Hee-hee. I’ll remember that. 
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.
This thread is packed with GD material. Anybody up for conversing about this over there also?
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.
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
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?
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.
I’d think anyone named “Rexella” has bigger problems than worrying about raptured pets.
Robin
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.
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.
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.
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?
Yes, though in their heyday, many people indignantly confronted librarians and bookstore employees to insist that they be shelved with non-fiction.
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.
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!
Bridget Burke writes:
> One grim thought: There is Left Behind fan fiction!
Is it slash fiction?
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.
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.
Sadly, since it has no soul, the best it can hope for is a) eternal nothingness; or b) the inferno.
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.