The Left Behind Series

The Reasoning

A couple years ago, one of my friends asked me what I thought of the Left Behind series. I told her that I hadn't read them, but I hadn't heard too many good things. It's come up a few more times since, with various folks. Remarks have generally been negative. So this winter, I purchased the first two books in the series, Left Behind and Tribulation Force (though I did hide them under copies of Ender's Game and the like). After getting over my troubles with giving more money to the fundamentalist millenialist folks, I read the books twice over the winter, and another time to prepare this review. So what do I think?

It's not the Worst Ever

Imagine my surprise when it wasn't even that much of a pain to reread the books. Jerry Jenkins, the serializer, has a decent touch on some things. The romance between Chloe and Buck, two of the four protagonists throughout the books, develops in a lovely way. The touches with cookies - and I shouldn't give them away - are quite sweet. I also found the paths to conversion of Chloe and Buck reasonable, and Buck especially a strong character. There's a good chance that's self-identification involved; after all, I'm around their age with around their schooling.

More importantly than visualization, there's a reasonable consistancy about the story. Accepting the assumptions of apocalyptic evangelism, things make sense. The Rapture event, at the beginning of the first book, has a decent feel to it. People just disappear, and panic ensues among the remainder. Lots of stories circulate. I might have expected greater disruption, with a higher amount of trouble, but I guess the percentage of "true believers" in Lahaye's world isn't that large. Also, the rise of the evil man to power, with the geopolitical and financial connections involved, sounds perfectly believable. There's already plenty of hypotheses about old financiers running the world; look at the X Files or Alias, for instance.

So all in all, it's a good tale. I was expecting horrible stuff, like most of the pamphlets street preachers hand out. It's better than that, readable and occasionally compelling, and I'm very grateful.

Where It Falls Short

At the same time, you'll notice the title of this page talks about "false hope". I went into the book hoping for a series I could recommend, and that turned out untrue. So, in typical Adam fashion, let's begin with the little things I dislike, and save the major two for later.

• Other faiths. Lahaye and Jenkins have a typical American fundamentalist view of the Roman Catholic Church. It uses the pre-Reformation view of the Church. Simply, it confuses the requirement that actions must express faith with the idea that actions gain salvation. At least in the first two books, the Eastern churches don't make an appearance. The authors additionally make a questionable judgment call on The Dome of the Rock, since the city of Medina is often called the second place in Islam. These shortcomings foreshadow a more major one later.
• Marriage as a hobby. Something just intuitively feels wrong with the authors' descriptions in the back of the books. Last line: "Jerry and his wife, Dianna, live in Colorado." Tim's wife only gets mentioned on the back cover. I know I'm a hopeless romantic, but this seems way too casual. Maybe I'm reading too much male centrism into this?
• Lack of Scripture. This seems weird, but things are less effective when I have to search through Daniel or Revelation, or try to guess. An example of this done right is on page 174 of the paperback Tribulation Force, where there's a reference to Revelation 11, and a couple of verses. This needs to be more reliable.
• Brutal character development. The last 45 pages of Tribulation Force are completely tacked onto the remainder of the novel, 18 months later. The changes there don't belong, as if "Tim and Jerry" realized they had a gap to cover, and did so in the ugliest way possible. I won't spoil anything, but several things make little sense. Sloppy.
• Third personing. Jenkins loses personage a lot, essentially trying to force reflection into the narrative. It's stilted and inappropriate. Here's an example from page 144 of Left Behind: "But now, as Rayford ran all those memories through his throbbing head, he felt the deepest regret and remorse a man can feel." So they're people conversing, then we get into their heads? When are we ex persona, and when not?

Major point 1: The inability to fall.

From a theological perspective, and I need to think of these books both as literature and doctrine, the loss of free will denial makes things wrong. Bruce's story in Left Behind is the best example, that he calls himself someone who never believed, instead of someone who once did and lost the way. If I pray the tape's prayer, and are sincere, doesn't that mean I can later turn to evil? Perhaps someone reading this can send me a note and explain the contradiction.

Major point 2: Testimony as alpha.

Every time churchman Bruce Barnes introduces the Word, he feels the need to begin with his story, his testimony. Rayford does the same thing in his talks. To me, a more mainline traditionalist, I don't see the need. It's as if only this way, only by knowing a person can one know God. That reeks of self righteousness, eh? Especially when we've read the story already, or earlier books, another long setup just damages the pace. The inability to trust in reason, a rational, non-human centric approach, angers me. Why would God make us thinking beings with free will, yet deny its place in decisions like this?

Summary

One of the interesting things I saw when researching this series is a comment that somewhere in Scandinavia (Sweden, perhaps?), the series is considered science fiction and not inspirational fiction. Especially after spending an afternoon in the library speedreading the ninth volume of the series, I agree with their assessment. One can see the actions of Chloe and Buck and the others as heroic. Nevertheless, I have better models for that (see the Tolkien page for starters). As escapism, though, there's nothing wrong with the idea of Christian fantasy. I thought the books good page-turners. I prefer the world of Narnia, or the alternatives of Orson Scott Card, but there's nothing wrong with what "Tim and Jerry" present.

I'm not sure that's what they wanted, though, and on the grander goal of conversion, the books lack a lot. For the record, I have heard a secondhand report of conversion through the series. I haven't heard many, though, and the reaction of people to the Left Behind movie shows that as well.

When I started this series, I had hope for a cogent alternative world, one of excitement, faith, and reason. I got some of the first in a decent tale, a big pounding of fundamentalist faith, but very little of the last, except perhaps in my decision to use the library instead of American Express. C. S. Lewis once wrote seven fantasy novels for children, so the tradition of Christian fiction is quite old. There's plenty of room in this world for a well-written set on millenialism, but this just ain't it. In a small way like the real Rapture, I guess it's not time quite yet.

Written September 2002.