Has anyone here read the Left Behind series? My family are hardcore fundamentalist who have been trying like heck to get me to read this stuff. (I haven't told my dad who was a southern baptist preacher that I became a Catholic a few years ago. I am fairly certain he would think I was the actual anti-Christ. As it is the rest of my family who do know think I have lost my mind completely, as well as my soul.)

I came across this article yesterday and immediately thought of Kubla It's a bit long and although I don't personally agree with all of his points, but he is right on with what I have personally experienced in regards to the viewpoint of most of the "fundies" I have known. Many of them seem to be way too eager for the whole end times scenario to play out in our lifetime. This, coupled with current events, scares me a little.

(warning: explicit language and controversial subject matter)

http://www.joebage...at_the_left_b.html

Posted by Trixi Has anyone here read the Left Behind series? My family are hardcore fundamentalist who have been trying like heck to get me to read this stuff.

Keep fighting them. Soon, their resolve may turn to trying like hell, and then you're in serious trouble.

(I haven't told my dad who was a southern baptist preacher that I became a Catholic a few years ago. I am fairly certain he would think I was the actual anti-Christ. As it is the rest of my family who do know think I have lost my mind completely, as well as my soul.)

Jesus...that sounds harsh.

I came across this article yesterday and immediately thought of Kubla It's a bit long...

And it's a bit boring. I gave up with the melting tongues and splayed horses.

(warning: explicit language and controversial subject matter)

WOW That's fucking harsh shit. This guy is a fucking cracker, au bout. It's kinda like hearing your third grade teacher say 'fuck' in the grocery store...one of those 'spot your third grade teacher on a Saturday in the grocery store' things...? No? Never mind.

I have them all. I didn't think it was a bad series, really. Not as important as some folks seemed to think it was, but pretty true to what the Baptist view of the end seems to be.

I bet it would make a great Quintin Tarantino flic.

Posted by KublaKhan I bet it would make a great Quintin Tarantino flic.

I would love to see that.

Posted by KublaKhan I bet it would make a great Quintin Tarantino flic.

They did actually make a movie of the first couple books. Kirk Cameron is in it. Not a horrible movie, but the director's no Quentin Tarantino.

Posted by Watcher They did actually make a movie of the first couple books. Kirk Cameron is in it. Not a horrible movie, but the director's no Quentin Tarantino.

Yeah...I'd heard about Kirk. Growing Pains transformed him. Apparently, the girl (woman) who played his sister is a Born Again as well.

Maybe these kids did something really really naughty while working on their first show. Maybe this sparked their conversion into fevered religiosity.

Now...as far as Quentin goes...if he were to direct one of these movies, and have Kirk as a star (he transformed into something of a hottie...but I digress) where he's all muscled and shirtless and goes about praising Jesus (kinda like Ned Flanders...the ultimate buff Christian) who eventually gives his life in a selfless act of devotion...a violent and bloody sacrifice...THAT would make for fantastic box office.

Posted by KublaKhan Yeah...I'd heard about Kirk. Growing Pains transformed him. Apparently, the girl (woman) who played his sister is a Born Again as well.

Tracey Gold? She went through some trouble with Anorexia Nervosa, and I think some "recreational pharmaceuticals" factored into that as well. She's cleaned up her act now, though. Her conversion probably had something to do with that.

Maybe these kids did something really really naughty while working on their first show. Maybe this sparked their conversion into fevered religiosity.

Dunno. You could be right. (Now, that is probably the scariest thing I have ever said.)

Now...as far as Quentin goes...if he were to direct one of these movies, and have Kirk as a star (he transformed into something of a hottie...but I digress) where he's all muscled and shirtless and goes about praising Jesus (kinda like Ned Flanders...the ultimate buff Christian) who eventually gives his life in a selfless act of devotion...a violent and bloody sacrifice...THAT would make for fantastic box office.

You're probably right about that too. But that doesn't seem like Kirk Cameron style. How are you going to get Quentin Tarantino to cast *him* in that role?

Posted by Watcher Tracey Gold? She went through some trouble with Anorexia Nervosa, and I think some "recreational pharmaceuticals" factored into that as well. She's cleaned up her act now, though. Her conversion probably had something to do with that.

Fucking 'recreational' use. What total amateur horse shit.

Keith Richards...he's my man. 40 years of concentrated focus on professional pharmaceutical usage and he's doing fine, thank you very much.

Recreational users typically concede failure in their personal jones(es), and turn to Jesus as a spiritual methadone treatment for their salvation.

You're probably right about that too. But that doesn't seem like Kirk Cameron style. How are you going to get Quentin Tarantino to cast *him* in that role?

Sex on the casting couch. What else?

I read all the Left behind books, getting increasingly frustrated with the writing throughout the series.

All I guess I wanted to say here though is that in the end of the series, these people who have survived and are now getting their reward, they're people who have suffered horrible persecution to the point of hiding out in cities bombed to hell, watching their wife/daughter get beheaded on international television. They were hunted like animals and in the end, they get their reward and the people who perpetrated these crimes are killed.

I'm not saying I cheered when I read those sections, in fact I thought it was overdone and rather horrid... But I can see where they emotional play comes in.

Left Behind is a fiction series about what people think might happen in the end. I thought it was an exciting series for the first like... 5 books and then I just doggedly hung on til the end. They were pretty formulaic at that point.

And as for the movie... they've now released the third and I haven't seen it yet but the first two got a little... strangely separated from the series. it's like they're re-writing the whole thing as they go along. They aren't the worst movies I've ever seen (Eak! Death Tunnel) But I wouldn't watch them more than once.

I was shocked that the Left Behind series was produced as direct-to-DVD movies. Washed up Kirk C or not, those were some God-awful "films."
Regardless of your take on the novellas, they are some of the best selling fiction in the history of American literature.
Couple that fact with the rise of the religious right in the US and you have a serious market for well produced films.
Had they cast the movies well and shot them in a more sensational and plausible fashion they'd have made 10s of millions.
Even the Economist wrote a footnote about the wasted opportunity.

I think they should do one that's kinda a Brokeback Mountain kind of Left behind. For example: Left Behind at Brokeback Mountain, or some shit, and have Kirk Cameron lead some cult of washed-up sit-com kids...Adam Rich comes to mind...and the idea is that there's a Point of Salvation kind of thing going on at this Brokeback Mountain thing, but it turns out to be a killer fluffer show, and Kirks all sweaty and getting worked, and he's praising Jesus as Adam Rich (or whoever...maybe the kid who played Ben in Kirk's show...or even Tina Yothers from Family Ties) fills him etc. etc. and then there's a bolt of lightning (get it?) and the sky opens up and they all get sucked into Heaven except for the one seriously hetero kid (Bobby Brady).

Left Behind at Brokeback Mountain.

Something like that.

I think a "Religion Bashing" board should be created and bashing can take place there.

Posted by katwoman I think a "Religion Bashing" board should be created and bashing can take place there.

I'm not bashing religion.

I'm bashing straight-to-video releases that employ the fiction of Revelations as a ideological tool as a means of manipulating religious zealots.

Posted by KublaKhanI'm not bashing religion. I'm bashing straight-to-video releases that employ the fiction of Revelations as a ideological tool as a means of manipulating religious zealots.

And not even manipulating them in a sophisticated and savvy manner we all can enjoy.
Left Behind should have been a violent spectacle we all can enjoy!

Posted by DevilC And not even manipulating them in a sophisticated and savvy manner we all can enjoy. Left Behind should have been a violent spectacle we all can enjoy!

Agreed. And sexually explicit, too. I wanna see Kirk naked.

Meh, I never really got into the Left Behind series.

Posted by Curious_George Meh, I never really got into the Left Behind series.

Would you be into the Left Behind at Brokeback Mountain series?

Very much so, tell me more ;)

When your non-fiction career falters, begin writing genre fiction. That's what Tim LaHaye did at any rate. That said, I cannot say that the lack of quality in the narrative was at all surprising. The characters were flat, they were stereotypes, and they offered little in the way dialogue. Actually, not only do I believe that the characters names were shamelessly stolen from some pornography that I've watched, but I think that the style of dialogue was as well. _Left Behind_ is sexist, racist, and generally xenophobic. The plot was the worst that I have ever read, and that is in contrast to some pretty awful genre fiction. How embarrassing to admit that.
Although the book sellers and publishers might lie about numbers, and 60,000 copies sold is the whole series, that is still a massive number in the world of book sales. More than the text, the number of sales is appalling, because the nation's best-seller is a work of intolerance. With regards to the religious material within the book, I've seen some very good reasons that many Christians feel that it poorly represents the beliefs of those of a less fundamentalist persuasion. Of course, my interest is in the text as an artifact for rhetorical criticism, not in the religious material itself.

Having read it, I feel that you should know that it is anti-Catholic. Had the text not been required reading, I would have put it down after the first page and saved myself a considerable waste of time and money.