KNOW THYSELF
That was the heading above the entrance to the Greek temple in Delphi: Gnoothi Seathon, Know Thyself, a quest we all are engaged in, whether we actually pursue it, or ignore it. I learned from translating a book on Revelation, the last Bible book, written by J. H. Bavinck, and available under the title, And On And On the Ages Roll, that, in the end, ‘Everything becomes what it is’. That applies to economic conditions, to what we call ‘creation’, and, yes, to us humans as well: in the end, everybody becomes what they are.
Are we really what we eat?
I once went to a lecture on food, entitled, We Are What We Eat. I learned that this is only half the truth. We also are our genes and our upbringing. Yes, physically, we are what we eat. More and more our ‘bought’ food is processed, or ultra-processed, not made to benefit us, but guarantee shelf-life and corporate profit, causing health problems in the process.
But mentally and, I should add, spiritually, we are, at least partially conditioned by our genes and upbringing: my growing up in an orthodox Christian family placed an undeniable stamp on me. For that reason, I did some internet searching and some soul searching as well to discover hidden traces.
My ancestors.
I spotted him because of his second name and my first one: Egbert: Harold Egbert Camping. Wasn’t he the man who had published, by billboards everywhere, the date of Christ’s return?
I decided to investigate, and, yes, I was related to him: His grandmother was a sister of my maternal grandfather, whose father, thus my great grandfather, was Drewes Bousma de Haan.
My mother told me that my great-grandparents lost much of their holdings, and with it their elevated status. Note the double last name, indicating some distinction, some sort of rural nobility. Apparently, he was a well-off gentleman-farmer, born in 1830, whose grandfather had been an appointed member of the political class, in the Province of Groningen. I remember seeing a plaque affixed above the entrance of a small church in Doezum, honoring his allegiance to the House of Orange, the titular head of the Netherlands since 1568.
My particular interest was in Harold Egbert Camping, the grandchild of Edo Albertus Kampen and Gepke Bousma de Haan who married on March 5 1896 in the Netherlands and shortly thereafter emigrated to Lynden, Washington, USA. Harold Egbert Camping – his father changed the name – was born on 19 July 1921 in Boulder, Colorado to Ralph Jacobus Camping and Trijntje “Trina” (Hettema) Camping.
When my grandfather was baptized his, parents deleted the ‘Bousma’ name, for the boys, but when the daughter, Gepke, married, she reclaimed that double surname, indicating an independent streak, later evident in her son who changed the family name from Kampen to Camping. Harold Egbert Camping moved at an early age to California; there he studied at University California, Berkely Campus, became an engineer, formed his own construction company, and was a millionaire at 35.
He and two other men founded Family Stations Inc. in 1958 and, a year later, began broadcasting fundamentalist Christian programming on a San Francisco station. Beginning in the 1970s, Harold predicted the world’s demise multiple times over 3 decades. His prediction for May 21, 2011 was widely reported, in part because of a large-scale publicity campaign by Family Radio, and it prompted ridicule and rebuttals from secular and Christian organizations. After May 21 passed without the predicted events, Camping said he believed that a “spiritual” judgment had occurred on that date, and that the physical Rapture would occur on October 21, 2011, simultaneously with the final destruction of the universe by God. Except for one press appearance on May 23, 2011, Camping largely avoided press interviews after May 21, particularly after he suffered a stroke in June 2011. After October 21, 2011, passed without the predicted apocalypse, the mainstream media labeled Camping a false prophet and commented that his ministry would collapse after the “failed ‘Doomsday’ prediction.
He passed away on 15 December 2013 after a fall in his home.
What about me, my family and our genes?
Has this trait, this religious zeal, this obstinacy contrary to Scriptural givens – see Matthew 24: 36, where Jesus explicitly states that ‘the Day and the Hour’ cannot be known – revealed itself in subsequent relatives? In me?
Know Thyself.
Yes, we are what we eat and we are our genes. I see traits of him in my wider family and in myself. I too, have this urge to warn people of the Coming of the Lord. I confess that my daily prayer is Maranatha, Lord. Come. And my relatives? I see traits in my younger brothers; I see traits in a nephew.
Know Thyself. A constant struggle.