Left Behind Book Series

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Has anyone here read any of the books in the Left Behind book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins? What did you think about them? I have read a few of the books and thought Left Behind was the best in the series.
 
No, I haven’t read the fiction stuff, but they (or at least Mr. LaHaye) also have a book that talks about the theology of the series, and I have read that. I’d tell you the name, but it was a library book, and I don’t really remember it.

I disagree with the theology. However, reading their arguments got me to think about the book of Daniel in a light I hadn’t considered before.
 
I haven’t read the novels, but I read the graphic novel and saw the first two movies. I liked them ( although I don’t agree with their rapture theology ), but I stopped liking them when I heard about some of the things they say about Catholics in the novels.
 
The only things I saw in the Left Behind series (i’ve read them all) concerning Catholics are these 2 things.
  1. with the initial rapture the current pope was raptured. However, they describe has adopting more Protestant views and leave you with impression that that was why he made the rapture to begin with.
  2. In one of the later books, though, he describes a South American Catholic who was left behind. But practically his whole parish was taken including the priest and his favorite catechsis teacher, with no mention of them being more “protestant like.”
 
I read:

Left Behind
Tribulation Force
Nicolae
Soul Harvest
Apollyon
Assassins
I read them a few years ago and have not read any of the newer ones. From what I remember, I do not specifically recall any direct attacks on Catholics or any other branch of Christianity.
Out of all of them, Left Behind was the best in my opinion/the most edge of your seat. What is nice about it is that you do not have to reasd the others to feel as if you have read a complete story. I saw the movie and thought it was no where near as good.
 
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CatherineofA:
Has anyone here read any of the books in the Left Behind book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins? What did you think about them? I have read a few of the books and thought Left Behind was the best in the series.
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I forced myself to read the first one and the writing was so bad my eyes were constantly rolling. I wouldn’t waste my time on the other books and movies, and neither should you.

The theology it teaches about the end times is pure error and is in conflict with Catholic and all historical Christian teaching. The Rapture theology itself as it is presented in the novels is less than 200 years old and was not believed by any Christian before then. In fact, it is based on the premise that there is no visible Church on earth; that the Church is just some sort of nebulous, spirirtual communion of Christians biding our time until we’re all raptured up and God can concentrate again on Israel, who rejected Christ the first time around. As I said, this is opposed to the teaching of the Church as Christians have always believed that the Church is the fulfilment of Israel, not a poor “Plan B” substitute.

For more information about this end times error, see the Catholic Answers tract:

The Rapture
catholic.com/library/Rapture.asp

or visit Carl Olsens page at:
carl-olson.com/rapture_articles.html

By the way, if you REALLY want to gain a great understanding of the prophetic nature of the Book of Daniel, I highly recommend “Rapture: The End Times Error that Leaves The Truth Behind” by David Currie.
 
I read them and since I anticipated they would represent a theology different than my own, I didn’t use them as a “theological treatise” but as a good adventure story, with many interesting references to Scripture—but I must say the two main heroes of the thing were almost like Indiana Jones - never have two people been through that much physical carnage and survived it all without too many scratches. Wow! And the depiction of the two endtime prophets certainly described them as much different than I had them pictured. One thing did crack me up - they had endless funding, I mean these people had more SUV’s, planes, specially built custom shelters, personal drivers and houses to stay in than Adnan Kashoggi.
 
If you do a search on Left Behind, this series has been discussed several times on here, some good threads …
 
I have read so far I think eight books in the series. Mostly for the laughs. They are very badly written. They are extremely mis-informed about the Catholic Church, and indeed every non-fundamentalist Protestant faith. Also they really have no idea about the world beyond US shores. The way everybody speaks English and has air conditioning seems especially unrealistic.

Anyway be that as it may, after reading Left Behind I checked out the theology by reading "The Rapture Trap" by Paul Thigpen. I suggest you do the same. It is easy to read and points out quite clearly how Catholic teaching differs from the whole idea of the Rapture which even most protestants do not believe in.

Happy reading.
 
I read the first two books , I wanted to see what all the hopela was about, as well as thought they might be good “adventure” books. I read enough Sci-Fi, so how different could it be.

But I just couldn’t get over how the book was trying to tell you this is the way you’re supposed to be. It read like a Protestant tract on how to fear God.
LIttle Jimmy though he knew it all,
but Beth had it right
Jimmy should’ve listened to Beth because now he’s all alone.

That right there is pretty much the summary of the first 100 pages with a tiny bit of mystery put in. From Theological nor literary adventure point was I very impressed.
 
I read all of them up to Jesus’ second coming. Apparantly they have one more book in the series. I think they are an interesting story. The theology is apparantly quite wrong. I have not read up on the theology of the books vs the Catholic Church, but I do have two books regarding that topic.

One other anti-catholic “backhand” is the charater of Leon Fortunato. He becomes the head of the anti-Chrit’s church and is adorned with a fancy robe and a staff and a hat and is called pontiff. If that’s not a reference to our Pope…
 
Although there is a chance you can take some of the “Left Behind” series as “anti-Catholic” you need to remember that the authors are NOT Catholic for a reason. They are fundamentalists, a large part of which is denying Catholicism.

In terms of the books, I have read them all and generally enjoyed them. The idea of a rapture is very comforting and although I do not believe in it myself I wouldn’t complain if it happened to me 😉

The best thing to be said about the Left Behind Series is that they promote “getting right with God” so as a beginning point of evangelising they are quite useful. The stories are exciting and the way God looks out for the characters is very appealing. I understand they have brought a lot of people to Christ.

The errors within I think can be dealt with later. The salvation the believers talk about can be compared to our initial Baptism which if we died at that moment we would be saved. There are more similarities between their beliefs and those of Catholics than they would like and if these are focused upon then it is easier to convince people of Catholicism’s truths. In terms of God, I think they limit Him (all Protestants do) but He is portrayed as both wrathful and merciful (depending upon whose “side” you are on).
 
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Matt25:
I have read so far I think eight books in the series. Mostly for the laughs. They are very badly written. They are extremely mis-informed about the Catholic Church, and indeed every non-fundamentalist Protestant faith. Also they really have no idea about the world beyond US shores. The way everybody speaks English and has air conditioning seems especially unrealistic.

Anyway be that as it may, after reading Left Behind I checked out the theology by reading "The Rapture Trap" by Paul Thigpen. I suggest you do the same. It is easy to read and points out quite clearly how Catholic teaching differs from the whole idea of the Rapture which even most protestants do not believe in.

Happy reading.
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I agree they are poorly written and not based on sound theology. My mother-in-law lent me the series but I really couldn’t get past the first one. I would put it in the same category as the Divinci Code -although I believe the author of the Divinci Code is a better writer, but again both a pure fiction, not based on sound theology and certainly not accurate on historical Christian belief.
 
I enjoyed them. They were easy reading, good for those times when I want to just be entertained and not think too much. They are written on say a high school level.

I found them a lot easier to read at 10 o"clock at night than Aquina’s Summa :).

I can seperate out the parts that conflict with the Catholic teaching, and in fact a few times it caused me to bring out the CCC and check some things I was vague on.

I did find it was very comforting - even if all the beliefs are not correct, there is a certain joy and comfort I found in reading about the lives of characters who were totally in love with Jesus. The last book that described their interaction with Jesus in the second coming (for them it was the third coming I guess :confused:), was just wonderful to imagine and think about - even if my shot is hopefuly in heaven. To imagine walking with Jesus was just a wonderful feeling for me.

I considered it good entertainment, and I didn’t confuse it with the CCC. What’s wrong with that?
 
I liked the first one. I read the first 6 but they started to get boring and repetitious they are written on about a 5th grade level. The main problem I have with the series is that I knew many Catholics and Lutherans who started reading them and taking them as fact (sort of like the DaVinci code). I have one friend (ex-Catholic) who joined the Calvary Chapel and thinks she will get Raptured ™ any second and can’t wait. It seems like a rather selfish theology and outlook, IMO.
 
I read three of them.

All I can think of is: It’s a Rupture, not a Rapture…
theologically speaking.

reen12
 
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