It's the End of the World as Far as They Know It

I was recently motoring on Interstate 70 south of Pittsburgh when I noticed a group of RV's heading towards me in the opposite lane. They were festooned with graphics stating that the world was going to end on May 21st, 2011. A little bit of internet research pointed me to the website of an organization known as ebiblefellowship. Through a convoluted system of mathematics and bible study, these people believe that we all have less than three weeks to live.

I love eschatology- the numerous theories throughout history regarding the end of the world, the failure of these theories to come true and the aftermath when they don't. The human need to try to pin a date on the end of existence holds endless fascination for me and I have to admit I really like these ebible people- no parsing of words or pussyfooting around here, they are predicting a date certain which beats the 2012 crowd by a full nineteen months. They are so certain that we are going to be vaporized that they even helpfully end their organizations calendar on the 20th with their final appearance in Philadelphia, PA (one can only hope that if the world ends, it starts in Philadelphia.)

While reading the group's website, I asked my wife if she knew the world was going to end in less than three weeks and what we should do. She said we should take a trip to Europe. Hmmm, I wasn't expecting that one. I don't know if the world is going to end in three weeks, three days or three million years. Frankly, I don't care. I only hope that if May 21st peacefully passes into May 22nd, the followers of this group don't do something stupid to themselves. Better to just say they forgot to carry the three and they were off by a few thousand years.