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Has anyone read the, "Left Behind" books?

When I was 9-years-old I saw them on the shelf at the library. I read the back and I checked it out. I left god at age 10. So I started the first 4 chapters and gave it up. It was confusing for me to read it. Half of it seemed like it would never happen. Even at age 9, I wasn't very Christian like. My mom wasn't into god too much. Just enough to label us Christians. The book was for adults though. It seemed a little absurd to me to have people vanish into the sky and leave their clothes behind, and others were left behind. I was soon to become 10-years-old. The book was the last straw for me ever believing in
a god. I returned the book, then turned towards atheism. Have you read the series of the books?

Sarahroo29 8 Feb 27
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22 comments

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6

Not only did I read them, but some more than once, and I owned all of them at one time. My kids all read them. I wish I had that money and time back now.

Yeah, I also wish my exes came with W-2's. I want my money back.

5

I was leaving religion when the first book came out.At the local library I saw it and thought it was sci-fi so I took it out and read about two chapters. That was all I could stomach. I told the librarian that it was the most immoral book I had come across.

gearl Level 8 Feb 27, 2018

Lol.

5

I haven't but one of the funniest and brilliant business ideas I've ever come across was born from the idea. [globalanimal.org]
Rapture insurance for pets delivered by your friendly atheist.

Oh I like that..,!

Nice.

4

Never read them because I knew what they were about.
I can't take that christian bullshit.

Same.

4

Christian fiction bores and irritates me. Most of it is poorly written, poorly edited, if at all, assumes that everything in the Bible is true, and that the reader subscribes to conventional Christian beliefs.

Furthermore, it is usually transparently pushing a religious agenda..such as TURN OR BURN, you loser!

Even when I still somewhat identified as "Christian" I told people the same thing when they recommended religious books, and I gave any gift religious books away asap.

Same here. I don't own religious books.

3

I can't possibly read all the books I want to. I can't be bothered to read those books.

Yep.

3

I read them years ago. I can't remember anything about them.

Me neither.

2

No , but for some reason I sat through the movie with Nicholas Cage playing the hero pilot . Just think , all those raptured get to meet Jerry Falwell personally .

Lol.

2

When I would/do see them I react like I would to Brussels sprouts...

An FYI point, according to my reading, the "rapture and associated bologna" wasn't even a concept until around the late 1800's.

I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing.

2

No, I am not interested in religious nonsense.

Yep. I had to figure it out when I was young.

2

Yeah ..anything based on the Rupture is asinine..

Yes.

2

I tried to. Not very well written. I gave up after the first few chapters of the first book.

So, they are like the Bible then, eh?

Yes.

2

I've read a few. I kept thinking they "had to be" Sci-Fi and it sure couldn't be about the Rapture?
Then I figured out it was the premise for the books.

Terrible books. So much shaming in those buggers.

A local church put on a play based on them (I know they were Christian but not which kind).

I did watch the series on TV "Left Behind" now that one I enjoyed. Especially the ending! (no spoilers).

Hmmm... I've heard of the play before.

1

I read the kids version (yes there is a kids version) and it freaked me the fuck out as a kid, I probably accepted god into my heart 5 times each chapter because of how much of a horror movie they made it seem if Christians weren’t here

Awe, I'm sorry it disturbed you so much.

1

No. Fortunately, I had several sets of Encyclopedias at that age and have never spent much time on reading any fiction. Much less, Pop religious fiction. Ever.

Good.

1

I've never read the books. I saw the first movie. Not much to say about it. The logistcis of the whole story are so ill-conecieved that I had to wonder if anyone on the cast or crew ever gave a thought to the actual physics of it... my bad... of course they didn't.

Haha. The whole series was just absurd.

1

The whole idea of "left behind" is absurd to me. Evangelical churches came up with this and I am ex-Pentecostal. Well, there you are. Out of a little bit of nothing they invent an entire happening that "comes from the bible" and is based on very little scripture. In fact, there is great confusion here on whether you are "being raptured" (a dubious doctrine indeed) or being spirited off to a great war that might have happened for real in 70 AD. It's also interesting to note that a lot of scripture writing happened about that same time also. People were trying to have meaning in their lives and understand just what was happening. Today we have given this a "futuristic" approach and imagined that god would "remove the poor Christians from upcoming suffering" before the end of the world.
It's something that god never did before but people like the idea because they are now "special" and besides, nobody likes to be "left behind." It also sells lots of different books on the absurd subject.

Yep.

1

I tried. They lacked the cheesy finesse of Hal Lindsay's 70s' rapture scare lit, so I never could finish one of them.

Lol.

@Sarahroo29 Oh, Grasshopper, you missed the golden age of bad Rapture fiction. They gave Chick tracts a run for their money.

[en.wikipedia.org]

1

There was a young lady who felt it her duty to try to give me a book to explain her belief. She chose the first book of the "Left Behind" series. I gave her "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". I read the book. I do not know if she read the book I lent her. Never saw her again.

Lol.

1

I paged through a couple of 'em while in a thrift store, but was not at all inspired to read them through after a few ridiculous lines !

3-4 chapters and I was done.

1

I tried to read one of those but the writing was so bad I didn't make it very far.

Back in my evangelical daze I read The Late Great Planet Earth by the same author. That was a book about standard-issue evangelical eschatology (doctrine of the end times) and how it was supposedly playing out before our eyes on the world stage (this was the 1970s). It set the framework for LaHaye's later ill-advised forays into OUTRIGHT fiction.

Oh, okay.

0

I read one without realizing what it was. I thought it was another SF novel among the ones I had checked out at the library. Once I started reading, it didn't take long to realize my mistake...first, I remember thinking the author was inserting too much religion for a SF book...

marga Level 7 Mar 1, 2018
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