# "Left Behind" - What's that all about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 23, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693 "2003-12-23T19:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/41 "2003-12-24T15:15:54Z")
All I know is, if it take a bizallion boring books to explain the rapture, I’m not interested. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/42 "2003-12-24T15:17:02Z")
To follow up with my previous post-couldn’t they get to the point in…I don’t know…1 book, possibly 2? Certainly I would have thought they’d be wrapping up by book 6… ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/43 "2003-12-24T15:28:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meatros \* > \*\*To follow up with my previous post-couldn’t they get to the point in…I don’t know…1 book, possibly 2? Certainly I would have thought they’d be wrapping up by book 6… \*\* I’d heard that it was originally supposed to be something like a 3 or 6 book series, but they sold well, so it was expanded to 12 or 13. Plus the “Kid’s” series, plus the graphic novels, plus the audio books (2 kinds) and whatever else there is out there now. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/44 "2003-12-24T16:31:38Z")
Which just goes to strengthen **Cardinal** ’s point. The authors have figured out a way of sticking a vacuum cleaner into the pockets of Believers and sucking until all they get is lint. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/45 "2003-12-24T16:47:17Z")
“Sucking” being the operative word… ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/46 "2003-12-24T16:49:33Z")
Fundamentalists…Oy! Why don’t they just give me all their money and material possessions before the Rapture. I’ll be glad to volunteer to be part of their ‘left behind’ delusion. Then, they can go sit naked on a mountain and wait for it. ---
**Author:** ![mbacko1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@mbacko1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbacko1)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/47 "2003-12-24T16:59:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarinth \* > \*\*Central, but still, barely one dimensional (at least most of the men are two dimensional characters.); they’re incredibly poorly written. Remember the way you when you read about technology? That’s how I felt when I read the female characters. I had to wonder if they authors had actually ever met a woman. \*\* I have to agree with this. The women were very one dimensional. I had a hard time remembering who was who. ---
**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:** [December 24, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/48 "2003-12-24T17:05:10Z")
Btw, for those who are interested in the themes discussed but would like to read a GOOD fictional presentation, James BeauSeigneur’s THE CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY is fantastic. The Rapture is presented in such a way that unless one pays attention, one doesn’t realize what happened. I’m kinda a lateTrib Rapturist when I’m not a Preterist PostMiller (the Tribulation was the Roman destruction of Jerusalem & persecution of Christians in the 1st Century AD & the Millenium is the present gradual Christianizing of the world) btw. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/49 "2003-12-24T17:34:13Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s not good science fiction. It’s not good fantasy. Unless you’re a Believer it’s just not very interesting No, my ex-gf loaned me the first book, and the writing was so artificial that I was yearning for Tom Clancy’s deft touch and subtlety. Not a good sign. They’re just pretty bad books marketed to people who feel they’ve been ignored in the mass market. Throw in the cheap thrills of evil scheming without the actual graphic killing, and you have a winner. Frank Peretti showed that a Christian-based thriller would sell very well, but at least he didn’t pound his eschatology right down your throat, and he wrote better, too. ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/50 "2003-12-24T17:42:04Z")
I’m waiting for Christian XXX Pornography. It’ll be here soon, I just feel it. Oh wait. Maybe that’s gas… ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/51 "2003-12-24T19:09:42Z")
Oh, it was tried, sort of. Bob Larson’s book (well, he claimed he wrote it, even though it turned out he didn’t) “Dead Air” was so graphic in its depiction of the standard “satanic cult just down your street” that Cornerstone magazine reviewed it as something like “the first of a new genre: Christian porn.” Bob is a nutjob basically, and it’s for the best that he’s sunk into the background instead of being on the radio every day. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/52 "2003-12-24T19:12:02Z")
I was wondering about the length of the books and the post about the original series length explains it. From the rapture till the return of Jesus is supposed to be 7 years. In the first book, a couple of years pass in one sentence. Something along the lines of “18 months later…”. At that point I mentioned to my wife, “I wonder how are they planning on dragging this out over all these other books”. As for the Pope and Catholics issue, sad but true. After the rapture, one of the main characters is interviewing a Catholic priest who is left behind. The priest is claiming that all the people disappeared because of some BS reason or other. The main character mentions how the new pope who was raptured was a reformist and leaned more toward the protestant way of worship. Doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that it was a massive swipe against the Catholic church. I’m curious about this [rapture letters](http://www.raptureletters.com/). Going on the assumption that the person who maintains it expects to be raptured, would it work off of having them update the database each week? Meaning if they don’t put in some code or whatever, the letters get sent.I saw no explanation on the website about how it works. I hope people put me on the list. I know a few Christians with really nice cars I want first crack at. ---
**Author:** ![Tampa\_Tom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@Tampa\_Tom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tampa_Tom)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/53 "2003-12-24T21:22:48Z")
Yeah, so I’m gonna get a letter from this person I work with saying “By the way, I’ve disappeared.” At my office, that’s called being fired. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/54 "2003-12-24T22:58:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bughunter \* > \*\*I’m waiting for Christian XXX Pornography. > > It’ll be here soon, I just feel it. > > \*\* And it’ll probably be boring, repetitive, unimaginative, lacking in real plot or characters and… waitaminnit, how would I be able to tell it from regular porn? the characters are already all going “ohGodOhGodOh **GOD** JeeesusCHRIST, come already!”… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Long\_Road](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/55 "2003-12-24T23:28:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JRDelirious \* > \*\*And it’ll probably be boring, repetitive, unimaginative, lacking in real plot or characters and… > > waitaminnit, how would I be able to tell it from regular porn? the characters are already all going “ohGodOhGodOh **GOD** JeeesusCHRIST, come already!”… \*\* Listen, it’s one thing to insult the Left Behind Series but never, ever, insult porn. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/56 "2003-12-25T05:55:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by professorbiscuit \* > \*\*So the pope gets raptured for not being a catholic? Marvellous! Does the bear get raptured because he doesn’t shit in the woods? \*\* Darn it, now you’ve spoiled the ending of the last book. No, seriously, does anyone know when the twelfth (and hopefully final) book in the LB series is due out? 'Cause I think I heard somewhere that one of the regulars on this board has actually been reading the series and reporting back to the SDMB on the major “plot developments” so that her fellow Dopers don’t have to subject themselves to the awfulness that is _Left Behind_. Last I heard, she had finished the eleven currently extant books… ---
**Author:** ![netscape\_6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8c91f0/32.png) [@netscape\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/netscape_6)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/57 "2003-12-25T08:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Long Road \* > \*\* > > I remember seeing on the history channel that 666 actually referred to [Nero](http://users.iafrica.com/l/ll/lloyd/7-EndTimeIssues/666.htm). \*\* The RIAA was right. Cd burners are tools of evil. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/58 "2003-12-25T14:11:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Thea Logica \* > \*\*Darn it, now you’ve spoiled the ending of the last book. > > No, seriously, does anyone know when the twelfth (and hopefully final) book in the LB series is due out? > \*\* [March 30, 2004](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0842332359/ref=pd_ser_asin_12/002-3390704-2734422?v=glance&s=books) At least it’s called “Glorious Appearing”. Hopefully that means it’s really the end (of this series, if not all the spin offs). ---
**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:** [December 25, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/59 "2003-12-25T18:22:52Z")
Lsura- there is some talk of PREQUELS and also of novels set in the Millennium (tho the inauguration & the conclusion of the Earthly Reign of Christ are the only aspects that one could really milk long stories from.) ---
**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:** [December 25, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693/60 "2003-12-25T18:33:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tampa Tom \* > \*\*I was also looking on the web last night and discovered to my amazement that some folks believe the numbers 666 are part of EVERY UPC. Yeah, kinda concerned about that, since the UPC’s I can see at my desk include: > > Box of Kleenex Tissues - 360025390 > Container of Campbell’s Soup at Hand Creamy Tomato - 5100014981 > Box of Dixon Ticonderoga #2 Pencils - 7206713922 > Random House Thesaurus - 7806727101 > Box of 100 Office Depot Manila File Folders - 5385410838 > > I’m discovering just how whacked out some of these theories really are, and I’m getting even more scared… \*\* A 10-digit UPC code is usually/ maybe always broken up into two segments of 5 numbers with a two pairs of lines on each end and one pair of lines in the middle. The very end pairs & the middle pair are always two thin lines- these are the code for 6 in the second segment (the first & second 5-number segments have different codes). The second & next two last pairs are check digits- so every 10 digit UPC can be read as 6?#####6#####?6. Not asking you to believe it, but that’s the explanation for how 666 is encoded into the UPC, so it’s not TOTALLY delusional, just partly _L_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-behind-whats-that-all-about/220693.md?page=4)