What do you think of doomsayers predicting the end of the world?

Miguelito Herrera, Cabanatuan City: They are getting paranoid. These are false prophets out to gain media mileage.

Lorenzo Fernandez Jr., Cabanatuan City: Gullible people are everywhere, not only in the Philippines, and doomsayers, like politicians, feed on them by using the name of God. 

False prophets

Leonard Villa, Batac City: These doomsayers are the false prophets mentioned in the Book of Matthew in the Holy Bible. Harold Camping and followers are greatly delusional.

Manny Cordeta, Marikina City: I’d like to call them the modern-day Nostradamus, an astrologer who was so preoccupied with making prophecies identified largely with major catastrophes as earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones or related holocausts that seem so destructive to signal the world’s end. But the entire world apparently had been faked. Not to be outdone, Harold Camping, an entrepreneur who owns more than 200 Christian radio stations, appeared unperturbed. He boldly predicted that Jesus Christ would appear on earth in 1994, but it went “pfffft!” Camping never gave up. Instead, he bragged about some mathematical computations he had initiated, and came up with another prediction, the end of the world last May 21, which turned out to be just an ordinary day. I suggest that he and his band of seers camp out in the Quiapo district and flaunt their crystal balls to gaze in.

Romeo Villanueva, Metro Manila: False prophets.

Armando Tavera, Las Piñas City: These doomsayers are now on equal footing with our very own Madam Auring. They now belong to fourth-class false prophets.

J.R. Mondonedo Jr., Parañaque City: I believe Harold Camping and his followers are either under medication or may have understood the Bible incorrectly, and this goes for all those fortune tellers who predict things na pa-chamba-chamba lang. At least Camping was bold enough to predict the exact time and date, although he failed, unlike other play-safe seers. We cannot even predict when earthquakes are going to happen! What we should all do is to just believe in God and love him with all our hearts. Amen to that! 

Cheap fame

Marinelle Diaz, Australia: It is their easiest way of gaining attention and fame all over the world. They seem to be like Osama Bin Laden and get fascinated seeing themselves on TV.

Rey Onate, Palayan City: These doomsayers ay mga nag-uulyanin na, gusto pang sumikat. 

Friendly reminder

Ed Gulmatico, Abu Dhabi: They may be prophets of doom, but their existence in this world serves as a neutralizer. Also, their doomsday predictions serve to remind us, once in a while, of the reality that we are just transient boarders in this world, which will really come to an end, whether by God’s will or by our own doing.

Nestor Buñag, Mandaluyong City: Positively, they serve as chronicles for us to keep praising God for His greatness, thanking Him for His providence, lamenting our sins, asking for His forgiveness.

Dr. Jose Balcanao, Benguet: When man predicts the end of the world, it is an offshoot of the things we do against the laws of nature because of man’s unending and ingrained selfishness. Disasters, calamities and accidents are caused by our neglect of nature, and therefore not God’s wrath against men. 

Crazy people

Robert Young Jr., San Juan: They are nuts.

Edwin Castillo, Tanauan City: They are lunatics who should have their heads examined in the mental hospital.

Ruel Bautista, Laguna: When you are on the wrong side of the fence, that’s what happens.

Joe Nacilla, Las Piñas City: A little learning is a dangerous thing. The guy who predicted that the world would end on May 21, 2011 is not an evangelist or a minister. He just focuses on reading and analyzing the Scriptures, making interpretations and conclusions to the point of twisting the screws of their brain, making it abnormal and crazy. 

Just like our politicians

Gerii Calupitan, Muntinlupa City: They are “fruits and nuts” (slang for crazy and abnormal). Romans boasted “Rome is the world”. Their reign ended, Spain, Greece, UK, etc. said the same before modern-day doomsayers, just like those who said: This nation can be great again, walang kumpare, walang kaibigan, walang kamag-anak, kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap. We believed their words, hoped for the best, but ended up bitin. Politicians and self-proclaimed prophets are all the same.

Pedro Alagano Sr., Vigan City: They are individuals with hidden agenda and may wittingly or unwittingly promote and become an accomplice of business-minded individuals to produce movies depicting the end of the world, like “2012” and “Judgment Day”, for profit. But I have the belief that with too much hot air being spewed by our politicians in Congress, malapit nang matunaw ang mundo. Joke only. 

To each his own interpretation

Noel Alquiza, Metro Manila: It’s inevitable for such predictions to surface as splintered Protestants interpret the text of the Bible according to their own understanding.

June Deoferio, Cavite: That is their belief and prediction. Wala tayong magagawa. I pray that it will not happen.

Elpidio Que, Vigan: Whether we admit it or not, there are some people who are gifted to foretell the future. Nostradamus was one. If and when one says that judgment day will be on this day or that day, we should not let boiling rage hover over our head. Global climate change is here as a clear and present danger to the entire world, that if we as humanity would continue to abuse Mother Earth and the ozone layers, with clairvoyant confidence, we can say that Armageddon is near. As for those that foretold the end of the world on May 21, well, it did not happen. In Max Erhman’s “Desiderata”, the second stanza says “As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.” 

Have nothing to do with them

Elmo Cruz, Manila: There are signs that the gods of the world are waging war against the forces of God, like using artificial means of controlling pregnancy or building up useful but deadly nuclear power. The earthquake and tsunami that destroyed nuclear plants in Japan are enough to annihilate the whole world, but they are only signs that the end is coming, yet nobody except God knows when it will be. Jesus told that many would come in His name, deceiving people of the end of the ages, so beware. Harold Camping or anyone today foretelling the Armageddon is out of their mind. Do not trust them.

Ruben Viray, Antipolo City: Doomsayers are prophets of misfortune and calamity combined. We should not listen to them, as they do so at every opportunity. Their predictions should not be given any attention. No one can predict the future. Correct predictions are mere coincidence. Acts of God come when you least expect and that includes the final judgment.

Nescel Panes, Passi City, Iloilo: I believe nobody can foretell the future, much less the end of the world. Doomsayers want attention, to the extent of creating scandal among millions of people who are anxious about the end of the world. For the time being, let us enjoy, preserve and make our stay in this beautiful world in a meaningful way by being good, useful and productive members of our society. Let us not be bothered by unreliable predictions, for it might cause us stress. 

Only the gullible believe

Josephine Buenafe, Metro Manila: Anyone can access the Bible, which prophesied the end of the world, thus many fundamentalists give in to delusion. But, it is also written in the same Bible that no one knows the hour or day it will happen. So, it is the fault of those who believe the doomsayers.

Diony Yap, Bacolod City: There’s always a market for such superstition.

Rodolfo Talledo, Angeles City: A rather amusing joke dished out by pseudo-trying-hard prophets to break dull moments in life. After all, only the ignorant believe in it.

Ishmael Calata, Parañaque City: I must say to never give much credence to any prediction of the end of the world. When I read casually earlier about a certain Harold Camping who predicted that May 21 was the doomsday for the world, I heard my mind say, “Here we go again!” But I learned through the internet that this fundamentalist Christian has caused some people, mostly his followers, true doomsday for themselves, selling their properties just to help pay for billboards to announce this latest prediction of doom, and now they are left with nothing. To me, after Nostradamus, who truly predicted some of the woes that visited our world, doomsayers come and go, but only God knows when the appointed time “to judge the living and the dead’ will come at the end of time. 

So what now?

Ryan Pahimulin, Rizal: I want to see what they looked like after their predictions failed. 

Out to make a quick buck

Jesus Mendoza, Pangasinan: Doomsayers are plain charlatans who are out to make money out of their gullible followers.

William Gonzaga, Marikina City: Most of them are either nut cases or scammers who want to make money out of gullible believers. In the case of religious fanatics, they quote certain passages of the Bible to support such dire predictions. They misinterpret the Bible and build up scenarios to arrive at such conclusions.

C.B. Manalastas, Manila: Only God knows when the world ends. Gullible people made Harold Camping an astute doomsayer, earning him $80 million through his unfounded prophecy. 

Only God knows

Rose Leobrera, Manila: They are all insane. Only God knows when the end will be. These people are just imagining things.

Ella Arenas, Pangasinan: Even in ancient times, so many of them have already predicted the end of the world, but the bottom line is that nobody can really predict the exact date the world will end. Only God knows.

Leonard Kristian Gelacio, Cauayan City: They are neither right nor wrong, but one thing is for sure, only God knows when the world will end.

Rey Ibalan, Antipolo City: It is simply idiotic stupidity. Only God the Father, and nobody else, knows when the world would end.

Lydia Reyes, Bataan: I pity them. It seems that they have forgotten that only God knows when to end this world He created.

Rex Earlou Calmerin, Iligan City: As mentioned in the Bible, no one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Harold Camping is trying to kill us. 

Blasphemous

Ignacio Anacta, Metro Manila: I think it’s blasphemy, proclaiming something only God knows. Otherwise, they’ve got huge problems themselves. They want the world to end. 

A dud

Lucas Banzon Madamba, Laguna: Doomsayers sometimes can foretell the happenings of the world. They are seemingly equipped with extraordinary powers to predict the occurrences of events and things. Some doomsayers may be authentic, while some are not, like the one who predicted the May 21 judgment.

Jim Veneracion, Naga City: Predicting the end of the world is the handiwork of someone who has nothing worthwhile to do. He is what you can call “KSP”, or “kulang sa pansin”, like a prophet of doom. This doomsayer’s prediction was again a dud, just like those that came before it. In my opinion, only a supreme being like God can correctly predict the end of the world. Done by a lesser mortal like man, it is plain wishful thinking. 

It scared my kids

Ferdinand Rafer, Cavite: They were successful in scaring the wits out of my kids, but I told them that these doomsayers are bound to fail. 

We must be ready

Lorena Malones Martinez, Passi City, Iloilo: Doomsayers are mentally sick. Predicting the end of the world is the worst idea a person could ever think of. Only the almighty God knows when the time will come. All we need to do is always be prepared within ourselves. If doomsday comes, wherever we go, we can’t escape it. Just live according to the will of God and entrust your life to Him.

Germi Sison, Cabanatuan City: The end of the world could be literal or figurative, but it will come as the Bible says (Matthew 24: 1-14). The signs are evident in the natural and made-made calamities that have been happening, but only the Father knows the date and time. Preacher Harold Camping must have misinterpreted the Bible when he predicted the world would end last May 21, 2011 at 6 pm. Other doomsayers before him also predicted doomsday, but they all failed. What is important for us is that we are spiritually prepared any time to meet the Lord, as the end may come like a thief.

Francisco Chy, Metro Manila: It only causes panic and may affect our health. Better still, we must do good deeds. When the time comes, you have nothing to fear for any eventuality. 

Get a life

Joan Cejes, Makati City: They should get a life and stop predicting the end of the world ‘coz they’re no gods.

Dennis Montealto, Mandaluyong City: They are false prophets and pseudo-Christians. Shouldn’t they keep themselves busy with the Lord’s work, rather than just wait for the rapture, which no one can tell when anyway? 

A violent end

Manuel Abejero, Pangasinan: Nobody knows the time or the day. But, surely, the world will have its violent end, not in a single day or month, but a prolonged, agonizing end. 

Everything is in God’s hands

Abelardo Abilay, Laguna: No one knows exactly what the future holds, but we all know who holds our future. We must not focus much on the when, but we must definitely focus on the who. God is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

Deo Durante, Camarines Sur: Everything is in the hands of the Lord God. We all go to the next life, so there is nothing to predict. Things will happen as God wills.

Felix Ramento, USA: It did not at all bother me. Indeed, the world is full of deceivers! Rather than be distracted by them, let us nourish our personal relationship with the Lord, and instead hope that the second coming of Christ happens in our lifetime. 

Death is easy

Jose Fabello Jr., Cagayan de Oro City: We have nothing to worry about at all. Anyway, should the prediction come true, everyone dies. People think and worry about the pain of dying. Death comes in an instant.

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