Author of "Left Behind" series passes away

Yesterday, Tim LaHaye died of a stroke at his home in San Diego at the age of 90.

His was an author of religious themed sci-fi, his most well-known works being the "Left Behind" series which has been adapted to movies several times, the most recent one staring Nicolas Cage.

You can read more here.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/25/us/left-behind-author-timothy-lahaye-dies/

 

[AnOminous]

It'd be funny as fuck if he can't stand heaven

If all that "jot and tittle" shit is actually literally true, it's not Heaven he's getting used to.

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

If all that "jot and tittle" shit is actually literally true, it's not Heaven he's getting used to.

"Jot and tittle"?

 

[DatBepisTho]

Did he ever end the series? There were like thirty of them. I read the first one and eh

Hell generally makes for a better read than Heaven so long as it doesn't go on to a point that it becomes cliche. He'd probably try to stretch Tribulation as far as possible if he hadn't been "called back Home."

"Jot and tittle"?

Jot and Iota pretty much are used to mean any insignificant tiny mark of writing, at least in this passage. It comes from "For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."

The wiki article on the passage might be a good start; I've fallen out of translating that doublespeak and am pretty rusty, unfortunately.

 

[AnOminous]

"Jot and tittle"?

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:18.

 

[XH 502]

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:18.

I tell ya, the Bible is really fuckin' gay.

 

[XYZpdq]

I tell ya, the Bible is really fuckin' gay.

tittles aren't gay unless you're a chick

 

[XH 502]

tittles aren't gay unless you're a chick

We call that lesbians.

@Hat @Hat @Hat

 

[DatBepisTho]

"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew 5:18.

Would you say "I'm telling you it's going to be one big long wait in the doctor's office in sPergatory complete with awkward eye-contact with that weirdo across from you." would be an accurate translation?

 

[c-no]

But yeah, these books suck. If you're interested in seeing Left Behind get torn to shreds, there's a blog that goes through each of the chapters and talks about how wrong they are. It's really interesting because the blog is actually written by an evangelical Christian, the target demographic of Left Behind. But instead of agreeing with it, he talks about how badly the series misunderstands and misrepresents Christianity.

Never have I thought there existed an evangelical Christian that wrotes how terrible the books are. Then again, I only seen the movies and that was due to attending a Christian private school. The films would probably be more bearable if one was drunk. That is if the booze does work in making it easier to watch.

 

[Cosmos]

Never have I thought there existed an evangelical Christian that wrotes how terrible the books are.

It's important to remember that a lot of Christians don't buy into the whole Rapture/fire and brimstone/everyone except me is going to hell/etc version of Christianity and are in fact offended by it. I'm one of them, for example. The Left Behind series is basically "How Not to Convert People to Christianity 101." It just exists so that fundie Christians can bask in their own righteousness.

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

It's important to remember that a lot of Christians don't buy into the whole Rapture/fire and brimstone/everyone except me is going to hell/etc version of Christianity and are in fact offended by it. I'm one of them, for example. The Left Behind series is basically "How Not to Convert People to Christianity 101." It just exists so that fundie Christians can bask in their own righteousness.

It doesn't seem to want to convert people so much as make the believers feel superior to the nonbelievers.

Say what you want about Jack Chick, he at least wants to try and convert you so you can enjoy heaven as well.

 

[XH 502]

You guys can talk shit all you want, but the Left Behind film starring Nicholas Cage is one of the best goddamn movies I've ever seen.

There's one shot of the main female lead running through a crowd of "terrified" people, and this one extra in the background is so fucking done she's just lightly jogging and fucking pulls out her cellphone and checks twitter while the cameras are on her. Plus Bibles heavy enough to shatter a goddamn window and all the Christians act like members of Heavens Gate.

Cinematic gold.

 

[AnOminous]

It doesn't seem to want to convert people so much as make the believers feel superior to the nonbelievers.

Say what you want about Jack Chick, he at least wants to try and convert you so you can enjoy heaven as well.

Compare to Fred Phelps, who was a crazed Calvinist who insisted God hates fags and would send them to Hell. But there was nothing whatsoever they could do about it. So one wonders why he bothered protesting them.

 

[Jacquetta]

I didn't realise the guy was 90, good shit. I have a friend who made me read a few of the books so we could laugh at them together (they are really just terribly written and there's a ton of accidental gay innuendo they left in there with the antichrist and reporter dude) and she heard that apparently, the pilot dude is his shameless self insert. If that's actually the case then this little old man's Mary Sue is a 40 year old pilot in perfect shape who has women fawning all over him. That's both a little sad and incredibly hilarious.

Sorry to see someone who's given me plenty of hilarity is dead, though. (but I'm still not sure what the hell his hateboner for Catholicism was about. Is it just "these people don't worship the same way I do, REEEEE" like any fringe whacko or was there more to it?)

 

[Male Idiot]

I'm not sure how valid this info is, but my history books said that hell was not even a thing in Catholic/Ortodox circles until the pope invented it so he could sell "tickets to heaven" which eventually lead to Luther leading a schism as some priests were so disgusted with this greedy act.

The "original" thing was that any christian person would simply be ressurected to dwell with Jesus and Dad for eternity, while nonbelievers stayed dead.

 

[AnOminous]

I'm not sure how valid this info is, but my history books said that hell was not even a thing in Catholic/Ortodox circles until the pope invented it so he could sell "tickets to heaven" which eventually lead to Luther leading a schism as some priests were so disgusted with this greedy act.

Hell is pretty clearly in the Book of Revelation. That was a long, long time before the widespread corruption of direct sales of indulgences. Indulgences were (probably) originally used as a reward for participating in the Crusades, rather like the promise of 72 virgins, but actually directly selling them didn't occur until centuries later, when this corrupt practice became one of Luther's main arguments against the Vatican. (If Luther did anything good, shaming the Catholic Church into aggressively forbidding this practice was it.)

 

[Male Idiot]

Hell is pretty clearly in the Book of Revelation. That was a long, long time before the widespread corruption of direct sales of indulgences. Indulgences were (probably) originally used as a reward for participating in the Crusades, rather like the promise of 72 virgins, but actually directly selling them didn't occur until centuries later, when this corrupt practice became one of Luther's main arguments against the Vatican. (If Luther did anything good, shaming the Catholic Church into aggressively forbidding this practice was it.)

Ah I was not sure if they just did not really rewrite the whole book to suit the new narrative.

 

[Steamboat_Bill]

Hell is pretty clearly in the Book of Revelation. That was a long, long time before the widespread corruption of direct sales of indulgences. Indulgences were (probably) originally used as a reward for participating in the Crusades, rather like the promise of 72 virgins, but actually directly selling them didn't occur until centuries later, when this corrupt practice became one of Luther's main arguments against the Vatican. (If Luther did anything good, shaming the Catholic Church into aggressively forbidding this practice was it.)

The Rapture isn't, though.

The whole theological justification these guys use for the Rapture is basically mix-and-matched from dozens of books of the Bible - most of Revelation, bits of Daniel, pieces of Thessalonians and Ezekiel...

(Oh, yes, and did I mention LaHaye believed in the whole Babylon-Mother-Goddess theory about Catholicism?)

 

[AnOminous]

The Rapture isn't, though.

The whole theological justification these guys use for the Rapture is basically mix-and-matched from dozens of books of the Bible - most of Revelation, bits of Daniel, pieces of Thessalonians and Ezekiel...

(Oh, yes, and did I mention LaHaye believed in the whole Babylon-Mother-Goddess theory about Catholicism?)

Don't forget the hallucinations of Margaret MacDonald as conveyed by witnesses such as John Darby.

 

[feedtheoctopus]

Never read them. Seemed like a bunch of fundamentalist crap that was meant to stroke the egos of the super religious. Funny thing is the rapture isn't even in the bible.

I am gonna say, I'm glad the influence of the Christian right is on the downswing in the US. These types lost the culture war pretty terribly, even if they're still doing their damndest to fight it.