Was the rapture good for you, too?

So the rapture did not happen Saturday, as predicted by radio preacher Harold Camping. (If it did, I guess that means the supposed fate of those left on Earth — whatever it is — will befall us all. Bwahahaha!) But his failed prophesy (his second) has not stopped Camping from issuing a revised prediction (for the second time): instead of a rapture followed by five months of destruction, the Earth will be annihilated all at once on October 21.

Though the proclaimed judgment hour came and went, Camping’s followers have not lost faith. Instead of questioning their convictions, especially in Camping, they have followed his lead and revised their beliefs. Though he said he and wife were confused, a Camping follower in IC, who painted the May 21 rapture date on the front of his VW Bus, now believes “the unfulfilled prophecy possibly could have been a test for the true believers similar to the story in the book of Exodus of the ancient Hebrews fashioning a golden idol during the 40 days that Moses was on Mount Sinai meeting with God.”

“We're praying for God’s will to be done,” he told the Press-Citizen.

The guy can believe what he wants, and I can shake my head and wonder why.

Though I think I believed in Christianity at one time, I don’t anymore. I am currently agnostic. The only thing keeping me from being an atheist is a silly and slight reserve for eschewing everything supernatural; a small part of me still wants to believe something. However, I am beyond the point of swallowing hook, line, and sinker what someone tells me that something is. I am too curious, too skeptical, too nonconformist. I ask too many questions. Right now, based on my own experiences in life, the only thing I am willing to put my faith in is nature. In that way I consider myself a naturalist.

Yes, I believe the world will end — billions of years from now, long after the sun’s increasing heat and brightness has burned the Earth to an inhospitable crisp. Needless to say, I won’t be spending my life savings spreading the word on billboards.

Like I said, Camping’s followers can believe whatever they want, but I can’t understand their unwillingness or inability to question their belief. Is it because they have too much at stake? I mean, how would it feel to have a personal conviction, something you believed as fact for years and became penniless for, proven false? It must be traumatic. But, then again, I cannot say Camping’s followers weren’t asking for it. If you ask me, anyone who believes God will synchronize the rapture and destruction of Earth to man-made time and time zones is begging for disappointment.

However, it seems to be disappointment with no lasting consequences. Why change your mind when there is a deep well of unsubstantial, yet seemingly infallible, justifications and excuses to keep believing?