Apocalypse (Almost) Now

NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

[evets]

When will Christ return?
"Sit at my right hand, until I make a footstool of your enemies."
Then.

[pissant]

Uh Mr. Kristof, the book is a novel of fiction. To say that everyone who reads the books thinks that this is what is coming soon is a serious leap. These guys are in business to sell books.

[go_W_go]

"...enthusiastically depict Jesus returning to slaughter everyone who is not a born-again Christian"

Where is this depicted? Christ returns, and MERCIFULLY allows everyone to live ETERNALLY! The only difference is WHERE you spend that eternity... There is no "slaughter" in the second coming of Christ...

Jeff

[Earthdweller]

Matthew 6:19, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth." Or Matthew 19:21, where Jesus advises a rich man: "Sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. . . . It will be hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
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Keep reading. Maybe the real meaning will come to you.

[F16Fighter]

If Saudi Arabians wrote an Islamic version of this series, we would furiously demand that sensible Muslims repudiate such hatemongering.

They already have -- it's called the 'Koran'...And they intend to create hell on earth...

Critic NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF (and assumbably a gnasher of teeth) has forgotten LaHaye and Jenkins has written a novel -- although the Bible has indeed earmarked certain "non-believers" with the distinct possibility of hell -- or at least "separation from the presense of God."

[Portnoy]

When I started reading the Left Behind series, they seemed to have promise, but somewhere around the fourth book, the writing became lame, the margins became wider and the story appeared repetitive. The whole idea of a Tribulation Force battling the anti-Christ became silly.

It was a good concept that would have made a great three book trilogy. Regardless, the series has sold millions of copies. (So what do I know!) I may borrow the last book from the library just to see how they portray the Second Coming...

[all4one]

"If Saudi Arabians wrote an Islamic version of this series, we would furiously demand that sensible Muslims repudiate such hatemongering. We should hold ourselves to the same standard."

One need not look further than the islamic koran....where it tells the muslim followers to "kill all infadels". How is that for "Hatemongering"?

[Steve_Seattle]

Liberal Christians do not like to acknowledge the apocalyptic side of Jesus' message - they find it embarrassing. But scholars generally agree that those apocalyptic passages are among the most certainly authentic statements of Jesus. Nevertheless, I'm not into the specifics of the "Left Behind" series; I don't think it necessarily represents accurate Biblical scholarship.

[killjoy]

Back in the 1970s, my Grandmother was a big follower of all the end of the world religious nonsense. She would go on and on about how the world was about to end and Jesus was going to come back very soon and save everyone. I remember once asking her, "If the world is going to end soon, why do I need to do my homework?" It was an important question for someone in elementary school. Her answer, "Just in case". LOL.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I've offered to bet any amount of money that the World doesn't end within the next 10, 25, 50 years, or whatever."

It's not a fair bet, because if the world ends, you don't have to pay. lol

[cartan]

Considering those great numbers of born-again Christians blowing themselves up in shopping malls and massacring children in schools and making DVDs of their beheadings of unbelievers, it is not hard to understand why liberals would be majorly concerned about this sort of hate speech...or, uhm, am I missing something here?

[dennisw]

If Saudi Arabians wrote an Islamic version of this series, we would furiously demand that sensible Muslims repudiate such hatemongering. We should hold ourselves to the same standard.

Another sicko from the NYTimes equating today's Christian fundamentalism with today's Islamic fundamentalism. This simplistic nonsense plays well in Manhattan I suppose.

Keep it up you blue state wise guys and know it alls and keep losing elections.

[Steve_Seattle]

"If Saudi Arabians wrote an Islamic version of this series, we would furiously demand that sensible Muslims repudiate such hatemongering. We should hold ourselves to the same standard."

The "Left Behind" series anticipates a divine intervention in history; it does not encourage anyone to kill or attack nonbelievers, or to force conversions. So Kristof's atttempt at a parallel with radical Islam falls flat.

[aft_lizard]

I agree it was the most predictable poorly written number one book ever.

[rightwingcrazy]

Wasn't that a Disraeli quote?

[Axenolith]

But I've sat down in Pakistani and Iraqi mosques with Muslim fundamentalists, and they offered the same defense: they're just applying God's word.

Big difference here. Christians just tell how they see it will unfold. Followers of Islam attempt to impliment it every day...

[fishtank]

dunno

[trebb]

I've read all but the last book in the series and enjoyed them immensely. This twit obviously doesn't understand that without Christ, we are all sinners and the penalty for sin is death. God's Justice insists on payment - that's why He sent His Son to pay the penalty for us and gave us all the opportunity to choose everlasting life in lieu of death. I guess I have no choice but to pray that this guy gets it before it is too late and he ends up being one of the casualties he scoffs about...

[Steve_Seattle]

"I can't understand how the Da Vinci Code became such a success... Boring!"

For anyone with a modicum of knowledge about the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi gnostic texts, and the history of Christianity, the book is laughably inaccurate and therefore almost unreadable. But liberals loved it because it reinforced all their paranoid stereotypes and misconceptions about the history of Christianity.

[superiorslots]

Quote:The problem I have with the "lef behind" series is that its poorly written


I read the first 3 books and they were all the same. I've never read a series of book where the plot lines are so dragged out. I sometimes wonder if the authors are dragging out the story line to get more $$$$ knowing people will buy their books