May 21: Doomsday or just another day?

Hundreds of hoardings in different cities around the world have predicted the approaching Judgement Day on May 21, 2011.

As per the calculations by Harold Camping, the head of the Family Radio Broadcasting Network, about 3 percent of humanity, whom he calls the righteous people, will be whisked away to a heavenly world.

The rest of the humanity will remain here to suffer extreme natural disasters until October 21. God will destroy the entire universe and everyone left in it on Oct 21, says Camping.

Well, it is doubtful whether even a 3 percent of the humanity believes in the prediction.

On many occasions, the world experienced the Doomsdays failing to keep the appointed dates.

Though the Judgement Day has never been materialised, yet every year we learn about a new apocalypse date.

While we look down upon the `prophets` of Doomsday, it may be proper to find out what gives birth to such predictions.

The symbols, figures and the figurative language used in the Bible have always stirred the imagination of its readers. And if you have a code decoding attitude coupled with a little imagination, you also can be an endtimes predictor.

Camping`s prediction is also based on such a calculation and imagination. He says because Jesus was crucified on Friday, April 1, 33 AD, and that it takes exactly 365.2422 days for the earth to complete one orbit of the Sun, we can conclude that on April 1, 2011, Jesus was crucified exactly 722,449.07 days ago.

Add 51 days to this to get to May 1, and you get a figure of 722,500.07. Round that down to the nearest integer, and you get 722,500, which is an important number because it is the square of 5 x 17 x 10. The number five represents atonement. Ten represents completeness, and 17 represents heaven. Multiply all these together – twice – and you get 722,500. Therefore, the apocalypse starts on May 21.

The skeptic in you might ask why the date of the Judgment Day is linked to that of Jesus`s crucifixion, why the numbers 5, 10, and 17 represent what Camping claims they represent and why the Bible would contain numerological references predicting the end of the world in the first place.

But you are doomed since you have no other choice, but to face May 21 and many more Doomsdays.