I'm finally slogging through the rest of the Left Behind series. I didn't think it was possible, but they get even more annoying towards the end. Satan possesses the Antichrist, and he's kind of an idiot. By which I mean, he has no more idea what's going on than his minions do. I get that the evil secular humanists are supposed to be totally unfamiliar with the Bible & unwilling to find out, even after the plague of locusts and the water turning to blood and so on. But wouldn't Satan at least have a clue?
The most unintentionally hilarious moment so far was in book 9 when the Antichrist desecrates the temple in Jerusalem by murdering someone inside the temple, then going to the inner sanctum and sacrificing a pig, wallowing in the blood and laughing like a maniac. One of the believers sees this and wonders to himself why the minions would offer adulation to someone who acts like a drunken reveler at a frat party. Um? I'm pretty sure the frat brothers at Duke restrained themselves to petty hijinks like burning things and throwing up on the quad. But slaughtering pigs and rolling around in the fresh blood? There must be a lot we don't know about those Bible colleges.
Will write more (maybe) when I'm finished the series, but here's one more for the LB vs. Soaps series.
Romance:
Left Behind: "I could look into your eyes until Jesus comes."
Soap Opera: "I don't do sex for money. I do it because I like it."
5 Comments
The last thing Jesus says in the Bible is "Behold, I come quickly" (Revelation 22:7). You never know who'll have a problem like that.
And it takes a real man to admit it.
I get really bugged by the (seemingly) prevalent idea among the "saved" that those of us who are godless infidels are only that way because we never "heard the word of God." I heard it, and and I even tried the whole religion thing for the first 21 or so years of my life. It just wasn't working for me.
Thanks for reading the "Left Behind" series so the rest of us don't have to!
I'm more and more coming to the conclusion that to write about the Left Behind series the way I want to, I have to REread it all! I thought I could just dip into it for exact notes, but I waited too long, and generalities (like why Satan is clueless, for instance) have faded from my mind.
I really respect you for reading the whole series. One of my pet peeves is people who mock it, or Peretti's fiction, or whatever, without having read it. There's plenty to mock if you have, and one might as well be accurate.
Lisa B: I think that attitude you describe isn't prevalent among Christians as a whole, but among a vocal minority who seem to think they represent all Christians, but I don't think they do. Most Christians I've met are down with the whole "live and let live" thing.
Also, I don't think that believing one possesses The Truth is unique to Christianity -- I've met ideologues of all stripes who seem to think that if you don't agree with them, they must not be talking loud enough.
Nellorat: I do have some serious thoughts about LB, but I'm waiting until I'm done with the series for that. For now, on with the mocking!