Why Camping’s ‘Doomsday’ Didn’t Happen

Why is it Harold Camping cannot get his ‘Doomsday’ prediction correct? First, let’s lay the foundation for his initial prediction of a 5.21.11 Doomsday prediction, followed by a 10.21.11 Doomsday.

According to Camping, May 21st marked exactly 7,000 years since Noah’s flood. Since the number ’7′ is a significant number in the Bible, Camping concluded that the 7,000 year mark must signify the end of times for wicked mankind. When May 21 came and went, Camping explained the lack of a global destruction by stating May 21 was actually Judgment Day, and that those judged worthy would be taken to heaven, and those deemed unrepentant and wicked would be destroyed along with the physical earth, on October 21, 2011. Just as May 21 did, so too did October 21 come and pass with nothing out of the ordinary happening. So, what went wrong? Two things.

1) The date is impossible to calculate to begin with. Mark 13:32 says: "Concerning that day or the hour nobody knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father" and 1 Thes 5: 2 says: "For YOU yourselves know quite well that God’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night." In other words, we know no more as to when "The End" is coming as we know when a thief is going to break in in the night.

2) Even if it was possible to calculate the date, Camping has the date for Noah’s Flood wrong anyway.

Camping’s basis for their End of Times prophecy was that May 21 marked exactly 7,000 years since Noah’s flood. WRONG.

The Bible provides chronological information that allows for a careful count back to the beginning of human history. At Genesis 5:1-29, we find the genealogical line from the creation of the first man, Adam, to the birth of Noah. The Deluge began “in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life.”—Genesis 7:11.

To determine the time of the Flood we need to start with a date that is accepted in secular history and corresponds to a particular event recorded in the Bible. From that point, we can determine the exact year of the flood.

One pivotal date is 539 B.C.E., the year when Persian King Cyrus overthrew Babylon. Secular sources for the time of his reign include Babylonian tablets and documents of Diodorus, Africanus, Eusebius, and Ptolemy. Because of a decree issued by Cyrus, a Jewish remnant left Babylon and arrived in their homeland in 537 B.C.E. That marked the end of Judah’s 70-year desolation, which according to the Biblical record had begun in 607 B.C.E. By taking into account the period of the judges and the reigns of Israel’s kings, we can determine that the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt occurred in 1513 B.C.E.

Bible-based chronology takes us back another 430 years to the making of the covenant with Abraham in 1943 B.C.E. Next, we must take into account the births and life spans of Terah, Nahor, Serug, Reu, Peleg, Eber, and Shelah, as well as Arpachshad, who was born “two years after the deluge.” (Genesis 11:10-32) Thus, we can place the beginning of the Flood in the year 2370 B.C.E. Which would mean that only some 4,381 years have elapsed (give or take a year), NOT the 7,000 years that Camping calculated. ***

*** Counting Backward From Cyrus’ Decree Allowing the Jews to Return From Exile to the Flood of Noah’s Day
537  Cyrus’ decree
539  The overthrow of Babylon by Cyrus the Persian
68 years

2370  Beginning of the Flood

 *   Cyrus’ proclamation for the release of the Jews from exile was made “in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia,” likely in the year 538 B.C.E. or early in 537 B.C.E.