This post belongs in the RGT “Know Thine Enemy” series. It deals with the sly and slithery creature who penned the fifteen Left Behind books: Master Tim LeHaye.
I’m interested in Mr. Tim’s series partly because my sister has been snarfed up and strangled by them, and partly because my society is being polluted and strangled by the sick and slick slyness (try saying that three times in a hurry) they’ve come from. The Left Behind novels describe christians being “Raptured” up to heaven, while the rest of us are “Left Behind” to burn in hell.
"Tim LaHaye, the architect of the Left Behind series … has been one of the most influential activists of the Religious Right for the past three decades. LaHaye has been extremely successful in breaking down American conceptions about the barriers between Church and State, and in bringing churches across the country into political alliance with the Republican Party. LaHaye has been among the leading activists in building coalitions between what has become the socially conservative Religious Right and politically conservative business-minded, free-market Republicans. He has been one of the leading advocates of moving creationism and intelligent design into the public debate….
"Besides this, LaHaye has been influential in defining how his fellow travelers see feminists, homosexuals, and forging the path toward the popularity of painting a stereotypical representation of what 'liberal' means. All of this has been aided by blending these messages with right-wing conspiracy narratives and theories developed in the 1950s through groups like the John Birch Society, which themselves tap further back into such anti-Semitic conspiracy theories as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. His is an all-out war against what he sees as the secular path towards damnation, not necessarily for individuals, but for American society as a whole
SNIP
"The fact that the Left Behind books are branded as 'Christian' is also problematic…. These books, after all, are extremely violent…. Not only does the 'Antichrist' [character] in the books personify 'Evil' and wreak bloody havoc on humanity…, the militant 'Christ,' himself … is equal to the 'Antichrist' in the amount of destruction he brings upon the earth….”
From Michael Standaert, “The Novel: Left Behind,” at nthposition.com
All of which fits like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle with a basic RGT premise: Christianity is not a religion, it’s a bloody, violent war machine.
9 comments:
I heard of LeHaye and the Left Behind series a few years back in Rolling Stone. He immediately freaked me out. I am even more disturbed since my dear sweet Granny is reading his books and being brain-washed by their ridiculous tripe.
What I have never been able to figure is why people can't see the Bible for what it is - mythology. Ask Christians if they believe Zeus really shot lightening bolts from the Heavens and they will snort and tell you that's silly mythology. How is the Rapture of Revelations and multiple headed monsters from the sea any different? Anyone who believes that crap is reality should be feared as crazy. At least that's what I think.
Oh, and I forgot to mention: I think Kirk Cameron might be the real anti-christ. :) For some reason I get caught up watching his show (with the equally crazed Ray Comfort) on TBN and at some point I've broken out in a cold sweat and I am screaming at the tv in crazed laughter.
I once tried to read one of these books.
I wasn't aware of what the series was, and it was in my local library under 'Science Fiction', so I drew it out along with my usual pile of books.
I didn't get past the second page-and I'm a person who reads *everything*.
The literary level of these books is somewhere around 'imbecile'.
Terri in Joburg
Grian I'm so sorry to hear about your granny. These books use the same thing the war-god "religions" always use to energize their old members and collect new ones: fear. Fear of hell. Fear of the Rapture. Fear of the devil. We need to stop this ugly stupidity, wipe it off the planet.
Terri, I'm not surprised the literary value of these books is in the basement. It seems the only reason LeHaye wrote them (and he didn't write them, he paid someone else to) was to con people into following his low-IQ political message, which is: "feminists, liberals, lesbians and gays are bad, and you're going to hell if you don't say so."
I suspect LeHaye thinks he himself is going to hell if he fails to drag the entire world down with him into the infernos of christianity. The poor thing; he's obviously a driven man.
Most Christians are driven by their own demons.
They appear to have huge insecurities, and this is just what the religion fosters while it pretends to cure.
Same thing in all 3 of the Abrahamic faiths I guess, but I see more Christians suffering where I am.
..and you're right, of course-we should be full of compassion towards them.
T in J
Yeah, T, even though it's hard, I think we need to try to separate the person from the sickness. Just as we separate the human from her/himSelf and her cancer or heart disease. Just because you're sick doesn't by any means mean you're a bad person.
Oh I feel compassion for them more than anything - once I get past the immediate response of shock. Well, there's the shock, the urge to shake the person out of their brain-washed state, then the compassion. It's all very frustrating but I suppose Christians feel the same way about us.
You might point your sister here: http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/left_behind/index.html
The guy is a Christian, and he takes apart Left Behind piece by piece. (make sure she knows to read from the BOTTOM of the page - usual for blogs... given her taste in books, she might not read blogs!
Post a Comment