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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | LEFT BEHIND? | Bible general Archive 1 | kalos | 60035 | ||
We need to remember that the Left Behind series of *novels* is not a formal Bible study. Nor is it commentary. It is FICTION. We need to distinguish between fiction and nonfiction, between art and life. If a person enjoys fiction, then they may wish to read the Left Behind books. If not, don't read them. If one desires a Bible study, let them look in the Bible study section of the bookstore -- not the fiction department. ------------- Justme: [None of the following is "aimed" at you. I am merely presenting some thoughts and observations on the Left Behind series.] Grace to you, kalos ************* I have read through the entire Left Behind Series twice. I love it. I thoroughly enjoy it. I find myself talking about it all the time. I have learned much from reading it. There is much to be said for it on the positive side. I don't claim to know more about endtime prohpecy than either of the writers of this series. I'm just saying that I don't agree with all of their endtimes theology. I choose not to make a big deal out of it. One has to remember that this is not a formal Bible study. Nor is it commentary. It is FICTION. I don't let the doctrinal weaknesses bother me. And I am a stickler for doctrine and biblical accuracy. Yet even if the writers of the Left Behind books were to be mistaken, it seems they are sincere in their interpretation of Revelation. I would never accuse them of deliberately misinterpreting the Scriptures or of setting out to deceive the readers. I find the series very thought-provoking. Whatever you may believe about the time of the rapture, this we know: there will be believers on earth during the time of the tribulation. Whoever they are, they will suffer much and many will be put to death by the antiChrist. The value of the series is that it gets the reader to thinking seriously of what life on earth during the tribulation has in store for all those -- whether believers or unbelievers -- who will be here at that time. It's a call to prepare for the tribulation period. A call to be ready. I don't see how anyone can read the series and not be moved or stirred in his heart to be ready. I say if the series scares people, that's OK -- let it. While I wouldn't use fear to manipulate people into "making a decision" or getting saved, it is nevertheless true that people need to take the endtime prophecies seriously. They need to be afraid of what is to come, if they are not saved. It's about time to quit worrying about offending people and start showing our true love for them by being honest and warning them of the horror that is coming upon the earth. kalos |
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2 | LEFT BEHIND? | Bible general Archive 1 | Hank | 60064 | ||
Kalos, this comes from one who has read a great deal of fiction, because I enjoy it for recreation and mental stimulation and, in my university days, because I had to in order to pass my courses in literature. The premier raison d'etre of fiction is entertainment, but that is not to say that some imaginative literature cannot be, at the same time, didactic. I think of Swift, Dickens, Eliot, Melville, Hawthorne, Twain and others whose fictional works are at once both highly entertaining and more or less didactic: they deliver a sometimes powerful moral or social message concomitant with their fine fictional features of plot and characterizaion. The Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock once oberved that the typical American student labors under the mistaken notion that he must be slightly bored by his reading in order to learn anything worthwhile. There is a silly stigma attached to the idea that "required reading" is, by definition, a journey into boredom. I know a bright woman who refuses to read Dickens and Shakespeare simply because she remembers that "David Copperfield" and "Hamlet" were required reading for a course in literature she took while at college. I would observe that she most likely "finished" her education in college and has ceased to grow much intellectually since then! So I would not disparage the reading of the "Left Behind" series as an utter waste of time for those who have a keen interest in the subject that they address. Simply because my literary tastes don't happen to run in this vein gives me no reason to condemn books of this sort. On balance, however, I think it prudent for the Christian to bear in mind that Scripture treats of many subjects, eschatology being but one of them, and thus he should strive for balance in his reading, not only of Scripture, but of extra-scriptural religious literature as well. And lastly, no matter how well-written, how glittering or persuasive books that happen to be the current rage may be, one must always turn to the Book of Books for guidance in his walk with the Author of Authors. --Hank | ||||||