SUPERSTITIOUS THEOLOGY
Amazon.com review, February 18, 2001
A review of the movie Left Behind, starring Kirk Cameron
Rapture and Tribulation theology came into vogue in the 19th century, the product of a few select passages of ancient scripture, mostly metaphorical, taken out of their ancient context and pieced together in such a way that the self-righteous can believe they're better than everybody else. This theology is at the heart of the movie Left Behind. It is anachronism at its most sinister, and I'm one of the majority of Christians who just don't believe it.
Jesus, the focus of Christianity, is barely mentioned in Left Behind, and when he is, there is no mention of who he was or of anything he ever said or did. His name is invoked as the one "to believe in," but what is made most clear in this movie is the authors' conviction that every word in the Bible is literally factual, and that those who don't believe this are condemned by God. Scholars today call this "bibliolatry" -- the worshipping of the Bible as the literal words of God.
But the Bible was written over a period of thousands of years by hundreds of different human beings. It is not a history book, and it is not a rulebook. It is the epic story of monotheism. It contains much that is true, that is, truths about life as seen through the eyes of those inspired by God throughout the past few millennia. Whether this or that passage is journalistically factual is irrelevant.
Many, many of its stories (including most of the passages quoted in this movie) are apocalyptic -- a type of metaphorical literature that flourished in the Middle East two to three thousand years ago, but that Western culture does not have the mindset to understand. Apocalyptic literature does not predict the future; it was a style of writing meant to give hope to an oppressed culture.
Never mind the neat special effects, the twists of plot, and all the other things our present-day Western culture enjoys in a good movie. The backbone of this project was broken to begin with.
As Madeleine L'Engle once said, "I take the Bible far too seriously to take it literally." A literal reading of the Bible produces an image of God as a vengeful, angry, immature, temper-tantrum-throwing creator who can't wait to punish those who have broken his black-and-white rules. I, for one, just can't believe that. I believe, rather, what Jesus said time and time again about getting your priorities straight. Love is the way of the universe -- and what is love? Letting go of fear and doing good for others in this wonderful universe God has created. The universe will be here long after the human race is gone, and it's still all good. Praise God!