ll be faced with summing up the life we’ve had. May 21 this year could be that day for some of us, although the date itself has no other significance.
Any day is a good one for judgment if we’re ready; every day is fearful if we’re not.
So, don’t treat the Bible as a puzzle book, but do take it seriously – especially the Gospels – for the way it fleshes out the mystery of love, the goal we all seek.
