Welcome to SkyTours with Derrick! If you've ever found yourself under the night sky wondering what that thing is, well, you've come to the right place to find out. I'll provide regular postings of just what's available for you to see at this time of this year, including planets, stars, constellations and my favorite - satellites! I'll also welcome your suggestions for what to add to the blog for your information and answer your questions.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Doomsday May 2011: From My Point of View

All last week I listened to the news stories about Harold Camping’s prediction that the world would end on Saturday, May 21st. I’m posting this on May 24th.  I almost feel like nothing more need be said. But I’m compelled to say more.

First, after 200,000 years of human existence on this planet, during which so many thousands of people have declared the end to be near, why would so many people today blindly believe Mr. Camping so completely as to divest themselves of all they would need to live should the world not end as he predicted? Didn’t we see this before when Jim Jones led so many to drink the poison Kool-Aid in Guyana? Isn’t this what happened when 39 Heaven’s Gate cult members ate poison applesauce so their souls could hitch a ride on an alien spacecraft concealed in the dust tail of Comet Hale-Bopp? After so many so-called ‘prophets’ have come and gone, how is it that Mr. Camping would be the one with the real truth? How is it that he could figure out a secret of God that has eluded thousands of holy men since the Bible was written? He’d already made an incorrect prediction of doomsday years ago. Wouldn’t that have been a hint that he’s not the guy? After all, predicting the end of the world is a pretty big thing. Shouldn’t he have started out with smaller predictions, working his way up to the big one? Even Moses demonstrated where he was coming from before he smote the Egyptians. Just to ‘pile on’, I would’ve expected that the word might instead have come from someone with a bit more humility, a little less entrepreneurial in the name of faith and, frankly, a little less crazy looking.

If it seems as if I’m full of rhetorical questions about this, it’s because there are so many simple questions to be asked that would completely derail anyone’s belief that Camping’s prediction had the least chance of being possible. I’m dismayed that people can be so misguided in their faith that they are willing to forgo the protection and well-being of their families. If the end were to come in the manner Camping described, the preparatory disposition of material goods wouldn’t matter.

Second, there have been some pretty dark times in the history of humanity. I of think: 9/11 and World War II – with the Holocaust and use of atomic weapons, just to name a couple. To me it would’ve been those times when the world might have needed a little correctional tweak to set us on the ‘right’ path – if there were such a pre-ordained path. The changing marital status of a former governor does not seem warrant the end of the world.

And then there’s the media. If Harold Camping’s lunatic prognostications had never been brought to the attention of the general public, only a very few people would’ve known about it and so much valuable time and energy would not have been wasted. Can I get 90 seconds of time on the national network news, reporting on how appalling it is that we Americans will tolerate how asinine our Congress behaves? I think not. But if I can come up with a hair-brained scheme…..well, that’s different!
Just my opinion folks….