Freethought & Rationalism Archive

yahwehyadayada · 06-28-2002, 07:41 AM

Maybe this has already been discussed before, but I just read a Time article about Tim LaHaye & his Left Behind moneymaker.
Has anybody read these books, & if so, are they the usual collection of fuzzy prophecies & dire warnings?

BibleBelted · 06-28-2002, 12:04 PM

Haven't read them because they're so stupid; however, to answer your question, they are novels which illustrate LeHaye's fundy vision of life during the Great Tribulation.

The "Left Behind" refers to all us poor heathens who do not get "raptured" and have to endure the horrors of the anti-Jeebus ruling the world.

Extremely stupid and profitable.

Nikolai · 06-28-2002, 02:31 PM

Interesting stats from the magazine

36% of Americans believe that the Bible is the wrod of god and to be taken literally

59% believe the prophecies in the Book of Rebelation will come true

35% say they are patying closer attention to news events and how they relate to the coming end of the world since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11

36% of those who support Isreal say they do so because they believe in biblical prophecies that Jews must control Isrel before Christ will come again (don;t they already?

<img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" /> )

17% believe the end of the world will happen in thier lifetime

About the books, puting the fundiness aside and reading they just for enjoyment, say as a fantasy book, is it worth it?? Gota know your enemy... <img src="graemlins/boohoo.gif" border="0" alt="[Boo Hoo]" />

B. H. Manners · 06-28-2002, 02:49 PM

I read the first book and found it to be rather poor literary work.

Queen of Swords · 06-28-2002, 03:45 PM

Here's my review of the related series Left Behind : The Kids -

Book 1 : The Vanishings, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

I don't know who Tim Lahaye's target audience for the "Left Behind" series is, but with the "Left Behind : The Kids" (LBTK) series, he appears to be preaching to the choir.

I read the first two chapters of "Vanishings", the first book of the LBTK series. The first chapter deals with Judd, a supposedly troubled teen in a Stepford family so irritating that I was on his side right away. His mother comes into his room at bedtime to ask if he still loves Jesus, and his perfect little twin brother and sister (Mark and Marcie, how cutesy) are the perfect sunday school students. And of course, Mark comes into his room to ask if he's accepted Jesus. Judd says yes, to get his annoying family off his back. How terrible of him.

Well, we know this unbeliever will get his comeuppance, don't we? Just in case we don't, Judd hears a sermon by a pastor who assures the christians that one day, Jesus will come back and take them all away to heaven, while the nonchristians are left behind. Won't this be a wonderful day for us, and a horrifying one for them? he exults. I always wondered if part of the fun of heaven would be smacking your lips over the smell of roasting sinners, and now I know.

Judd runs away. Can't blame him, I'd have run away myself.

Anyway, I steeled myself and went on to the next chapter. Vicki is a poor teenager in a dysfunctional family; she's disillusioned with life and with christianity. After all, if there's a loving god, why isn't he making their lives any better?

But in one of those 5-minute flip-flops so beloved of Jack Chick tracts, Vicki's drunken, abusive father hears a few words of the Good News and immediately shapes up. Who needs therapy when you got InstaConversion? Her little sister, Jeanni (I'm tired of all the sugarsweet names already), skips around the place full of love, telling Vicki that she's going to heaven to be with Jesus.

At this point I stopped reading, because while I can forgive snottiness, a lack of originality is another thing. And who can't sympathize with Judd and Vicki? I wanted to pat them on the backs for not being lemmings. And I also congratulated them on their high sugar tolerance; were I living in their cloyingly sweet Seventh Heaven households, I'd be rebelling too.

What a grotesque experience. I can't believe innocent kids everywhere are reading that godawful (heh) book.

Pensee · 06-28-2002, 05:50 PM

OH CRAP! *smacks self in the head* QOS, I forgot all about the whole selling them to you thing. SORRY! I swear if my head weren't attached......

*signs off to e-mail QOS*

Kassiana · 06-28-2002, 07:53 PM

The "left behind" series (my husband and I refer to them as "from behind" - hey, they really screw over the serious reader!) is so boring, with no characters that feel like real people, that I perversely got into reading them, hoping that at least when the AntiChrist took over they'd get more interesting.

News flash: it doesn't. I can understand heroes being boring. Heroes are hard to make convincingly good. But when you make a boring villain...guys, close the curtain and turn off the lights. The comedy has ended.

seebs · 06-28-2002, 11:05 PM

I'd just like to point out that most of the Christians I know consider these books to be terrifying, and somewhere on the fine line between crass merchandising and outright blasphemy.

I have no intention of wasting time worrying about the hypothetical end of the world. What would I do differently, after all?

Ragnarok · 06-29-2002, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by yahwehyadayada:
<strong>Maybe this has already been discussed before, but I just read a Time article about Tim LaHaye & his Left Behind moneymaker.
Has anybody read these books, & if so, are they the usual collection of fuzzy prophecies & dire warnings?</strong>

Let's not forgot that the whole series was turned into a hysterically funny mini-series back in the 70s. My fundy friends used to rent it and hold Left Behind parties where they would suffer through all umpteen hours of it. It's great for the kitsch value of the thing though. Lots of self-consciously "hip" slang, bell bottoms, "cool" cars like Chevy Novas and Malibus and Partridge family furniture.

Think "That 70s Show" meets Armageddon.

Pensee · 06-29-2002, 12:25 PM

OMG! I remember those movies. They used to scare the shit out of me!!!! They would give me nightmares for weeks. I'd be so scared that I was going to be "left behind" that I'd often creep into my dad & step-mom's room at night just to be sure they were still there.

06-28-2002, 07:41 AM	#1
yahwehyadayada Regular Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: WI Posts: 290	Left Behind books Maybe this has already been discussed before, but I just read a Time article about Tim LaHaye & his Left Behind moneymaker. Has anybody read these books, & if so, are they the usual collection of fuzzy prophecies & dire warnings?

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06-28-2002, 12:04 PM	#2
BibleBelted Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Oklahoma, USA Posts: 891	Haven't read them because they're so stupid; however, to answer your question, they are novels which illustrate LeHaye's fundy vision of life during the Great Tribulation. The "Left Behind" refers to all us poor heathens who do not get "raptured" and have to endure the horrors of the anti-Jeebus ruling the world. Extremely stupid and profitable.

06-28-2002, 02:31 PM	#3
Nikolai Regular Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Richmond, Virginia Posts: 422	Interesting stats from the magazine 36% of Americans believe that the Bible is the wrod of god and to be taken literally 59% believe the prophecies in the Book of Rebelation will come true 35% say they are patying closer attention to news events and how they relate to the coming end of the world since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 36% of those who support Isreal say they do so because they believe in biblical prophecies that Jews must control Isrel before Christ will come again (don;t they already? <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" /> ) 17% believe the end of the world will happen in thier lifetime About the books, puting the fundiness aside and reading they just for enjoyment, say as a fantasy book, is it worth it?? Gota know your enemy... <img src="graemlins/boohoo.gif" border="0" alt="[Boo Hoo]" />

06-28-2002, 02:49 PM	#4
B. H. Manners Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Texas Posts: 1,213	I read the first book and found it to be rather poor literary work.

06-28-2002, 03:45 PM	#5
Queen of Swords Contributor Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Canada. Finally. Posts: 10,155	Here's my review of the related series Left Behind : The Kids - Book 1 : The Vanishings, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins I don't know who Tim Lahaye's target audience for the "Left Behind" series is, but with the "Left Behind : The Kids" (LBTK) series, he appears to be preaching to the choir. I read the first two chapters of "Vanishings", the first book of the LBTK series. The first chapter deals with Judd, a supposedly troubled teen in a Stepford family so irritating that I was on his side right away. His mother comes into his room at bedtime to ask if he still loves Jesus, and his perfect little twin brother and sister (Mark and Marcie, how cutesy) are the perfect sunday school students. And of course, Mark comes into his room to ask if he's accepted Jesus. Judd says yes, to get his annoying family off his back. How terrible of him. Well, we know this unbeliever will get his comeuppance, don't we? Just in case we don't, Judd hears a sermon by a pastor who assures the christians that one day, Jesus will come back and take them all away to heaven, while the nonchristians are left behind. Won't this be a wonderful day for us, and a horrifying one for them? he exults. I always wondered if part of the fun of heaven would be smacking your lips over the smell of roasting sinners, and now I know. Judd runs away. Can't blame him, I'd have run away myself. Anyway, I steeled myself and went on to the next chapter. Vicki is a poor teenager in a dysfunctional family; she's disillusioned with life and with christianity. After all, if there's a loving god, why isn't he making their lives any better? But in one of those 5-minute flip-flops so beloved of Jack Chick tracts, Vicki's drunken, abusive father hears a few words of the Good News and immediately shapes up. Who needs therapy when you got InstaConversion? Her little sister, Jeanni (I'm tired of all the sugarsweet names already), skips around the place full of love, telling Vicki that she's going to heaven to be with Jesus. At this point I stopped reading, because while I can forgive snottiness, a lack of originality is another thing. And who can't sympathize with Judd and Vicki? I wanted to pat them on the backs for not being lemmings. And I also congratulated them on their high sugar tolerance; were I living in their cloyingly sweet Seventh Heaven households, I'd be rebelling too. What a grotesque experience. I can't believe innocent kids everywhere are reading that godawful (heh) book.

06-28-2002, 05:50 PM	#6
Pensee Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: florida Posts: 657	OH CRAP! smacks self in the head QOS, I forgot all about the whole selling them to you thing. SORRY! I swear if my head weren't attached...... signs off to e-mail QOS

06-28-2002, 07:53 PM	#7
Kassiana Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: USA Posts: 5,046	The "left behind" series (my husband and I refer to them as "from behind" - hey, they really screw over the serious reader!) is so boring, with no characters that feel like real people, that I perversely got into reading them, hoping that at least when the AntiChrist took over they'd get more interesting. News flash: it doesn't. I can understand heroes being boring. Heroes are hard to make convincingly good. But when you make a boring villain...guys, close the curtain and turn off the lights. The comedy has ended.

06-28-2002, 11:05 PM	#8
seebs Contributor Join Date: May 2002 Location: Saint Paul, MN Posts: 24,524	I'd just like to point out that most of the Christians I know consider these books to be terrifying, and somewhere on the fine line between crass merchandising and outright blasphemy. I have no intention of wasting time worrying about the hypothetical end of the world. What would I do differently, after all?

06-29-2002, 12:25 PM	#10
Pensee Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: florida Posts: 657	OMG! I remember those movies. They used to scare the shit out of me!!!! They would give me nightmares for weeks. I'd be so scared that I was going to be "left behind" that I'd often creep into my dad & step-mom's room at night just to be sure they were still there.

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