I just finished reading (for research) the first book in the Left Behind series, which was written about 10 years ago. I have to admit, it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. I expected Eschatology for Tards, with a lot of Harlequin-worthy prose tossed in to get the book-club set hooked. But Left Behind was quite straightforward, not like Frank Peretti's weird and overwrought books about flesh-and-blood demons taking over community colleges and suchlike (Peretti loathes formal education). The Left Behind books are more like Hal Lindsay's nonfiction series of the '70s (The Late Great Planet Earth, etc.), fleshing out the political and financial changes that lead to the endtimes. So these books aren't exactly revolutionary stuff. In fact, precisely the same ground was covered in that dismal Michael York flick of roughly 6 years ago, The Omega Code (which I saw on the big screen, if you can believe it).
I believe in Biblical prophecy and I fully expect the events covered in Revelation to occur. But I am not a fundamentalist or literalist in any sense. I know that the language of the Bible is deeply, perhaps indecipherably, symbolic in some places and riddled with error in others (because it was written by ordinary folks, not the hand of God, and has been translated and re-translated countless times).
I do not, however, believe in the Rapture. It's largely an extra-Biblical concept, never once mentioned by name in the New Testament. Paul wrote vaguely of believers being gone in "the twinkling of an eye", but that's Paul for ya. He was awfully cryptic, that guy.
I believe a pre-tribulation Rapture would be the easy way out for Christians, and I think it's safe to say that Christianity is not about the easy way.
Anyway, that's my position statement. Now I'll go back to Left Behind. I doubt that I'll make it through the whole series. I have too much other stuff to read, and at 500 pages each I just plain don't want to devote the time to 12+ Left Behind books. But I do want to sample each book, and perhaps read the kids' series to see what kind of influence LaHaye and Jenkins are trying to exert over the next generation. This series has sold millions of copies and spawned at least two-spin offs plus a prequel or two (not to mention the movie, which even I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole), so in the world of pop eschatology and Satanic panic it's a heavyweight. Most born-again and fundie Christians believe in the Rapture, the Anti-Christ as charismatic world leader, and the evils of one-world government and currency - and these books are the best (or at least most popular) expressions of these beliefs today.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I avoid religious discussions like the plague, but I do have to admit, when I first saw the bumper sticker "In case of Rapture, this car will be unmanned," I laughed.
That IS funny. The book really harps on that, too! It has like 50 descriptions of car crashes and traffic jams caused by people vanishing from their cars. And just as many descriptions of houses burning to the ground because a Raptured person left something on the stove. Does this mean Christians shouldn't cook? :)
Cook or use an iron.
Post a Comment