May 22

I'm sure by now you've heard the news from the e bible fellowship .com and family radio...

I don't believe it. Indeed, I don't believe in the second coming in that form at all. I have to admit that I'm tempted to make fun of those folk. I've received an invitation to an after-rapture party. I've chuckled at the new business offering pet care to the left behind and well-loved pets of believers caught up in the rapture at a serious pre-paid price. I've scratched my head at folk who feel the need to quantify the end of the world... And then I heard some interviews on NPR with true believers. Now I'm just sad.

There are a bunch of folk who believe this interpretation to the point that they've left jobs, sold off property, given up anything to be ready for the rapture on May 21, 2011. I'm sad because of what I believe they will face on May 22, 2011. Will their faith be completely destroyed? How will they put their lives back together? What about relationships they sacrificed to this belief? Can they be redeemed?

I'm sad about the other fundamentalist groups who are drawing lines in the sand and calling the true believers of this interpretation heretics. I'm sad about the more liberal Christians who just write these folk off as crazies without seeing the depth of their faith and the depth of their need for... something.

And I'm sad for those who look at this and paint all people of faith with the same brush... one that spells "CRAZY" and write off any possibility of a faith that speaks to their real lives.

So... I won't be partying on May 22... I'll be sad.