Like I said: BUSY WEEK.
But seriously, what is with the predictions of the world coming to an end on May 21, and does it have anything to do with the local elections?
Well I tried to find out, but it seems without poring over passage upon passage of biblical text, deciphering what at times reads like another language, there's no hope of knowing.
It has something to do with the anniversary of Noah's flood, the anniversary of Creation and a bit of divine numerology, but from what I did read the theory seems to fall flat and grasp at straws.
It's mainly being punted by an American preacher, Harold Camping (89), who claims to feel most confident that the Second Coming of the Lord will occur on 21 May 2011 at around six o'clock in the evening (sooooo, it'll have to be an early supper, then?).
He says about 2 percent of the world's population will immediately be "raptured" to heaven while the other 98 percent will be sent to The Place Where He Who Hath Sinned Goes.
On the plus side though Steven Hawking recently said the thought of an afterlife awaiting us after death was merely a "fairy story" for people afraid of death, which kind of puts a hole in Camping's story…. (And the beliefs of many, many people.)
Unfortunately in his statement Hawking also alluded that there was no heaven, a comment that judging by the comments on the article didn't go over very well.
The fact is that people will believe whatever they want to believe. Hawking has devoted his life to science and feels that everything has a reasonable, scientific explanation, while Camping, who initially predicted 1994 as the year of the apocalypse, is determined to see the world destroyed in a show of omnipotent power during his lifetime.
I've made a note in my diary for the 21st of May entitled ‘Apocalypse', but coming from a long line of Knowitalls who have survived countless apocalyptic predictions, I'm planning on sitting this one out.
Still, this gives us all something to feel slightly apprehensive about (what if he's right!) until next week when I'm sure with a few corrections Camping will have a new date for us to fear.