[Commie Basher]

Article examines the "Left Behind" book series. Author Goldberg seems a liberal Jew who believes that the Christian right remains hostile to Judaism, seeing Jews only as future converts to Christianity once Israel has fulfilled its Apocalyptic role. She thinks the "Left Behind" series reveals what Christian fundamentalist supporters of Israel really think about Jews (and liberals, and gays, etc.).

Even if she's wrong, it explains why so many Jews remain hostile to Christianity, conservatism, and the GOP, despite their support of Israel.

[lonnie]

Wouldn't you be hostile to a religion that believes you are going to hell?
According to Christians... Jews and Moslems (and other non believers) will spend an eternity together because they haven't accepted Jesus.

[evolved_rage]

Wow, I din't know Christians wanted to convert people, least of all Jews...News to me...We should burn the books! How dare they suggest they believe what they preach.

[eno_]

Never read it, but "spurning the U.N." is alright by me. Party on.

[onedoug]

By seeking the Messiah in ourselves, the rest will come.

[VRW Conspirator]

Where do I start?

Goldberg has writen this review as if she drew the last straw and was the unlucky one chosen to clean the toilet.

The seething and derision is viseral. (wow, I like that) She does not seem to realize that when push comes to shove, the "radical right" will be the unwavering ally of the Jewish nation.

The more I read revealed more about the author than the book or series. I will give he a C+ for effort, a B- for slander and a A+++++ for writhing in pain.

I love the smell of fear in the morning.

[LostTribe]

>...The chosen people are suddenly the darlings of the religious right,

Chosen people? Chosen by whom for WHAT? Where in the Bible does it say that? C'mon Goldberg, answer the questions.

[Alouette]

Those Israeli settlements in the West Bank that add so much kindling to the conflagration in the Middle East are often "adopted" and funded by American evangelical churches whose members are devouring a novel that depicts Jews reclaiming Palestinian land, moving Al-Aqsa Mosque out of Jerusalem and rebuilding the second temple on the Dome of the Rock.

And the downside of this is...?

Well, the writer may get all worked up that "those people" believe that I am "going to Hell" because I don't believe in their version of salvation. So what??? They are not trying to inflict those beliefs on me and mine with suicide bombings, drive-by shootings, and crashing airplanes into skyscrapers.

If they want to believe that Jews all convert to Christianity when "the Messiah comes", I can still believe that righteous Christians will all convert to Judaism when that happens.

[sweetliberty]

"Imagine if, say, James Carville wrote a novel in which a band of heroic gay socialists defeated a voracious army of slack-jawed Bible-quoting Republicans to turn the world into a gigantic French-speaking free-love commune."

ROTFLMBO! In my opinion that would make for an uproarious comedy in style of Monty Python or Mel Brooks.

[Paulus Invictus]

Salon.com??? I thought they went belly-up! The libs continue to trash anyone and anything not in their socialist camp and they clearly demonstrate, with this article, they are anti-Christian.

[RAT Patrol]

Don't get me wrong here, I love Jews and their religion and history, but they might consider looking at their own religion for a minute. They don't think anyone else is "clean." They think God is only interested in Jews. I am not bothered in the least by that so they need to just chill when they learn Christians think Christianity is the only right answer. So what. Truth does not depend on interpretation. If you think you have the truth why should you care that someone else thinks you don't? If truth depends on others agreeing with you then it stands on pretty shaky ground.

[thathamiltonwoman]

I don't like the Left Behind series because it's not good writing, but I love the fact that the number one fiction book series in America was written by two Christians. Book reviewers and the media have deliberately ignored the series for years now. It's interesting that now they choose to attack it.

[jejones]

I have a hard time not laughing when I see the "Left Behind" series books on the shelves, because I can't help thinking of a caption cited in one of those Columbia Journalism Review books of news copy howlers, Police Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim, which went something like this:

Weight Watchers awards Jane Doe with certificate for losing sixty pounds, going from 180 to 120 pounds--a third of her left behind!

[Dales]

It's simply that the seemingly wacky ideology promulgated in the Left Behind books is one that important people in America are quite comfortable with.

It's a novel. A piece of fiction. I was raised a Catholic, and I am quite comfortable reading this novel. I am also quite comfortable reading lots of other novels, from "Silence of the Lambs" to "Atlas Shrugged" to "War and Peace".

Talk about trying to make a mountain out of a non-existant molehill.

[Libertina]

wacky ideology
..."probably very little overlap between Salon's readership and the audience for apocalyptic Christian fiction"...
Hmmm, that reminds me, I want to finish Left Behind book #7 today... :)

[Aliska]

If the Palestinians had been the ones with a pivotal endtime role in our holy book rather than the Jews, the Jews would be anathema. That's what's wrong with this picture.

[Tribune7]

Imagine if, say, James Carville wrote a novel in which a band of heroic gay socialists defeated a voracious army of slack-jawed Bible-quoting Republicans to turn the world into a gigantic French-speaking free-love commune.

Or, heaven forbid, had it so that unpopular movies that followed that theme get the annual Oscar. But to even think that shows that I'm just a paranoid right-wing nut case. LOL

[537 Votes]

Let me get this straight. American Christians are spending three billion dollars a year for the support of Israel. We are murdered by Arab terrorists and endure airport shakedowns and attendant loss of our freedoms, because of our continued support of Israel.

But hey, folks, American Christians are oppressing Jews!

I've read the Old Testament -- the part that Jews believe in -- many times, and I'm still looking for the passage that says ingratitude is a virtue.

[contrarian]

I just finished reading the "Behind" series for the (blush) THIRD TIME so I feel qualified to present my RIGHT WING opinion.. I think it is hilarious that a LEFT WING (Probable Atheist at best)Pinko-Salon-Wacko does not have a CLUE what the series is all about..Me thinks Mr. Steele would not be the only one left behind if the premise of the books is true..btw, the authors state that this is not the only way that things could happen,,, just one way that events MIGHT happen.. With all my reading (many subtle nuances picked up with each reading) I can not find a JEWBASHING hostile environment,,,just deep love for a special people who do not seem to understand their own "SPECIALNESS".OOOPS, JUST lost my objectivity..

[TheBattman]

What I really love about this sort of review, is that it was obviously written by someone who has not actually read the work being reviewed, instead relying upon other people's views and summaries to fill in details.

Anyone reading the Left Behind series must keep one thing in mind....

It is a work of fiction which describes a reasonably realistic view of the way Biblical end-times prophecies could very well unfold. We must also keep in mind that Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, the writers, are human.

Personally, the Left Behind series has helped strengthen my faith, while at the same time, encouraging me to further study the Bible.

For anyone interested in end-times prophecy-based fiction should also check out James BeauSeigneur's "Christ Clone Trillogy":

In His Image
Birth Of An Age
Acts Of God

Although written from a Christian perspective, this book also covers the roll that other "beliefs" play in the end times. This book series has a lot less of the feel-goods found in the Left Behind series.

[sauropod]

ping for study