6 Reasons the Left Behind Books Suck (And Why the Movie Might, Too)

[chiggerwood]

Ughhh... reading through your article just makes me disgusted by this kind of obsession with death cult literature. To think there are people wishing and hoping for this to happen just completely boggles my mind. I remember going home for a holiday years ago and seeing on my father's dresser one of the left behind books, it literally made me feel sick thinking he might actually hope for this kind of thing to happen or possibly fantasize about it.

I understand peoples desire to want to believe in a deity and live the best possible life they can but all this dwelling on death and end times... is just looney.

What's the point of being a kind, loving, compassionate and caring person if you don't get the satisfaction of knowing everyone else is going to suffer?

Really, the fact that there are children in Africa starving to death is the only way I can enjoy the half of a hamburger I don't throw out. In all seriousness though, as a Christian myself the big smiles and unbridled joy that many of the evangelicals have when it comes to the end of days theology both disgust and disturbs me. I cannot for the life of me fathom why someone one would enjoy or fantasize about this kind of thing.

OT:Yeah, pretty much agree with the OP on this one. Really I would respect the books, (not necessarily believe them, because I don't take Revelations as literal prophecy) if they were to make the antichrist some sort of Christian leader that twist the Bible to his purposes AND make the protagonist likeable. I think the thing that has always disturbed me most was the lack of sympathy towards the unsaved; it's disgusting.

spoke too soon on the lack of religion bashing.

Yes, yes you did. You should've known better, it is the internet after all.

 

[chiggerwood]

They're written by people who have so much contempt for the other people around them that they can't actually believe that they're capable of thought. That's why we get nurses saying things like 'I'm so sad all the children are gone, because now I can't have any abortions'. I'm not even making a joke, someone literally says that.

MeHfurtonakinakiheeeenghhhh... *Rebooting Brain, Please Hold*

Sorry about that, anyways. I had forgotten about that. I had forgotten those words exist and now I remember. I remember reading them. I remember that's what made me stop reading the books. I remember having to digest that stupidity at twelve! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO REMIND ME!? I'm going to curl up in a corner and cry to myself for a while.

 

[BrotherRool]

I remember that's what made me stop reading the books.

On the other hand it's nice that they put such a clear reminder that the books were irredeemably stupid and mean-minded towards the beginning of the series. It could have been worse, you could have gone on reading them

 

[RandV80]

Ughhh... reading through your article just makes me disgusted by this kind of obsession with death cult literature. To think there are people wishing and hoping for this to happen just completely boggles my mind. I remember going home for a holiday years ago and seeing on my father's dresser one of the left behind books, it literally made me feel sick thinking he might actually hope for this kind of thing to happen or possibly fantasize about it.

I understand peoples desire to want to believe in a deity and live the best possible life they can but all this dwelling on death and end times... is just looney.

I've always felt that the people into this sort of thing are those at the latter end of the life, they've been there done that so now rather than going grey & decrepit being swept away by the 'rapture' is a much more romantic way to go. From the last time the world was supposed to end a few years ago according to that radio show host guy, if you looked at the bio's of the people who sold everything and rode around in motorhomes preaching the end of times the description 'not much left to live for' fit them to a T.

 

[chiggerwood]

I remember that's what made me stop reading the books.

On the other hand it's nice that they put such a clear reminder that the books were irredeemably stupid and mean-minded towards the beginning of the series. It could have been worse, you could have gone on reading them

On the other, other hand I had successfully buried that memory, and you dug it up causing me pain and misery. So there's that :b

 

[impocalyptic]

Towards the end of the article, he says abstinent people go to hell. I think he meant atheist. After six hellish years in a Christian high school, I'm fairly certain that the abstinent people would be given a first class ticket to heaven.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Wait to see how the movie turns out? From advance screenings and critic reviews, apparently it lightens up slightly on the horrendousness of the books and plays up their dull nature.

If you need more than 6 reasons why the Left Behind books suck, try http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/tag/left-behind/ This guy has been spending 10 years detailing page-by-page why Left Behind fails at every level. He's only at book 3 now. Unfortunately, there are some "gaps" in the archive of his earlier posts, but hey, there's plenty to read anyway.

If someone else hadn't linked Fred Clark, I would have. Glad he's picked he's series back up recently.

 

[beastro]

Books and movies suffer from the same problem that unimaginative Christian writers have suffered from since they decided to put their own spin on the New Testament: It's hard to create drama and remain meek.

It goes back centuries and there are stories written by newly converted Germanic tribesmen trying to fit in te New Testament into the setting of Northern Europe and finding themselves scrambling for anything to make it live up to being a good old Germanic epic and largely falls to Peter cutting off the servants ear to make up almost all of the violence that Germans (and many modern American audiences) are looking for.

If you're unable to make a essay heavy story about the NT work you have to sit back and rethink how to present what you want to tackle either going for allegory or using the themes in your own original work.

 

[Nixou]

6 Reasons the Left Behind Books Suck

1. Because it's the fantasy of old men who hate their world for not rigging the economic competition in their favor as much as it used to.

2. Because it's the fantasy of bitter old men who hate their world for not rigging the economic competition in their favor as much as it used to.

3. Because it's the fantasy of bitter old white men who hate their world for not rigging the economic competition in their favor as much as it used to.

4. Because it's the power fantasy of bitter old white men who hate their world for not rigging the economic competition in their favor as much as it used to.

5. Because it's the masturbatory power fantasy of bitter old white men who hate their world for not rigging the economic competition in their favor as much as it used to.

6. Because it's the self-righteous masturbatory power fantasy of bitter old white men who hate their world for not rigging the economic competition in their favor as much as it used to.

***

Here's a fun drinking game: Take a drink every time somebody doesn't act particularly upset that all of the world's children have gone away.

Are you trying to Kill people?

***

If you need more than 6 reasons why the Left Behind books suck, try http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/tag/left-behind/

His blog could be summarized as 666.666 reasons (and counting) why the Left Behind books suck more than any other series of books: kinda like the superlative of superlatives of left-behind reviews.

***

It's a damn shame they wasted Nick Cage on Rayford Steele. Nicholas Cage does one things good, and that is crazy. How they didn't get him to play the anti christ I will never know.

Because you'd end up rooting for him, that's why.
If you want to cast Nick Cage as the anti-christ, start lobbying for a live-action interaction of Xenogears and have him casted as Fei. Doesn't matter how cheesy the rest of the movie will be, Nick will carry it all on his shoulders.

 

[Czann]

True Horror #6: that there are millions of people out there who believe this to be an accurate description of things to come.

 

[Aerotrain]

Unacceptable! You wave your chequebook around long enough to get Nicholas Cage to sniff it out and wander in to your crazy evangelical apocalyptic movie set then you damn well better get him to play the Antichrist. You don't even need a script for him, just tell him "Nick, you're the antichrist. Go!". What a missed opportunity, this is why everyone in Hollywood is gonna get left behind.

 

[Darth_Payn]

They already made this series 3 movies, and I readily predict that this time it will be the exact same drull thing, only with Nicholas Cage as the star. At least Cage is a talented actor - at least incredibly more so that Kirk Cameron.

If not more talented, then at least more entertaining and fascinating. Just don't do like Abed Nadir and dwell too much on it, or you'll really Cage out!

It's a damn shame they wasted Nick Cage on Rayford Steele. Nicholas Cage does one things good, and that is crazy. How they didn't get him to play the anti christ I will never know. It blows my mind the missed opportunity. It could have been the best comedy of the year, nick hamming it up to the 9's as the antichrist. What a waste.

I don't know about the 9's, but at least the 6's. 3 of them, by my math.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

6 Reasons the Left Behind Books Suck (And Why the Movie Might, Too)

Sure, they're touted as best-selling novels, but the Left Behind books -- and maybe this week's movie release -- just aren't very good.

Read Full Article

Your prediction of the future has proven to be accurate: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/left_behind_2014/