Harold Camping was wrong about his date setting.
But was Harold Camping a deceptive person?
Statement Analysis in bold type.
Harold Camping, the California preacher who became omnipresent in the publicity blitz over his prediction of the end of the world, today was nowhere to be found after it became clear that the Rapture wasn't happening.
Camping, 89, pinpointed May 21, at 5:59 p.m. as the exact time when those chosen by God would ascend to heaven while cataclysmic earthquakes would begin to rock earth. He spread the word on billboards, posters, fliers and digital bus displays across the country.
"I am utterly absolutely, absolutely convinced it's going to happen," Camping said earlier in the week.
Statement Analysis:
Note the structure of this sentence for clarity. To be "convinced" has inherent weakness. It means to have been persuaded to believe something, which is a process.
"I am convinced" has slight weakness to it; in that he allows for others to be "convinced" of something else. But that, alone, doesn't mean he is deceptive. I am convinced of many things.
However, we have a principle to follow:
Additional words give additional information.
1. It is not just the slight weakness of "I am convinced" that he says, but move to the next:
2. I am "absolutely convinced" gives an additional word, "absolutely" shows an increase in sensitivity.
3. "I am absolutely, absolutely" is not only sensitive, but the repetition shows increase in sensitivity. But he is not done yet.
4. "I am utterly absolutely absolutely" now has 3 additional words added to the slightly weak "convinced".
"Absolutely" indicates fullness. To be "absolutely absolutely" is deceptive, since it does not exist. But to add "utterly", a word which leaves room for nothing else, it shows that he is deceptive. It is similar to saying that one is 300% certain, when only 100% leaves no room for doubt.
Conclusion: Anxiety in the repetition and the hyperbole shows that he is not convinced and is frightened to face the reality of 6:01PM of May 21.
Although he can cause others be have believed in the end of time on May 21, Statement Analysis concludes that he himself, was full of doubt; so much so that it likely triggered anxiety.
This would mean that he is a deceptive person who had great fear that his 'calculations' were wrong and that he would be exposed as a cult founder by all, since in 1994, many asserted this about him. His planning was clever.
After his failed prediction of 1994, his enemy was not only the 'calculator' but pastors of churches who opposed him. As this continued, he quietly used his radio program to first criticize churches, for years, then to move to his next step: he went from criticizing churches (especially educated ministers) to appealing to the pride of his audience:
1. Leave your churches
2. Only "you" are smart enough to see what he sees.
People then felt "special" and as their pride was appealed to, they then were able to sweep away feelings of inadequacy.
Harold Camping had them.
At 89 years old, should he be excused?
If society can excuse killers who are considered crazy, should he be excused due to age?
This same argument was made about Nazi killers: they are too old now to hunt down and prosecute.
At what age does a crime no longer require justice?
What about the day before?
What about an hour before?
What about a day and hour before that?
This arbitrary argument is weak.
Harold Camping, 89, is responsible for harming many, just as he was in 1994 when he was 72.
His language shows that he is a deceptive man, and deceive he did; on a large scale, and hurt many.
If someone has a "300%" truthfulness, it means that %100 percent does not mean 'full truth'. This is something we examine in subject's statements. OJ Simpson claimed he was %100 not guilty, and later we learned (from his book) that his wife was "200% better shape than anyone else", as it reveals his internal, subjective dictionary. We do not know from his words what would constitute full truth.
Harold Camping deceived many.
Harold Camping, himself, knew this was not 'full truth'. Had he believed that the 'end' was May 21, he would have said "The end is May 21" and not that he was "convinced", nor "absolutely convinced", nor "absolutely, absolutely convinced" nor even the final "utterly, absolutely, absolutely convinced".
Robert Fitzpatrick of New York had put his money where his faith is: The 60-year-old retiree spent $140,000 -- almost everything he had -- on hundreds of billboards proclaiming the Armagedon that Camping predicted.
When it didn't come, he was standing in New York's Times Square, surrounded by jeering tourists in a drizzling rain.
"I can't tell you what I feel right now," he said. "Obviously, I haven't understood it correctly because we're still here."
There has been no sign of Camping since the supposed Rapture came and went, and his home in Alameda, Calif., has been deserted.
"I would classify myself as a skeptic," said Camping's neighbor Robert Minot told San Francisco ABC News affiliate KGO-TV. "It's going to end sometime, but I think his pages must have stuck together in his copy of the Bible where it says we are not to know the hour or the moment."
This is plainly in Scripture, easily understood by Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, just as date setting has always been wrong. For historic arms of Christianity, the "anti christ" was not the son of Gregory Peck who had "666" on his scalp, but anyone who presented themselves as representing Christ, only to lead others away from Christ. This is 'antichrist'. It is also referred to as "false prophet" or "deceiver".
This was Harold Camping who will be remembered for the number of people he hurt.
"I hope there are no bad repercussions from it because everybody reacts a different way to these types of things," neighbor Sheila Doan told KGO-TV.
This is not the first time Camping was mistaken about the end of the world. He once predicted the End of Days to be Sept. 6, 1994, but later said that date was a result of a mathematical error
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment