{"id":18479,"date":"2013-10-17T06:49:16","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T10:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=18479"},"modified":"2013-10-16T19:54:19","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T23:54:19","slug":"10-years-ago-left-behind-is-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2013\/10\/17\/10-years-ago-left-behind-is-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"10 years ago: ‘Left Behind’ is evil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe>\n<\/p>October 17, 2003 \u2014 10 years! 10 \u2026 years!<\/em> \u2014 here on slacktivist:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2003\/10\/17\/left-behind-is-evil\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018Left Behind\u2019 is evil<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>It\u2019s easy to dismiss these loopy ideas as a lunatic fringe, but that would be a mistake. The widespread popularity of this End Times mania has very real and very dangerous consequences, for America and for the church. (\u201cPremillennial dispensationalism\u201d \u2014 the technical terms for what these prophecy freaks teach \u2014 teaches that the Sermon on the Mount does not apply to Christians living today. It also undermines the core of Christianity \u2014 Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, and the hope of that resurrection. These are not tangential matters for Christians.)<\/p>\nThe cultural standard bearer for these Very Bad Ideas is the \u201cLeft Behind\u201d series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.<\/p>\nThese books have become so popular that every pastor in America is now confronted with the task of gently, pastorally explaining to their congregation why the theology of these books is misguided and misguiding.<\/p>\nI\u2019m not a pastor, so I won\u2019t be pastoral here. These books are evil, anti-Christian crap. This weekend, I\u2019m beginning a new series of posts in which I\u2019ll go through these books, page by page.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’m not a pastor, so I won’t be pastoral here. These books are evil, anti-Christian crap. This weekend, I’m beginning a new series of posts in which I’ll go through these books, page by page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>10 years ago: 'Left Behind' is evil<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm not a pastor, so I won't be pastoral here. These books are evil, anti-Christian crap. This weekend, I'm beginning a new series of posts in which I'll go through these books, page by page.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2013\/10\/17\/10-years-ago-left-behind-is-evil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 years ago: 'Left Behind' is evil\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I'm not a pastor, so I won't be pastoral here. These books are evil, anti-Christian crap. This weekend, I'm beginning a new series of posts in which I'll go through these books, page by page.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2013\/10\/17\/10-years-ago-left-behind-is-evil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-17T10:49:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-10-16T23:54:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2013\/10\/17\/10-years-ago-left-behind-is-evil\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2013\/10\/17\/10-years-ago-left-behind-is-evil\/\",\"name\":\"10 years ago: 'Left Behind' is evil\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-17T10:49:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-16T23:54:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/32666545e535b697afb93d9848dcfc47\"},\"description\":\"I'm not a pastor, so I won't be pastoral here. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 years ago: 'Left Behind' is evil","description":"I'm not a pastor, so I won't be pastoral here. These books are evil, anti-Christian crap. 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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