Freyr:
Hmmm. In view of the original derivation and technical use of that word, which I’m aware Freyr is familiar with from his technical training, I have to give this the SDMB Subtle Tongue-in-Cheek Comment of the Week Award. 
It does, if I had the time to do it! I will consider it. It probably won’t be as extensive as you’d like, but I will see if I can find time to do some justice to it. To be honest, end times stuff isn’t my speciality so I don’t have charts and lists of scriptures handily ready to share.
I will throw in this interesting tidbit: I have heard experts on both sides of the debate make their case, and I must say that both are compelling! This is why the timing of the rapture is one of the main issues that Christians feel free to “agree to disagree” on, because there seems to be a good case for either possibility.
Are you ready for this? Did you know there is a smaller percentage of believers that believe in a Mid Trib rapture! And they make a pretty solid case too!
To be honest, even typing this makes me curious. I would like to do my own personal study of all the scriptures on all sides, look at it from each angle, and see if I can draw some personal conclusions. If I do it I’ll be sure to post about it Polycarp!
Well, to each their own. I’ve heard others give similar reviews as well. I will say this … some who have felt this way about book #1 change their tune around books 3, 4, 5, and 6, where the pace of the series picks up.
In all honestly, I personally disagree … I found the story compelling for one reason … yes I knew what was happening and that there would be an Antichrist, etc … but it was portrayed in such a chillingly real way to me! I’ve read many Christian fiction accounts of the rapture, and to be honest every other one I’ve seen has been bordering on hokey. This one felt so real it gave me the willies.
I don’t agree that the ending was predictable. Yes, we knew the Antichrist would come to power, but the way he came to power and what he did with his power was, to me, a creative twist.
I also fell in love with the characters, and that’s the main reason I continued buying the series.
As I said to each his own. I know some solid born again Christians who didn’t care for it that much, and some non Christians who love it as much as some Christians do. My guess is that if you didn’t like the book you will like the movie even less … the book is, to me, better than the film.
FoG:
Since you’re back and posting, how about this time ANSWERING my earlier question and not talking about who’s going to church and who’s not?
For your benefit (and those who may have missed it), here’s the query:
You will notice that I did not ask you if anyone was attending church, so try not to answer that question but to actually and honestly answer the question I actually did ask.
Well, duh. You and they still seem to be claiming that the Rapture will happen (details being irrelevant) - that’s predicting the future, otherwise known as prophecy.
(Hogwash, say I, but that’s just MHO.)
Esprix
“Holy shit, what was that? AAAAAAAAAAH!”
Classic…
Esprix
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by FriendofGod *
**
**
I don’t think you could find a single fan of the Left Behind series that would say they believe the series is “prophesy” in any way shape or form. The writers and promoters wouldn’t either. Here is the quote you referred to:
You said:
I disagree. This is akin to a Christian reading LB and saying, “And just think, this could happen any day now!” They don’t mean, “Just think, Hattie Durham is going to tell Rayford Steele people are missing”, et al. It just means this is a fiction series BASED on prophesy that is going to actually happen someday.
You’re right, FoG. There are no readers of the LB series who, on account of the series, believe that the Bible foretells a pre-Trib Rapture, that there will be suddenly unmanned vehicles on the loose, and so forth. And [n]no** readers of the series will be confused about where Biblical prophecy leaves off, and where the authors’ conjectures pick up.
I stand by what I said. You want to tell people to “read the future,” you know that there’s the Biblical prophecies, and then there’s Jenkins and LaHaye’s take on what they mean, and they’re not, irrevocably not, the same thing. Like you said, “It’s like a historical fiction novel, only the history in the story is future history, not past history.” Even you seem to think there’s future history here. Just because people don’t think the particular characters in the book are real, doesn’t mean they don’t think the ‘historical’ context within which their individual stories take place isn’t more or less exactly what’s going to happen. And I’m sure I can go out elsewhere on the Internet and find quotes from people who believe exactly that.
Shame on you all. ‘Clintonesque’ doesn’t begin to cover this sort of deception.
If they did, copies of the “Left Behind” books would be finding their way into trashcans all across the country.
Been there, done that, decades ago when I briefly considered such things worthy of extended attention. I mentioned that position here weeks ago, in the MPSIMS thread that David B referred to, 'way back in the predecessor to this thread.
[Edited by Czarcasm on 03-08-2001 at 07:48 AM]
Am I the only one who feels like FoG has a penchant for this sort of thing? I remember a discussion with him in which I complained that he was dismissing all my arguments and treating me as conversion fodder. His reply was basically to say no, I’m not ignoring your arguments and treating you as conversion fodder- I’m just trying to get past all this stuff you’re saying, which obscures the real issue which you haven’t acknowledged, which is that you need to accept Jesus.
One can imagine Fog as a defense lawyer. “You don’t understand! My client isn’t a murderer- he just shot someone over and over again until they were dead.”
-Ben
**Foggie wrote:
Well, to each their own. I’ve heard others give similar reviews as well. I will say this … some who have felt this way about book #1 change their tune around books 3, 4, 5, and 6, where the pace of the series picks up.**
Sorry, but if the first book doesn’t grab and hold my attention, I have no interest in reading the other books of the series, especially at 8 bucks a pop (which I paid at B. Dalton).
I don’t agree that the ending was predictable. Yes, we knew the Antichrist would come to power, but the way he came to power and what he did with his power was, to me, a creative twist.
I don’t see this at all. The way the Anti-Christ ascends to power in the UN is totally unreal. For him to end up as Secretary-General, there’s a process that was completely ignored in the book. Also, the changes he proposes for the UN securit council, again, that would require an amendment to the original UN charter (I believe), none of which was discussed in the book. This isn’t believable, this is heavy handed plotting.
I also fell in love with the characters, and that’s the main reason I continued buying the series.
How can you fall in love with characters you know next to nothing about? What do you know of Reyford Steele beyond the fact he’s a senior airline pilot, has a daughter he loves and misses his wife. Chole Steele has almost no personality except to act as the detirmined sceptic to Reyford. Hattie is a blonde bimbo with no other personality traits. Buck Williams has personality, more than any of the others but beyond being a good investigative reporter who falls in love with Chole, what do we know of him? Why should I care or be concerned about these characters? As I said before, if the series can’t capture my attention within one book, why keep paying good money for more of the same drek?
**Polycarp wrote:
Hmmm. In view of the original derivation and technical use of that word, which I’m aware Freyr is familiar with from his technical training, I have to give this the SDMB Subtle Tongue-in-Cheek Comment of the Week Award.**
Curses! I’ve been caught! Actually, I was thinking more along the lines that; given what the book was, I doubt the movie would be much of an improvement.
As for the series being prophecy; I approached it as how one group thinks the prophecy of Revelation would play out given our modern social/political climate. They definitely need someone with a better imagination and plotting skils.
FriendofGod wrote:
:eek: Say it ain’t so!!
Yo, FoG! I asked you some questions above and you have yet to actually answer the questions actually asked.
Tell me, are you a member of the Church of the Nine Commandments (search this board and you’ll, just mabye, understand what that is)? Or are you a member of the Church of the Eight Commandments?
After all, we’ve seen your penchant for falsehood and I have yet to see any proof that you’re actually any friend of deity.
Monty,
I’m not posting to this thread anymore since I now have a newer, similarly titled thread, but I’ll make you a deal. Drop the insults, and I’ll answer your question on the other thread. And I’ll even go first 
(check out the other thread).
So why don’t we close this thread? David B is the one who opened it. What about it, Dave?
Far be it from me to reopen old wounds, but I finally yielded to temptation yesterday and rented Left Behind: The Movie on DVD from my local Blockbuster Video[TM].
It’s the first DVD movie I’ve rented in a long time that was not shown in letterbox format. Since the Internet Movie Database doesn’t have technical specs for this film, I cannot say whether this was because the producers decided to release the DVD in pan-and-scan format, or because the film was originally shot in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio for the TV or direct-to-video market. The budget for this movie was only 17 million dollars, after all – a mere drop in the bucket by modern Hollywood standards.
The first scene shows an all-out air attack by “Israel’s enemies” against Israel. There are more fighter planes in the sky than, I think, even exist in the whole real world today. Meanwhile, our TV news reporter hero is interviewing an old scientist who’s just perfected the “Eden formula,” which allows wheat to grow on even the most inhospitable desert land. So, of course, to demonstrate the formula, the scientist and our hero are standing waaaaaaay out in the boondocks, deep within the uninhabited parts of the Israeli desert, for the interview. And when all the fighter planes streak into view and start shooting air-to-air missiles at the ground for some bizarre reason, we suddenly discover that this super-remote uninhabited desert territory where the Eden formula is being tested just happens to be right on top of Israel’s version of NORAD! That’s right, the hero and the scientist he’s interviewing duck for cover in Israel’s air defense command headquarters, which I guess is in the habit of allowing visitors with no security clearance into its inner sanctum during an air raid.
It was at this point that I stopped paying attention to the movie’s plausibility.
The script had certain moments in it where the characters’ speech suddenly shifted into King-James-Bible-sounding English for no good reason. For example, in one scene, the evil Stonegal and Cothan were discussing the possibility of peace between Israel and the Arab nations, and Cothan comments on how the Arabs were willing to go to war even when their own people were starving. But he phrased his comment as, “Her children cry out with hunger, yet she chose war.” It was out-of-character and awkward, but I’m sure it gave a warm fuzzy feeling to all the Bible-thumpers in the audience who saw it.
The movie also has a catch-all for how the Antichrist is able to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. The Antichrist doesn’t merely have a foolproof master plan, no no no. Any flaws in his master plan – such as the ridiculous cover story that the Rapture was caused by “nuclear radiation” – can be easily glossed over. For you see, the Antichrist also uses the Jedi mind trick. He waves his hands in front of UN delegates and tells them a made-up story of what just happened, and they all believe it. (All but our good Christian hero, of course, who alone has the power to see through the Antichrist’s lies.)
The movie did, however, teach one very important moral lesson: Never hire a Christian driver. You remember those bumper stickers that said, “In case of rapture, this vehicle will be unmanned”? Well, in the movie, this actually happens. And it causes all sorts of traffic accidents. A truck whose driver gets Raptured jack-knifes on the freeway and causes a massive crash pile-up. Planes in the air are reported to be missing their crews. The number of un-Raptured people injured or killed because of Raptured drivers and pilots could have been in the millions.
As a little bonus, the DVD had a “Making of Left Behind: The Movie” section on it. Needless to say, most of the stars of the show talked about how they themselves were devout Christians and were so glad to be working on a movie with a Christian theme – with one exception. Gordon Currie, the actor who played the Antichrist, very carefully skirted around the issue. If he’d been Christian himself, I’m sure he would have made that known in no uncertain terms, particularly considering the type of character he was playing. The fact that he didn’t leads me to conclude that oh my God, the actor who plays the Antichrist isn’t Christian! Type casting! Type casting!
According to the Internet Movie Database, we should be seeing Left Behind: The TV Series some time this year. Now that’s unsettling.
But you didn’t answer the most important question: did it change your life?
Dr. J
Why, of course it changed my life. I now believe that, when hyping their own movies, Christian film production companies are no less willing to distort the truth than non-Christian ones.
For you see, during the “Making of” segment, the narrator (the same actress who played the airline pilot’s daughter in the movie) stated that Left Behind was the biggest Christian movie ever made. And I can’t, and won’t, believe that they’d never heard of Spartacus or The Greatest Story Ever Told.
How in the world can you consider those to be Christian movies when they don’t consider the new New Testament, “Left Behind”?
I thought the New New Testament was the Book of Mormon.
I think it goes Scientology, Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Left Behind.
Yeah, but it will only be on PAX or Odyssey or one of those other channels that nobody watches but the cable companies still include to convince politicians that they actually do market “family-friendly” material, so I wouldn’t say that this is anything to worry about.