America is right now being blitzed by Family Radio's much publicized announcement that the world is going to end on May 21, 2011. When pressed for a time Family Radio's head stated 6:00 pm (1800), all times being local. He stated that the rapture ("good" Christians being taken up by Jesus in a sort of 1.5 coming of Christ) would be rolling across the globe because Family God's God apparently obeys international norms of time zones and the Babylonian-based concept of 24 hours in a day.
Now, this rapture thing is extremely biased to those further west of the international date line. The first populated place to reach 6:00 pm will be the Line Islands which include the appropriately named Christmas Island aka Kiritimati. Because of Y2K tourist geopolitics in which various places moved their time zones to be the first place to reach the year 2000 the Line Islands of the Republic of Kiribati are 16 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Kiritimati has a mix of Protestants and Catholics so if Pre-tribulational (dispensational) Premillennialism is correct then the rapture is going to take some Kiritimatis.
The news of a rapture or not should travel fast as there has to be someone who on the island who is just waiting to prove Family Radio wrong. As such I made the below chart showing the time in places (yes, I factored in Daylight Savings) of major blog readership so you can know when the coast is clear (or get your behind to the nearest independent evangelical Protestant Church)
Place UTC Local Time When Kiritmati Reaches 6:00 pm
New Zealand +12 4:00 pm / 1600 on May 21
Sydney, Australia +10 2:00 pm / 1400
Beijing, China +8 12:00 pm /1200
Jerusalem, Israel +3 7:00 am / 0700
Central Europe +2 6:00 am / 0600
London, UK +1 5:00 am/ 0500
U.S. Eastern -4 12:00 am/ 0000
U.S. Central -5 11:00 pm / 2300 on May 20
U.S. Mountain -6 10:00 pm / 2200
U.S. Pacific -7 9:00 pm / 2100
Hawaii -10 6:00 pm/ 1800
Yes, Hawaii has a full day to hear the news and the doomsayers of family radio headquartered in San Diego, California should know about the rapture (or lack thereof) a little after 9:00 pm local today, May 20... unless they wait for news from New Zealand which would reach them a little after 11:00 pm.
Have fun doom watchers and those ready to mock. I have little faith in a self-appointed doomsayers with no knowledge of the cultural origins of all their craziness. Family Radio's head uses his own random dates, a combination of the pagan-made Julian and Papal-made Gregorian calendars (vice the ancient Hebrew calendar which the Bible writers used; this error is something a Fundamentalist Protestant would be horrified by if he had any research knowledge), and randomly tied together Bible quotes to claim he knows something Jesus himself said He did not know:
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. - Mathew 24:36
Of all the Bible verses he used, one would think he would take that one literally.
Now, this rapture thing is extremely biased to those further west of the international date line. The first populated place to reach 6:00 pm will be the Line Islands which include the appropriately named Christmas Island aka Kiritimati. Because of Y2K tourist geopolitics in which various places moved their time zones to be the first place to reach the year 2000 the Line Islands of the Republic of Kiribati are 16 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Kiritimati has a mix of Protestants and Catholics so if Pre-tribulational (dispensational) Premillennialism is correct then the rapture is going to take some Kiritimatis.
The news of a rapture or not should travel fast as there has to be someone who on the island who is just waiting to prove Family Radio wrong. As such I made the below chart showing the time in places (yes, I factored in Daylight Savings) of major blog readership so you can know when the coast is clear (or get your behind to the nearest independent evangelical Protestant Church)
Place UTC Local Time When Kiritmati Reaches 6:00 pm
New Zealand +12 4:00 pm / 1600 on May 21
Sydney, Australia +10 2:00 pm / 1400
Beijing, China +8 12:00 pm /1200
Jerusalem, Israel +3 7:00 am / 0700
Central Europe +2 6:00 am / 0600
London, UK +1 5:00 am/ 0500
U.S. Eastern -4 12:00 am/ 0000
U.S. Central -5 11:00 pm / 2300 on May 20
U.S. Mountain -6 10:00 pm / 2200
U.S. Pacific -7 9:00 pm / 2100
Hawaii -10 6:00 pm/ 1800
Yes, Hawaii has a full day to hear the news and the doomsayers of family radio headquartered in San Diego, California should know about the rapture (or lack thereof) a little after 9:00 pm local today, May 20... unless they wait for news from New Zealand which would reach them a little after 11:00 pm.
Have fun doom watchers and those ready to mock. I have little faith in a self-appointed doomsayers with no knowledge of the cultural origins of all their craziness. Family Radio's head uses his own random dates, a combination of the pagan-made Julian and Papal-made Gregorian calendars (vice the ancient Hebrew calendar which the Bible writers used; this error is something a Fundamentalist Protestant would be horrified by if he had any research knowledge), and randomly tied together Bible quotes to claim he knows something Jesus himself said He did not know:
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. - Mathew 24:36
Of all the Bible verses he used, one would think he would take that one literally.
2 comments:
I'm sorry but, by the time it is 6:00pm on Easter Island it will already be Sunday 22 May in Australia and New Zealand - does that mean we miss out on the Rapture?
So now what? December 21, 2012 from the Mayan calendar? And will it be a supervolcano that would destroy us? Maybe we must get ready soon or simply expect Superman to save us.
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