Well, the rapture has not yet happened, or at least it hasn't happened to my knowledge. Harold Camping is fascinating to me. I can't decide whether the guy is a babbling idiot, or a genius. Either way, the guy has managed to stir up reactions in many people, including me, as I am writing about him. Good job Mr Camping! While sitting on the couch nursing a cold that has taken up residence somewhere between my chest and my sinuses, I couldn't help but look up his name on the Internet, just to try to figure out who this guy is. The cool thing is that on my nook I can google stuff, and cross reference in the Bible with the click of a button (or in this case, the touch of a screen), pretty cool!. Whether or not the world is going to end today, is really of no importance to me. I can't do anything about it either way. And I am not smart enough to draw the same conclusions as Mr Camping has. I bumped into a couple of unique websites, both catering to the "so called" saved part of the population.
Http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/ is a website, created by atheists, claiming that they will take care of your pets after the rapture. It is very comforting to know that for a total of $145, James and Clifford will be well taken care of for the rest of their natural life, or for the next 10 years. That is a bargain, James and Clifford are both worth a lot more than that in my book! I really only have a few issues with this business.
1. Florida is not one of the states covered by the offer.
2. I do not know for sure that I am one of the people to get "beamed up". I mean I am fairly new to Christianity, and God may not think that I have it all right in his book quite yet. I hope I do but in case I don't I will be here with my furry friends.
3. There is no guarantee that the atheist who is going to take care of my pets will survive the earthquakes and all the other disasters. The better option in my opinion would be to spend the money on a lot of cat food, dog food, and water, and leave it out just in case. I mean, if the rapture does not happen, I will just have pet food for a while. It is kind of like a hurricane survival kit. During hurricane Charley we had everything we needed to make it for the prescribed amount of time. When it turned out that Charley did not hit us directly, I decided to conduct a little experiment, and see how long it would be possible for me to live off of Vienna Sausages, canned tuna, beef jerky and peanuts without going crazy. I made it about three weeks, I probably could have made it longer had I not run out of peanuts, thus eliminating the biggest (actually the only) source of fiber in my diet. They do not tell you to add a laxative to your survival kit, only Immodium. Common sense dictates that if your sink is plugged you don't add more gunk to it, you add liquid plumber. I did have a lot of water left over, and since we lived in a small apartment at the time I donated it to the people that were truly affected and did not have access to drinking water. A win win situation in my book.
4. Tom has assured me that cats and dogs go to Heaven, and if that is true, why would I need someone to watch them here? Hopefully Tom and I will both be in Heaven with them, but if only one of us is, the other might just become mighty tired of eating cat and dog food after a while.
According to ABC News, the company has sold 258 contracts so far. That is a pretty good penny for doing virtually (no pun intended) nothing.
http://www.postrapturepost.com/order.html is a different website, also created by atheists, promising to deliver letters to your non-saved loved ones after the rapture. That is a pretty good idea, but really????? I think we would all just be much better off telling people what they mean to us and that we love them while we are still here on Earth. One possible advantage to the offer is that you could leave directions for your loved ones on how to take care of your pets in the odd event they don't go to heaven with you. It is a lot cheaper than Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, but I would probably just leave instructions out on the counter with all the extra cat and dog food....
I have a theory. Harold Camping, rather than being a false prophet or a heretic, is really nothing but a brilliant snake oil salesman. Yeah you read me right, to me, the guy is nothing but that. Commerce and marketing have changed quite a bit since the pioneering days, and whereas most of us seem to think that we see Camping for what he is, he might just have outsmarted us all. If you take a look at the two mentioned websites, as well as http://www.bmius.org/ you will see that all three accept payments or donations through PayPal. I tested all three sites, and without spending any money (I do still need to buy pet food!), all three appear to work just fine. I wonder what would happen if we took at peek at Mr Camping's different sources of income???? I mean he would not be the first, nor the last person to play both sides would he?....
I love you all (just in case) and yes, I do still eat peanuts, but I can honestly say that I have not craved Vienna Sausages or Beef Jerky since October of 2004!
Peace!
P
Contact email keepinghopejourney@gmail.com
