Friday, May 20, 2011

OK, Which is it? Are the Dead Already There or Are They Going Tomorrow at 6 p.m.?

Harold Camping, the aged, self-styled preacher in California, has meticulously calculated the end of the world to be tomorrow at 6 p.m. An earthquake is to begin in New Zealand and travel through Asia and Europe and around the world. At that time, the dead will be raised, and, along with the living, taken to Heaven. Of course the only ones taken will be true believers, whoever they are. The rest of us will be left to make the best of things.

There is one thing that I have never understood about the "rapture" and the end of the world, when the dead will be raised and the living taken to Heaven. At every funeral that I have ever attended, and after the death of a loved one, everyone, including the preachers, always talks about how the deceased is already "sitting at the right hand of God." A week later the same preacher will be asking whether you will be ready, when the rapture comes and the dead arise to go to Heaven.

I have always heard the expression, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Which is it?