Is the end near?

This might be my last column. Please don't misunderstand. It's been a real pleasure being able to use this forum to vent my frustrations from time to time and at other times, to congratulate people for their good actions. I've had a Ramblings column for more than 35 years, in three newspapers, later on the internet and most recently on my own blog. 

But according to the 89-year-old owner of the Christian Family Radio Network, the end is coming on Saturday, May 21. He says it should happen at about 6 p.m. But he doesn't say if that's eastern time, Mountain time or Zulu, whatever that is. 

According to published reports, Harold Camping has calculated via some Bible verses and mathematics that we are less than two days away from extinction. He is so certain of this that he has posted the message on 2,000 billboards across the country and taken out a lot of big newspaper ads to warn us all. 

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Camping had first predicted that the end would come in September, 1994. When most of us were still here the next day, he explained that he had uncovered new Biblical information, or news flash or revelation, that said that calculation was off. 

I feel quite safe in continuing with this column. After all, if he's right, he won't be around to tell me “I told you so” and I won't be around to listen. I would hope we would both have better things to do at that point in getting acquainted with our heavenly home.

I don't mean to mock someone who studies the Bible. In a secular sense, everybody needs a hobby. In a spiritual sense, if you are a believer, you know Biblical study is vital to a better understanding of your faith. But in the limited understanding I have of the Bible and based on more than 50 years of listening to sermons from a variety of preachers, I remember hearing that God will take us in his own sweet time and we won't necessarily know when that will be. 

The Bible is a great book to study. But the danger is if you open the book and have a notion of what you want it to say, you might see something that really isn't there. That explains that nut case in Florida who claimed he was doing God's work when he planned on burning copies of the Koran. All this did was give the leader of a congregation of under 100 his 15 minutes of fame and prompted riots and the deaths of several people in the Middle East. 

There have been numerous incidents where people have murdered doctors who performed abortions under the misguided theory that they were doing God's work. Then there's that nut case preacher in Kansas who feels compelled to stage noisy, irreverent protests near the funerals of war heroes, claiming to do the work of the Lord.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out here that I am a Christian. I believe that is the one guaranteed way to eternal life. But I would be the last to try to force my beliefs on others. In fact, I admire the dedication others show in their faith journey. There are hundreds of millions of Muslims in this world. I don't agree with what they teach, but I admire the devotion of the vast majority of them who practice their religion in peace. My heart aches for the Jews and the persecution they went through in World War II. I don't agree with their teaching, but admire their devotion. I may not agree with all of the teachings of the Mormons, but I think all of us could learn a lot on how they conduct their missionary teachings. 

I draw the line at inciting riots, killing or dying “in God's name” or mocking others who choose to practice their faith in peace. 

I really don't know if Mr. Camping is right. Maybe the second coming will be Saturday at 5:30 and when Mr. Camping asks God what happened to the 6 p.m. Schedule, He will say, “who's in charge here anyway?”

But just in case he's wrong, I plan on picking out my clothes Saturday afternoon for Sunday church. And I'll begin thinking of what to write in this space next week. Just in case...

Self-assessment following recent events

A couple of events in the past week should make all of us take a long, hard look at our own values. One, the elimination of Osama bin Laden, could have been considered an act of war and a victory for our country. On a less serious note, the recent NFL Draft was an annual evaluation of human flesh.

When many of us were sitting at home late Sunday night, just waiting for the final local newscast of the weekend, our TV shows were interrupted with the news that the White House was preparing an important announcement. At first we returned to a few more minutes of "CSI Miami" before the network news folks couldn't contain themselves any longer and began breaking into regular programming to announce that the U.S. had successfully exterminated the most wanted terrorist in the world.

It took nearly an hour after the first notification before President Obama made his brief speech. So we knew that while it would be an important statement, the country was not in imminent danger. After the president made the announcement, I suppose many of us had the same thoughts as I did. I was glad we got him and I just hoped he died slowly. Some of those same sentiments flooded Facebook soon after. There were impromptu celebrations at many locations in this country that lasted well into the night.

As some of the initial details of the operation were presented, it became clear that the president made the decision to bring a swift end to the bin Laden era and the Navy Seals carried out his orders perfectly. Of course we all had time after the fact to wonder why bin Laden wasn't taken into custody, why the Pakistan government wasn't notified until after our troops had exited the country and why when bin Laden was killed, his body was taken to an aircraft carrier and he was accorded final religious rites.

Ever since the attack on our World Trade Center in 2001, bin Laden has admitted his role in this attack, as well as many others around the world. His capture would have prolonged the inevitable, while jeopardizing whatever country in which he would have been imprisoned. Had the Navy done anything with the body other than treat it with the respect accorded any other human being, it would have added fuel to the fire of the extremists who remain to fight bin Laden's fight. We are not a country who beheads people and parades their heads down Main Street. We are a much more civilized people who took the high road to exterminate this menace to a civilized world.

When it was determined that bin Laden had been holed up in a compound in a large city close to the Pakistani capital for perhaps five years, the decision to make this an all-U.S. operation would seem to be a no-brainer. To say our trust factor with leaders of Pakistan took a big hit when this information became apparent would be a big understatement. There would have been a lot of money changing hands to make certain officials turn a blind eye to their unwanted guest.

There have been subsequent calls for the release of photos of bin Laden's body after the attack. Some would say that this would offer more proof that he had indeed been eliminated. But our government took great care to run DNA tests to be more than 97 percent sure of the target. Those of us who became aware of national politics during the Nixon era know full well that documents can be altered and in this modern age of technology, photos could be edited. But as bin Laden's allies have confirmed his death, I don't think release of the photos are necessary.

Our president made the right decision and our military performed flawlessly.

The death of bin Laden came on the end of a weekend when many American sports fans were recovering from three days of the NFL Draft, where more than 250 young men were chosen to attempt to make a wonderful career move to pro football. If you tuned into ESPN or the NFL network during those three days, you heard an exhaustive evaluation of each potential draft pick. The talking heads spoke about the player's speed, ability to run down the quarterback, catch a football, his height, weight, wing span, etc.

A few times, there was a refreshing referral to the athlete's academic ability or his service to his community. Unfortunately, those references were far too few. At one point, I thought that if there was this much evaluation of each person who was loaded onto those slave ships in Africa more than 160 years ago, it would have taken at least a week  to get a boatload.

It might be a stretch to compare the slave trade to modern pro football. After all, the only thing the slaves could hope for was to survive the trip across the ocean and to be sold to a master who would provide them with a dry place to sleep and food to eat. Each of the players who were drafted who make the opening day roster of his team will receive at least a half-million dollars for the year.

But there is no free enterprise in the pro football draft process. If you are picked by a team, you cannot opt out of that selection and seek employment elsewhere in the league. You are committed to the team that picked you for that first year of your new career.

Terrorism and football seem a world apart. But just as we become numb to deaths in wartime until someone we know is killed or injured, we often don't seem to care what kind of kid is joining our favorite football team, as long as he stays healthy, scores enough touchdowns and stays out of jail.

This might be a good time for all of us to take stock of what is important and what we value most. Let's not thirst for blood, bin Laden did way too much of that in his miserable life. Let's keep track of the players chosen for our favorite team and try to find out if they are more than football machines.