Left Behind

[Emuman]

I couldn't read the Kid's Version because there are soooo many books and they are quick reads so I would have to go to the library everyday to pick out some more. But is the series good?

[Whittifer]

I'm reading the Left Behind books(Adult Version), and they are amazing! I just finished Soul Harvest and am going to start Apollyon later tonight.

[John Henry]

I think Revelation is a dangerous Book to tackle with though...also, why is the Antichrist called Nikola(there is no such name in the Bible)?

[TigerShadow]

Why does the name of the Antichrist have to be a Biblical one? Part of the mystery behind Revelation is that things go unnamed. They don't mention things like tanks and heat-seeking missiles in the Bible, either, but I doubt that such things won't have a role to play.

[John Henry]

This is a book predicting what will happen in the future in this earth - I think it is very dangerous. Handling Ezekiel, Daniel 7-12, Revelation, and other such Apocalyptic Prophecies are dangerous. Many heresies handle the Book of Revelation...

[TigerShadow]

I just think it's a very narrow interpretation of the Book of Revelation and the prose is mediocre at best. The Protagonist Centered Morality is also a major flaw in the storytelling.

[Ameraka]

What is Protagonist Centered Morality?

[TigerShadow]

Basically, what is good and what is evil is judged by what the protagonist does amd says, not any universal moral code. TV Tropes has a more accurate explanation:

It's only natural for a writer to see things from the protagonists' Sympathetic Point Of View. Due to their frequent role as narrators and Point of View characters, a protagonist's perspective tends to make an impression on the work more than any other character's — their thoughts will overlap with narration, their feelings will shape the setting and their priorities will dictate the plot. The way events are treated will be colored by how they relate to the protagonist, the things they love, the people they care about. It's hard to imagine a story told otherwise.

But then sometimes this point of view seems to spread like an inkblot and color the way everything behaves and thinks. The work lapses into Protagonist-Centered Morality — a state where, on some profound cosmic level, the very fabric of the fictional universe seems to be seeing things from the protagonist's point of view. Every single sympathetic character, the symbolism, the narration, judge characters as worthy of praise, condemnation or indifference depending on how much favor they carry with the "good guys". The protagonist themself can seemingly do no wrong, and even if there's anyone at all who would beg to differ, they're obviously a bad guy.

Suppose, for example, there is a character who slaughters innocent villagers by the thousands, but once helped save The Hero's mother simply because he thought she was hot; The Hero will easily forgive this guy, buy him a drink, and may even invite him to join the team. Then there is another character who routinely saves orphans from burning buildings who once used his resultant fame to woo away the protagonist's Love Interest. They will be an object of scorn.

Now, this alone is just portraying a realistically flawed hero — the final piece of the puzzle is that the narrative is in on the myopia. There will be no warning signs that the protagonist is being unfair to the hero who saved all these people. No one calls them out on how disrespectful they're being to the memory of thousands of the mass-murderer's victims. This will not come back to haunt them. The Lancer will offer to chip in on that free drink.

The protagonist is essentially acting as though, in certain respects, it really is All About Them, and the narrator might well be agreeing.

[Ameraka]

I love TV Tropes! Hm. I don't remember the books being like that, but it's been a while since I've read them. It took me several years to get through the series. I really liked the first book, probably my favorite. Perhaps because I was 13 and it was one of my first 'grownup' books. It influenced my writing, I believe. Mainly in the epic scope, and the sometimes almost interminable series, and in the action-driven plots. (along with other early books like Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables, the Hiding Place, and Star Wars, and of course Adventures in Odyssey, especially Darkness before Dawn. probably others, and more recent books such as those by Dostoyevsky, O'Connor, and Kafka. but that's getting off topic )

[John Henry]

What is the name of the author whoh wrote "Left Behind"?

[TigerShadow]

There are two. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

[Tea Ess]

I made it halfway through the first book, became involved in reading something else, and it hasn't seemed worthwhile to go back to reading the Left Behind series.

I just think it's a very narrow interpretation of the Book of Revelation and the prose is mediocre at best.

Very well stated.

This is a book predicting what will happen in the future in this earth - I think it is very dangerous. Handling Ezekiel, Daniel 7-12, Revelation, and other such Apocalyptic Prophecies are dangerous. Many heresies handle the Book of Revelation...

I also agree with this, to some extent. Writing books about Revelation isn't necessarily wrong, but I don't think we should put too much weight into interpretations such as these. Someone at my church said (along the lines of), "We can't know for sure what exactly the Book of Revelation means. Ultimately, when we read it, we should be reminded to put our hope and faith in Jesus Christ, and not get too caught up trying to interpret it."