From rabbis to Supreme Court justices to radio producers, everyone's got an opinion on the popular judgment day theory Watch video
Is May 21, 2011 the end of the world, or will this rapture pass by like so many other judgment day predictions?Welcome to the end of the world.
Or not.
If Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping and his followers are right, the Bible says Judgment Day will begin at 5:59 p.m. Saturday. They are predicting a giant earthquake, followed by the "Rapture," where worthy souls will be instantly transported to heaven.
Everyone else will suffer on Earth until God finally destroys the planet Oct. 21, according to Camping’s calculations.
Believers around the world spent the last few weeks buying billboards, taking out newspaper ads and warning their neighbors the end is near. Meanwhile, non-believers have been having some fun with the Doomsday predictions. #IfTheWorldEndsOnSaturday was one of the top trending topics on Twitter today.
New Jerseyans spent today preparing for — or joking about — the impending apocalypse.
'BAD JUDGMENT DAY'
At WFME-FM, Camping’s Christian radio station in New Jersey, there was disagreement among the staff of six as to whether Saturday really is the beginning of the end of the world.
On a wall calendar in the West Orange studio, someone jokingly wrote "Bad Judgment Day" on May 21.
Producer Jason Frentsos said he is among the believers. He was raised by a Greek Orthodox taxi driver who converted to Camping’s views.
Frentsos, 28, planned to spend today with his wife and their two toddlers at a playground in Denville.
As for Saturday, he said he cannot imagine how ugly it’s going to be once the Biblically ordained tribulation is under way.
"I’m almost afraid to drive out into the streets," Frentsos said.
'BE GRATEFUL FOR THE BLESSINGS'
Not all religious leaders are planning for Judgment Day.
Rabbi Mendy Herson, director of Chabad of Somerset, Hunterdon and Union counties in Basking Ridge, was preparing for Shabbat, as he does every week.
"Every day has to be valued and tomorrow is another day for us to be grateful for the blessings in life," Herson said.
If believing the end of the world is near causes people to alter their actions for the better, maybe that is not such a bad thing, he said.
"Do I believe in it? No," Herson said. "But there are other people who do, and if this inspires people to use their moments in a more meaningful way, then that is great."
GOVERNMENT MARCHES ON
The state Senate is set to convene at 2 p.m. Monday for a busy voting session that will include an address by the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Unless the world ends.
"Of course, should the Rapture occur today, the session would be canceled," Derek Roseman, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said in a message to reporters.
But don’t expect the Assembly to take a day off, said Tom Hester, a spokesman for the Assembly Democrats.
"The Assembly will of course be meeting," Hester said. "Neither rapture nor zombie apocalypse nor alien invasion nor even a robot revolution can stay the Assembly from the swift completion of the people’s business."
PREPARING FOR THE END
Michael Finaldi of Florham Park plans to spend the day reading the Bible and watching the news for reports of the rolling earthquake believers say will first strike New Zealand, then spread around the world.
Preparing for Judgment Day has been difficult on his family, Finaldi said. His wife has not spoken to him in weeks and other family members are frustrated over his insistence the world is about to end.
Finaldi, owner of an office phone and data business, has been sleeping in a condo owned by his son, Vincent, the only other member of the family who believes.
"We’re somber in that we believe we’re saved — I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t think God was gonna take me," Finaldi said. "But we’re somber for everybody, certainly our immediate family."
'NO WAY TO BE CERTAIN'
Doomsday predictions didn’t slow business at Bridgewater Commons today. Not when there was a new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie to see and shoe sales to browse.
Marquise Hudson, 19, of Piscataway, said she wasn’t worried.
"A lot of people have so many different theories about when it’s going to be, so you can’t take it too seriously," Hudson said in the lobby of the AMC movie theater. "I’m going to keep on going."
Sitting in the food court, Chantell Brown found it difficult to believe the doom sayers.
"I’m a Christian and I don’t believe anyone knows for sure when it’s going to happen," said Brown, 30, of Plainfield. "I read the Bible and it says there is no way to be certain when, especially not down to the day and time."
VERDICT FROM THE HIGH COURT
Maybe the apocalypse is upon us, state Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto joked today.
The New Jersey State Bar Association presented Rivera-Soto with a resolution in Atlantic City in anticipation of his leaving the bench in September. The group gave the justice the honor despite censuring him in 2007 for using his position to in to intervene in a high school squabble involving his son.
After taking a quick glance at the framed resolution, Rivera-Soto remembered the end-of-times billboards lining New Jersey’s highways.
"I looked at that resolution because it seemed to provide me proof positive that all those billboards I had been seeing about tomorrow being Judgment Day are accurate," he said, generating laughter from the lawyers in the audience.
'ONLY GOD KNOWS WHEN'
At the shoe shine stand in Newark’s Penn Station, Adriana Souza wasn’t too concerned about the Judgment Day predictions. But she decided to ask the opinion of some of the priests whose shoes she regularly shines when they pass through the station.
They told her not to worry.
"They say it’s not true," said Souza, 38, a lifelong Catholic. "They say the don’t know ... The angels don’t know. Only God knows when."
LIFE WILL GO ON
What if the world doesn’t end? Will Camping and his followers admit they were wrong?
Probably not, according to the author of "The Rapture Exposed."
People whose predictions fail to happen typically take credit for helping mankind avert disaster, said Barbara Rossing, a Lutheran School of Theology professor and minister who specializes in end-of-the-world beliefs.
"It doesn’t seem to dissuade followers when it doesn’t happen," Rossing said. "Rather, they’ll be all the more fervent in their beliefs. They’ll think their actions managed to stave it off."
By Kelly Heyboer and Kathleen O’Brien/The Star-Ledger
Staff writers Aliza Appelbaum, Brian Donohue, Ginger Gibson, Tom Haydon, MaryAnn Spoto and Jason Grant contributed to this report.