# The "Left Behind" movie - a priceless Dopefest opportunity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 2, 2001, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893 "2001-02-02T18:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/21 "2001-02-03T23:54:52Z")
> [@](#): > > **Jess** … style… genius… Well, thanks, **RTFirefly**. ::blushes and toes ground in a charmingly bashful fashion:: I wouldn’t really say _genius_… However, I _have_ been told that I was 10 pounds of style in a 5 pound bag. Really, the beauty of this plan (if I do say it myself) is only now beginning to reveal itself. It needn’t be only one tape we get out of circulation, you know. After all, the Mid-Atlantic Conclave is not the _only_ nest of Dopers in the world. If every region hosted only one _Stupid-Left Behind-‘Movie’-Bash-a-Thon_, why, we could rid the world of dozens of copies of this crapola. I think we could make it happen. Goodness knows the world would be a better place if we did. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/22 "2001-02-04T03:15:22Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **Jess** _ > Hmmm. How about this. We borrow it from the library and view it at some Doper’s home, where we could be as raucous as we wish. After the ‘movie’ is over, we take up a collection to pay the library’s lost video fee; take the tape out in the back yard and smash it to bits with baseball bats. That way we have our fun AND take one of the loathsome things out of circulation. The catch-22 here is that the library will use the lost video fee to purchase another copy. Also, as more copies are bought…more copies will be produced. Even if there were originally a fixed number of copies produced, an attempt to buy them out would cause added production, due to the success in sales. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/23 "2001-02-04T04:07:31Z")
Stupid question: If Left Behind is about the people who are left over after all the “good ones” go away, how Christian can it be? Wouldn’t it just be a movie about “sinners”? Or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/24 "2001-02-04T04:30:12Z")
Scare tactics, **SmackFu**. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/25 "2001-02-04T04:42:00Z")
Smack: that is a good question. Actually, my own baby brother was almost corrupted today. I came downstairs after reading this thread and he was watching E! Coming Attractions…he asked me what I’d do if i was “left behind.” I realised immediately what he had just seen. (Ditto: Kirk Cameron? What were they THINKING?) Doctor J…that idea about going into the wrong theatre really speaks to me. It’s so naughty. You’re so **bad** …it’s sexy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/26 "2001-02-04T06:18:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by David B \* > RTF (and others), if you want something _really_ laughable, read Tim LaHaye’s latest book, _Mind Seige_. No, it’s not part of the _Left Behind_ series. In fact, it’s allegedly non-fiction. But it is so ridiculous that it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Well. It would be if there weren’t people out there who would actually take him seriously, that is. > > “Look! Behind that bush. It’s a secular humanist!!!” > > (Disclaimer: I did not pay for this book – I got it for free as a review copy.) _That’s_ the name of the book! I saw it once at the B. Dalton in Union Station, DC. From the cover I thought it was a science-fiction thriller, but after I read it, the more it look like the rantings of a paranoid loon. But when I saw who wrote the book, I just-about threw it half-across the store. I mentally blocked the title out of my mind, so I couldn’t find the book again. I kept remembering the title as _Mind Head_. For those who saw _Bowfinger_, “Mindhead” is that insane Hollywood cult _ahem_Scientology_ahem_ that Eddie Murphy’s character belonged to. I guess it’s just hilarious in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/27 "2001-02-04T06:20:39Z")
What do you mean “Kirk Cameron - What were they THINKING?” Kirk and his wife both _wanted_ to do this movie. I had a similar thought about what’s the point. The point seems to be about all the sinners left trying to find god and repent. Kirk Cameron’s statement in an interview - I hope this movie makes people stop and think about the possibility of there being a real God. Or something along those lines - I forget (thankfully) his actual words. Yeah, my local news show decided to do this as a story. :rolleyes: The “news” covering infotainment. They didn’t _quite_ come out and say this is how the end of the world will happen, but they sure hinted at it. The closest they got to any type of scrutiny was to interview a “liberal” christian minister who said something to the effect that many christians (including clergy) view the book of Revelation as a poetical book, not in any way to be taken literally, and that to limit God by boxing him in like this is small-minded. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/28 "2001-02-04T14:19:04Z")
SterlingNorth said: > [@](#): > > That’s the name of the book! I saw it once at the B. Dalton in Union Station, DC. It couldn’t have been “once” too long ago – it just came out about a month ago. > [@](#): > > From the cover I thought it was a science-fiction thriller, but after I read it, the more it look like the rantings of a paranoid loon. DING DING DING DING! You hit the nail on head. LaHaye is nuts. Stark raving mad. But he’s a nut who is also a huge best-seller. And my fear is that people who like his fiction will read _this_ fiction and “think” it’s real. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/29 "2001-02-04T14:21:14Z")
And, I should add, there are favorable quotes on the back cover from, among others, a senator and a congressman. Scary. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/30 "2001-02-04T17:48:04Z")
Okay, how about this: we check it out from the library, rip it into an MPEG-2 format usign a De-CSS cracking program, burn it chapter by chapter onto a series of VCDs, return the original to the library, and watch the VCDs on my ultra-geek Apex AD600A. Then, we can dip the VCDs in gasoline, dig up a skeet-launcher somewhere, and sail them in flaming parabolic arcs into the mighty Potomac. We’ll videotape the incident and call it an art project. And since the water’s edge is Washington, DC, nobody has any jurisdiction to bust us. The gasoline will help break down the plastic and hasten biodegradability. I, um, think. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/31 "2001-02-04T19:17:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Irishman \* > \*\*… > Yeah, my local news show decided to do this as a story… The closest they got to any type of scrutiny was to interview a “liberal” christian minister who said something to the effect that many christians (including clergy) view the book of Revelation as a poetical book, not in any way to be taken literally, and that to limit God by boxing him in like this is small-minded. \*\* –First off, the Rapture is not in Revelation. Rapture is a theory that is a little over 150 years old. Secondly, the producers _have already made their money_ off of the video sales. The whole shebang was shot for $17.5 million. Thirdly, Hi Opal! Fourth, distribution of the film to movie houses was not shouldered by the production company. They offered church groups sympathetic with the message to “invest” $3,000 for local showings. In return the local group would share in the box-office receipts at that particular theater (hey, a guaranteed audience). LaHaye is suing the production company, by the way. He sold the movie rights before the Left Behind series caught on. Now he wants a better deal. ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/32 "2001-02-04T19:36:33Z")
How about borrowing it form the libraray, and recording Monty Python over it before returning it? ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/33 "2001-02-04T19:54:36Z")
I bow to **Sofa King**. You, Sir, have _style_. However, I must point out (and I’m not trying to toot my own horn, here) that your plan – unlike my own – suffered sadly from lack-of-hot-tub. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/34 "2001-02-04T19:57:03Z")
And, **mblackwell**? You might be on to something. But, I’m ashamed to mention that I’m kind of Monty Python- impaired. Maybe Dogma would do instead? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/35 "2001-02-04T20:00:05Z")
In case someone is offended by my statement that The Rapture is about 150 years old, Cecil tradition requires a cite. First, here’s your timeline: [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/etc/cron.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/etc/cron.html) Whenever someone starts preaching The Rapture to you, pull out old John Nelson Darby. He is where Rapture first appears. 1859 John Nelson Darby British minister John Nelson Darby begins preaching in America. He would create an ingenious theology known as premillennial dispensationalism, which remains the dominant eschatological system in Christianity today. “Dispensationalism” refers to Darby’s belief that human history can be divided into a series of epochs, or dispensations, in which God has dealt with humanity in different ways. Darby teaches that biblical prophecy refers to the past and future periods, but is silent on the present “Church Age,” which began with Christ’s crucifixion. By asserting that God’s prophetic clock had temporarily stopped ticking, this “Great Parenthesis” ingeniously preserves prophecy while avoiding the risks of date-setting. One of the most enduring elements of Darby’s system is the Rapture, in which true believers in Christ would travel instantly to heaven, where they would watch the terrible seven-year Tribulation unfold on earth, killing all but a righteous few. His emphasis on the Jews’ return to Palestine and his strong reliance on scripture over church authority have also won favor with fundamentalists. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/36 "2001-02-04T20:10:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jess \* > \*\*And, **mblackwell**? You might be on to something. But, I’m ashamed to mention that I’m kind of Monty Python- impaired. Maybe Dogma would do instead? \*\* Wouldn’t it be kind of ironic if we utilized The Exorcist? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/37 "2001-02-04T20:50:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by David B \* > LaHaye is nuts. Stark raving mad. > > But he’s a nut who is also a huge best-seller. And my fear is that people who like his fiction will read this fiction and “think” it’s real. > > And, I should add, there are favorable quotes on the back cover from, among others, a senator and a congressman. Scary. Of course, no one ever said one had to be sane to be in Congress. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/38 "2001-02-04T20:54:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doug Bowe \* > LaHaye is suing the production company, by the way. > He sold the movie rights before the Left Behind series caught on. Now he wants a better deal. Is that so? That’s too good to be true! If you happen to still have a cite for that, please share. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/39 "2001-02-04T21:13:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jess \* > I bow to **Sofa King**. You, Sir, have _style_. However, I must point out (and I’m not trying to toot my own horn, here) that your plan – unlike my own – suffered sadly from lack-of-hot-tub. **Sofa King** , I have to second **Jess** : a truly impressive and stylish plan - I’m especially taken with the image of flaming VCDs arcing through the night sky over the Potomac - but hers still wins due to the hot tub, especially since she’d be in it. 🙂 **CajunMan** - I expect that whether or not the library would buy another copy of the same movie with the lost video fee would depend on the demand for that movie - how often people had been checking it out, and so forth. Of course, we could just buy a copy on eBay, [half.com](http://half.com), or somewhere like that. Used copies are already available. ---
**Author:** ![Krispy\_Original](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2001, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-left-behind-movie-a-priceless-dopefest-opportunity/52893/40 "2001-02-04T21:18:33Z")
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