Tom,

Of course I don't mean to say that all dispensationalists become date setters, but there is a certain gravity in dispensationalist eschatology to date set and I used as an example the Millerites who set a date very shortly after pretrib teaching was imported to the United States. The brevity between the introduction of this error and the practice of date setting seems to prove this inclination.

Part of me wants to say that this was just a money scam. But listening to some commentators on the Catholic Channel who explored this possibility in depth has changed my mind. There was no effort to solicit donations and those who lost fortunes over this were spending their own money on billboards and other forms of advertising, not giving it to Camping. All appearances are that neither Camping nor his followers expected to be here and Camping was not anticipating reaping financial rewards. This is actually sadder than if it had been a scam. They actually believed they were on the eve of being whisked away into the sky.

Aside from pointing out the errors of pretrib teaching, I have to wonder what it is that makes Christians want to be rescued from persecution; to be extracted before anything bad happens? Is this the way God has worked in the past, sparing Christians from ridicule, hardships, beatings, imprisonments and death? Why do some want to be spared the refining process by which the Church is purged of superficiality, the cowards fall by the wayside, and the pure gospel of Christ is put on world display? The tribulation period is not a time to be avoided, it's the Church's finest hour; to reflect the glory of God and triumph amidst intense persecutions. It's a time to stand for Jesus when the cost of doing so is grave.

Who would want to miss out on that?

Liberalism -- Ideas so good, they have to be mandated.