The "Crazy" Uncle is Still Family

Most of the world, non-Christians and Christians alike, laughed when Christian Family Radio founder Harold Camping and a legion of his most loyal followers went out to spread the word that Judgment Day was coming on May 21st, 2011. We all snickered and guffawed when they quit their jobs and spent their life savings in warning people to repent before the last sands of the hourglass tricked down and Jesus would come to rapture the true believers.

We were not surprised when May 21st came and went.

Now most of the world, non-Christians and Christians alike are quick to cackle and deride Camping and his followers, these "morons" who are now trying to put together the pieces of their lives. For them, the shock of the sun coming up on Sunday morning was just as stupefying and system-shaking to them as waking up to Armageddon would have been the rest of the world. Much of the reaction is a mixture of laughter, condescension, self-satisfaction and pity. It's understandable.

But from the Christians, I would expect better. And I'm also preaching to myself.

I get it. You're embarrassed when Camping and his ilk wave signs around and make these sort of pronouncements. When these things get joked about at work or in conversation with your non-Christian neighbors, you adjust your collar nervously and make absolutely sure that your colleagues don't lump you in with "those nutjobs". You further bolster your world intellectual credentials by taking a gratuitous potshot or two at Camping and his followers, maybe you crack a joke or two to show that you're "not one of them." You take great stride in distancing yourself

"But hey" you argue defensively, "These guys do are doing a lot of damage to my ability to share the gospel."

I get it. I really do. I also really want to believe that this is the overriding source of your angst as opposed to your own personal discomfort and the damage to your personal "cool factor".

You want to have righteous outrage towards Camping that there are people who have lost their life savings because of his erroneous prediction? Go for it. But I hope it's accompanied by compassion for those who have been most harmed. If you didn't sell your life savings, I commend you for your spiritual discernment - but is it really necessary to kick these people when they're down?

At the end of the day, these people are very much like the "crazy" uncle everyone has in their family. The uncle isn't crazy in the clinical sense, but he's a bit eccentric in the things that he does and says. We get embarrassed when he pulls up to the driveway in his beaten up old car and we're shooting hoops with our friends, because we just know he's going to say something that will spark, at best, eyerolls and at worst, unsuppressed laughter. Part of just hoped that he'd go away and never come back.

But then we remember that our uncle is still family. We remember that at the end of the day, our allegiance and our blood ties are with our uncle, not our friends in the driveway, and not the coworkers and neighbors who are cracking jokes. We assume that our uncle, for all his foibles, means well and while we will chastise him around being more careful about his words and actions ("You just can't say those things, Uncle Bob! You're out of line and you're just plain wrong") we always welcome him to his seat at the table for Thanksgiving.

Yes, there's a lesson to be learned here and for Camping and his followers, we can hope and pray that he and they will (yes, I'm aware that Camping has since changed his new target date to October 21st). This can be redeemed, and as mentioned in a Washington Post blog, "A new generation of Christians are shedding the end times obsession for a faith that focuses more on Christ’s calling on our lives in the here and now. They still hope for a day when Jesus will fully restore this broken world, but they are working to promote human flourishing and the common good in the meantime." This is a good thing. As is the reality that many of us who perhaps don't think enough about the end times were reminded that we very much should look forward to the coming of our King, and prepare accordingly.

But in the same spirit articulated in Timothy Dalrymple's well written open letter to Camping and his followers after the "ending that never came", let's also extend grace in the midst of our loving disagreement and correction, and do what we can to restore our brothers and sisters who have made a mistake and are vulnerable to repeating it - they've hardly committed the unforgivable sin.