What doctrine does Family Radio have of the End of the World? I originally asked this question on October 21, 2011. I had received a link to an article on the eBibleFellowship page explaining how we'd been living the Day of Judgment since May 21, and today (ie. Oct 21, 2011) was the End of the World!


  We are living in a most unusual time. On May 21, of 2011, mankind entered into the Day of Judgment. This “day” will last for 5 months (153 days) until October 21, 2011. The Bible is teaching us that this period of time is Judgment Day!


The article links to similar teachings of Family Radio (which eBibleFellowship is not affiliated with).

What is the origin of this teaching? Do other Christian groups besides Family Radio and eBibleFellowship teach this? How do they explain the predictions after the date has passed?



Note that in March 2012 Harold Camping of Family Radio admitted they were wrong and the statements they made were sinful.
The claim
Well, the underlying doctrine behind this is the idea of the rapture.  That idea comes out of dispensation premillennialism.  This doctrine states that Jesus will have all the Christians pulled out of the world before the tribulation occurs.
This particular prediction was made by Harold Camping.  He claims that the Bible was his source for this.  However, he also claims to have used a set of cycles to determine this including the Jewish feast days, the lunar calendar, and a close approximation to the Gregorian calendar.
There is no support for this claim outside of his own predictions.  The claim has been spread widely due to him being the president for the radio company that is spreading these claims.  Furthermore, it should be noted that his background is in radio ministry and not as a pastor, priest, or other doctrinal/biblical expert.
Validity
Regarding the validity of this claim,
2 Peter 3:10 says that Jesus will return like a thief in the night.  This indicates that there won't be people predicting his return and attempting to prepare others for it.  Furthermore, Jesus said in Matthew 24:36 that no one knows the day or the hour that these events will occur.
Given the strong biblical argument against someone predicting his return, I strongly discourage anyone from believing his methods and following this prediction.
More information here