I know it's Tuesday, and I've been trying to post a TED video each week (OK, so maybe it's only the second or third week of doing that, but I'm trying). Anyway, haven't had time to track down a good TED video yet, but I did find an interesting quote this morning.
Before we get to that though... The little Church thing on Saturday actually went off better than expected. I have a friend who went through a similar thing, but the difference is... He still believes that the organization is true and is led by inspired men, his problem was simply corrupt local leadership. I have the same problem with corrupt local leadership, except I think the corruption goes all the way to the top and have lost complete faith in all aspects of the organization. I think that difference made it easier to deal with.
I may blog more on that in the days and weeks to come though.
Back to the topic at hand though...
Have any of you seen any of the Left Behind series of videos? I saw one a number of years ago. My younger sister grabbed it from the video store and brought it home as a good wholesome movie for us all to watch. The entire plot is this... One day, a whole bunch of people just vanish. It's the rapture and they've been taken up to heaven. Everyone else is Left Behind... Kirk Cameron spends a bunch of time trying to figure out what happened, and then finds a bible, and starts talking to people about it.
So here were my initial thoughts:
First, it's kind of a reborn Christian (Happy Clappy) type of movie, which Mormons (At least my family) love to make fun of and mock (Being the Christlike people they are.)
And second, if the rapture has happened, and you've been left behind, I'm not sure that all of a sudden getting all religious will do you any good - unless I'm missing something in the theology. As far as I'm concerned, if that is indeed the case, and your reason for existence is based wholly and getting back to God... You've missed your shot and it's time to eat, drink and be merry!
Anyway, so I'm not sure why certain Mormons of my acquaintance think these movies are awesome... Perhaps it's because of all the evil movies out there like Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings and other abhorrent and abominable movies, the Left Behind series are a shining light of morality and cleanliness - or so they think.
So here's the quote. It's from another blog called A Moment to Think, and I think he grabbed it out of a book on the series.
"People are hungry to have some information about what the Bible says about the future. And if you don’t give them something good to eat, they’ll eat junk food. And the Left Behind series are kind of the Twinkies and the Hostess Cupcakes of the theological world."
No-one knows whats going to happen after this life, even if they claim to, but that may be a topic for another day.
Ick. Have stayed far away from Left Behind, and have steered my kids away from it, too... bought all the Harry Potter books instead. ; )
ReplyDeleteDon't know what they were thinking when they tagged Revelation on to the Bible. Must have been some sort of political agreement with Satan and the underworld... they needed a book their future televangelists could run with.
FWIW, Christiandom is highly divided about the Rapture, whether it will happen or won't happen or has already happened, and what that should or shouldn't mean to our everyday lives (which should be the point, right?). In my experience, the mainline denominations and more educated Christians don't give the Rapture or Revelation much face time. I can remember 2 or 3 sermons on it in my lifetime. On the other hand, you'll hear a reference every week or two in a lot of fundie churches. Naturally that influence my decision regarding our family library.
Glad Sunday wasn't too bad, I was wondering how that went!
Harry Potter?!? The book series that turns children into Satanist Priests?!? |||SHUDDER|||
ReplyDeletePerhaps peoples reaction to these things is useful though. A friend of friend had the following experience...
He went to work at LDS Church HQ and put a non-smoking sign on his door. A fellow employee got pretty agitated by it, since smoking isn't even allowed on the grounds, and if you smoke, you just don't work there... Anyway way after a couple of rounds of frustrated arguing about the pointlessness of such a sign, the perpetrator said the following...
The sign does do one really important thing though... It's lets me know that you and I likely won't get on very well.
I think when people run with this crap, it's probably most useful as a warning, that they are best avoided!