While Harold Camping’s pronouncement that the rapture would occur on May 21 did not eventuate, I was a little surprised given the level of media attention that it generated at the time that more effort was not made by New Zealand church leaders and theologians, including Baptists, to point out why Camping’s view on the rapture and the end of the world is at odds with what most evangelicals believe.

For a start, it would have been good to inform people that Acts 1:7 and Matthew 24:6 make it clear that the only one who knows the time of the end is the Father. Matthew 24:36 says, “but concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” For Camping to claim that he knows the day and hour of the rapture is incredibly presumptuous.

They also could have pointed out that in 2 Thessalonians 2 the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Thessalonica after they erroneously believed the Day of the Lord had already arrived, and warned them that they shouldn’t become overly excited or alarmed by someone who claims the end is near.

They also could proffered the Apostle Peter’s advice in 2 Peter 3 that instead of becoming alarmed by such predictions we should wait for Christ’s return, and indeed hasten it, by living holy and godly lives.

If church leaders had been vocal it may have helped allay the fears of many people who, like my neighbour, genuinely feared that Harold Camping’s prediction might have come true. I won’t be losing any sleep on October 21, the date of Camping’s amended prediction for the end. While Christ might come on this date it won’t be because Camping predicted it, but because that was the date the Father wills it.

– Rob Hawes, Cambridge

The editor replies: If church leaders did speak up, I wonder if the media would have taken any notice? I suspect not.