# Ask the Jew Who's Reading the "Left Behind" Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256 "2007-09-15T01:12:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/81 "2007-09-18T12:38:04Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] They are essentially Christian Fundamentalist hate porn. [/quote] Hee-hee. I’ll remember that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/82 "2007-09-18T15:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=faithfool] Would there be any chance in hell (heh) that something like this could convert you, drive you further away or just make you assume the author wasn’t quite \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_? Thanks for your answers. [/QUOTE] I’m a Jew who converted from Christianity. I haven’t read any of the _Left Behind_ books, nor do I intend to. But in general, the rapture/end times stuff reminds me of why I left Christianity- it certainly doesn’t make me want to think about going back. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/83 "2007-09-18T15:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] I’m a Jew who converted from Christianity. I haven’t read any of the _Left Behind_ books, nor do I intend to. But in general, the rapture/end times stuff reminds me of why I left Christianity- it certainly doesn’t make me want to think about going back. [/QUOTE] This thread is packed with GD material. Anybody up for conversing about this over there also? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/84 "2007-09-18T22:17:19Z")
Yeah, I’m not quite sure why this is in Cafe Society. I’ve kind of ignored it, but… as long as it’s here, discussion will remain polite and civil. **Operation Ripper** , this means you, too. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/85 "2007-09-18T22:28:39Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] Yeah, I’m not quite sure why this is in Cafe Society. I’ve kind of ignored it, but… as long as it’s here, discussion will remain polite and civil. **Operation Ripper** , this means you, too. [/QUOTE] Silly me. I was hoping we could keep the theology out of it, but I guess that’s like discussing the stock market without bringing up economics. Feel free to move this if you think it’s more appropriate in GD. Robin ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/86 "2007-09-18T23:13:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Jack & Rexella Van Impe also believe the PETS of C’tians will be raptured So if my cats eat cat food on the back porch of my across-the-street neighbors with the _MARRIAGE = 1 [male symbol] + 1 [female symbol]_ sign, will the cats get sucked up to heaven? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/87 "2007-09-19T00:36:09Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] So if my cats eat cat food on the back porch of my across-the-street neighbors with the _MARRIAGE = 1 [male symbol] + 1 [female symbol]_ sign, will the cats get sucked up to heaven? [/QUOTE] I have nothing whatsoever to ask or say about the books, but this question left me grinning at a mental image of caterwauling felines clinging to the eaves of a porch as a vortex tries to drag them skyward. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/88 "2007-09-19T00:48:56Z")
I’d think anyone named “Rexella” has bigger problems than worrying about raptured pets. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/89 "2007-09-19T00:57:16Z")
I haven’t read the books, although I’ve opened a couple. I did read the Rapturing scenes from the first book, and realize unborn children were taken up. But correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t think all kids were taken, were they? Seems to me I saw an offshoot of the LB series marketed, that was about kids during the Tribulation. And speaking of other denominations having Apocalyptic fiction, I’m sure I once saw a book in a used bookstore, with a righteous Catholic young woman. The blurb on the back of the book stated her concern that the reporter she was attracted to was not Catholic,(and therefore in dire peril of his soul) and the tale was set on the brink of the Revelation events. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/90 "2007-09-19T01:07:17Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] And speaking of other denominations having Apocalyptic fiction, I’m sure I once saw a book in a used bookstore, with a righteous Catholic young woman. The blurb on the back of the book stated her concern that the reporter she was attracted to was not Catholic,(and therefore in dire peril of his soul) and the tale was set on the brink of the Revelation events. [/QUOTE] Whatever that was, it couldn’t have been Catholic – at least not _accurately_ Catholic. The RCC does not teach that non-Catholics are in automatic moral peril, nor is Catholicism preoccupied with (or even have much of an official opinion about) Endtimes events. I suspect that what you saw was run-of-the-mill pre-trib stuff that featured a (less than accurately rendered) Cathloic character. She probably gets “saved” later on the book. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/91 "2007-09-19T02:24:43Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] I haven’t read the books, although I’ve opened a couple. I did read the Rapturing scenes from the first book, and realize unborn children were taken up. But correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t think all kids were taken, were they? Seems to me I saw an offshoot of the LB series marketed, that was about kids during the Tribulation. [/QUOTE] It was all kids under about 12, and the Tribulation Kids series was about teenagers. Those books were even worse than the adult ones; you could read every other book and still get too many repetitions of every event. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/92 "2007-09-19T03:16:22Z")
I haven’t read the books. I’ll be damned if I’ll spend any money to do so, and I would be extremely self-conscious checking them out of the library (do they put books in plain brown wrappers at the desk if you ask? 🙂 ). So tell me exactly what the content is. Are they fictional stories about what happens during The Rapture? Tales about familes and the conflicts when some people have left their shoes and some are left behind? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/93 "2007-09-19T04:27:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Are they fictional stories about what happens during The Rapture? Yes, though in their heyday, many people indignantly confronted librarians and bookstore employees to insist that they be shelved with non-fiction. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/94 "2007-09-19T12:31:54Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] I haven’t read the books, although I’ve opened a couple. I did read the Rapturing scenes from the first book, and realize unborn children were taken up. But correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t think all kids were taken, were they? Seems to me I saw an offshoot of the LB series marketed, that was about kids during the Tribulation. And speaking of other denominations having Apocalyptic fiction, I’m sure I once saw a book in a used bookstore, with a righteous Catholic young woman. The blurb on the back of the book stated her concern that the reporter she was attracted to was not Catholic,(and therefore in dire peril of his soul) and the tale was set on the brink of the Revelation events. [/QUOTE] LaH & JJ said that they made an arbitrary decision to cut off automatic-Rapturing at age 12, that they personally believe that anyone below the age of accountability would be raptured, but that setting a definite age made it easier to write about. There is a Catholic apocalyptic series by, I believe, a Michael O’Brien- I wouldn’t be surprised it that’s one of his books. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/95 "2007-09-19T15:43:09Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] Isn’t that a lot of bad reading to plow through? I read the one because many people (whom I now know to have horrible taste and are never ever, ever to be trusted again about anything) said they liked it. But I barely made it through the first one - it was just that awful. I can’t imagine that it got better as they started churning them out with even less editing. Aren’t there less painful hobbies out there? [/QUOTE] Your acquaintances who said they liked the _Left Behind_ books sound like the ones who _might_ read one book per year. Then they insist on regaling everyone they meet with detailed plot summaries of said book. Forever. Or until the year when they finally read another book. My props to the OP for bravery. One grim thought: There is _Left Behind_ **fan fiction!** ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/96 "2007-09-19T15:48:23Z")
Bridget Burke writes: \> One grim thought: There is Left Behind fan fiction! Is it slash fiction? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/97 "2007-09-19T15:50:08Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke] One grim thought: There is _Left Behind_ **fan fiction!** [/QUOTE] And on a home computer somewhere deep in the heart of Iowa, a MS Word grammar and spell check program is begging for the sweet release of death. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/98 "2007-09-19T16:09:33Z")
I would write some filthy, filthy LB slash and post it where the series’ fans might find it, but that would require me to learn about the characters and situations, and I already don’t have enough time to read all the books I actually WANT to read. My husband managed to never hear of these books, but he found the DVD of the movie at Hollywood Video. My husband does not possess what elementary school teachers call an “inside voice” to begin with, but the entire video store soon was informed of the following: “_Kirk Cameron_ made a movie? Oh my god! **He plays a character named RAYFORD STEELE!** We have to rent this!” That really is such a soap opera/porn star name. And we didn’t rent the movie. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/99 "2007-09-19T16:55:14Z")
> [@](#): > > And on a home computer somewhere deep in the heart of Iowa, a MS Word grammar and spell check program is begging for the sweet release of death. Sadly, since it has no soul, the best it can hope for is a) eternal nothingness; or b) the inferno. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256/100 "2007-09-19T20:31:37Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] And on a home computer somewhere deep in the heart of Iowa, a MS Word grammar and spell check program is begging for the sweet release of death. [/QUOTE] Damn if i didn’t just get stares from my workmates as I laughed aloud about that ! Thanks I needed that. As for the topic at hand… I’m fearful to even rent the movie for a laugh… I’m not sure I could handle reading the stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-jew-whos-reading-the-left-behind-series/419256.md?page=6)