The books are horribly, horribly written. The writers have no feel for anyone's experience that isn't theirs so the characters react in weird ways. Not to mention that they couldn't anticipate how the world would react to a large scale event/tragedy so all Real True Christians and all children under a certain age (including the unborn) mysetriously vanish and the world goes about it's business regularly.

It has to be '90s! Silly peoples. Although I still can't deal with '00s. Three more years and it'll be the tens!

I am surprised that you all didn't know I was lying in wait to kill you. Admittedly, my cunning plan has a fatal flaw what with not actually being able to do that with electrons yet. Actually, on reflection, it seems like my cunning plan has a fatal flaw, anyway. If I kill you, doesn't that make it difficult for me to convert you? And then how will I get Points in Eternity? It seems I should try to keep you alive, the better to hear my compelling conversion pitches? Right?

It's possible I'm getting this religion thing wrong.

I picked up the first book on ebay a while back - to check it out without contribution, you know - but I've yet to crack it open.

If anyone is interested in seeing how freaky the book is but doesn't want to actually read it I suggest checking out the slacktivist blog -- [link] The blogger, Fred, does a great job of breaking down the insanity of the books. He does Left Behind Fridays (almost every week).

He's also a Buffy fan so during one post he referenced Anya -- it must be Bunnies! -- and included a clip from OMWF.

Speaking of fucked up shit, my neighbor has fallen prey to The Secret. I've tried to talk her down from the poor-man's scientology cult, but she just thinks I have no magic in my heart.

Is The Secret fairly new? I've only first heard about it a day or two ago.

What's The Secret? I mean, are you allowed to tell me?

I intended to read the Left Behind series so I could argue against them, intelligently. I made it through the first book okay, but I don't think I made it through the second (or maybe I made it through the second, but not the third). I took the ones I read out of the library, because I did not want to pay money for them.

I grew up in a small denomination that does not believe Hell is for humans, and my understanding of the end times (which is more from reading as an adult) is quite different from the one in the LB series, so the whole thing made me uncomfortable.

Isn't The Secret some book that Oprah featured? Or something.

It's a book that tells you that all you have to do is sit around wishing for shit and it will come to you. Conversely, people who are like, dying in the Sudan are in their predicament because they were thinking too negatively.