I personally don’t know anyone (that I’m aware of) who actually believed the world was going to end today. Still, it’s an important thing to talk about, because misled people like Harold Camping only bring confusion to things that are already misunderstood. Like my good friend Chris put it, Satan uses this sort of crap “to make Christians look like idiots, therefore creating doubt (which is his goal)”.

Many people have thoroughly debunked the claims about this and other end-of-the-world scenarios, so I won’t waste your time doing it all over again. Instead I want to point out a few simple ideas about this issue that I believe are important to all of us.

Most Christians don’t know enough about the Bible.

• There’s a lot of strange stuff in the Bible – it’s a huge collection of books, written by different cultures, at different times, dealing with a lot of serious issues. If you don’t have a good concept of the overall story it’s easy to pull verses out of context to “prove” all kinds of crazy theories. Despite what you may hear, the Bible does not contradict itself. It’s important to take anything a person says about the Bible and compare against the rest of scripture – especially if someone is claiming “new” knowledge that hasn’t been revealed before. Ask yourself this simple question – If I had to explain to someone what I believe about the Bible, could I point out specific verses to explain it? If you can’t do that, then ask yourself what your beliefs are based on. I’d encourage you to read the Bible more, study it, and talk about it with people you trust. When you get a grasp on the overall story of God’s love and the amazing lengths he’s gone to in order to save us, two things happen – it becomes much easier to point out lies, and your own faith becomes much clearer.

Controversies like this take our focus off Jesus.

• When CNN asked the people who believed the world was going to end today what they expected others to do about it, they didn’t have a good answer. They all said there’s nothing we can do. I say, if that’s true then what was the point in all the advertising? The truth is, as Christians we’re supposed to share the story of Jesus, his death and victory over sin with everyone… with the end result that people would turn their hearts to God and be saved. There is something each of us can do before the real end of the world, and it has nothing to do with your actions, your lifestyle choices or your politics – Jesus said anyone who turns to him will be saved. Focus on that instead of endless controversies.

Our reaction to false prophets exposes our heart.

• As believers we need to defend the truth. False prophets should be called out, but everything must be done in love. There is no one – NO ONE – that is too far gone, too crazy or too evil to be saved. While Harold Camping and his followers have fringe beliefs, by calling these guys crazy we are exposing our pride. These are real people, whom God loves, and ultimately by assuming we are too smart to be deceived the way they are, we polarize issues of faith. Our world already views much of faith and spirituality as archaic and disconnected from reality, and it desperately needs people with strong faith to stand up and be bold about the truth. Instead of making fun of misled people, use the issues they bring up to start conversations with your friends and family about their own beliefs, then share what you believe. Perhaps in doing so you can show that there are real, respectable people who really believe in God, read the Bible, and actually expect to live with Jesus in the afterlife.

Matthew 24:35-36 – “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”