IamMoose

I've only read excerpts but I thought they were very poorly written. I don't think I could stomach reading the entire series; however, I was thinking of suggesting to my fundie friend who keeps batting on about them to me that I will read 'em if she reads Harry Potter. Never happen, thank God.

Fittingly, this is my 6666th post.

Kassiana

I couldn't believe how very stupid, inaccurate, and agenda-driven they were. However, for me it was like watching a huge train wreck. I'd read it, think "How can anyone like this trash," and then read some more and think "People buy Precious Moments figurines."

credoconsolans

Didn't I see a History Channel special on the 'Rapture' which stated that the 'Rapture' really wasn't biblical, but something some 1830's preacher came up with?

Zeda

I have read the first four. As literature I felt they were written poorly, but as a glimpse into the minds of the RR crew, they were rather interesting. Also much of the action takes place in and around my hometown of Arlington Heights, IL. so that was intriguing for me. I grew up on this stuff so I didn't really see many changes in what I was used to.

As to the Rapture theory itself, it is indeed a rather recent invention. The Rapture itself is never mentioned in the Bible, but instead the Bible dwells on the 2nd coming of Christ, and the setting up of an earthly kingdom.

The Rapture comes from a verse that mentions meeting Christ in the air. It is I believe a escape hatch for Christians who don't want to deal with the realities of living in the real world, and/or their eventual deaths. An escape hatch from secular society and an avoidance of the tribulation that they believe will take place as God judges man and our society.

IvanJames

My ex (a former fundie) had one lying around, so I gave it a try. It's not exactly "The Corrections." I got about 10 pages into it before I had to put it down.

Actually, it reminded me of the Guns & Roses video "Don't Cry" in that it would have been a good serious effort if the artists had been in junior high school at the time. It's not just amateurish, it's a new gold standard of amatuerishness!

Oh, yeah, and the books are horrifyingly mean & violent as well.

---Ivan James

Barefoot Bree

Just wanted to tap this one note: NO.

This is not what all Christians believe, by a long shot. It is what some sects of Fundamentalist Christians believe, however. I don't have numbers at my fingertips, but I'd bet that actually less than 10% of US Christians believe in the Rapture, end times, etc.

Harpuia

Less than 5% to be exact.

Being a former Fundie tho, I read the whole series. I could you be a Fundie and not?

Vortex

I read the blurbs and couldn't go on. I did note, however, that all the seemingly glowing reviews quoted thereupon, from such respectable sources as Time and Entertainment Weekly, all regarding the phenomenon (such as it is) around the books, rather than the books themselves — like, "LaHaye and Jenkins have created a new genre: the Christian Blockbuster." None of them ever say the books are good.

Perhaps I might dip my toe into all this crap via the Left Behind: The Kids series, which are all wafer thin and couldn't take more than a half hour to get through. Or maybe the volumes of the ripoff series — "The Genesis Project" or something like that — I spotted at a library. They were from 2003; took long enough to latch on, didn't they?

Answerer

Me. And all of you should have read the last book "Glorious appearance" in which ALL NON CHRISTIANS ARE THROWN INTO THE DEPTHS OF HELL AND ALL THE PRESENT CHRISTIANS BASICALLY CRY OUT IN JOY!!!!!



YES! At least for most of the christians in my country and many christian sects, this is what they actually believed in !!! They use the Left behind scenario everytime they preach in their own churches, conversions and special day events.

The worse thing is that the "cult" is growing day by day. I hate it when people keep telling me anti-christ is coming from Europe as if I never heard of it before.

Queen of Swords

Thanks for the plugs, guys.

This made me think of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". On a more serious note, I read the first Left Behind : The Kids book, and it's just as poorly written as the others. This is part of my review for that novel.