Dear Fr. Joe: Have you heard of the Left
Behind books? What do you think?
I
have, to date, read all of them. What I think of them? Well, I think they
are fiction. They have a huge following; last I heard, over 35,000,000
copies have been sold and that is a lot of books. It’s not
that they are well written, for they certainly are not, I would imagine
that for a great many people (myself included), the topic matter is fascinating
- The End of the World!
I must say I do not think these books are harmless. The anti-Catholic
sentiment is overwhelming in the first few books, petering out (good irony,
no?) as the books continue. (The Pope ends up being a puppet of the anti-Christ
in the first couple books and comes across as a buffoon.) If you are not
sure these authors are anti-Catholic, then check out their Web sites;
they are rife with anti-Catholic sentiment.
In the end, I think the problem is that a typical problem with Christian
fundamentalism is exposed in these books; "only our interpretation
of the Scriptures is accurate. Every one else is going to hell."
The irony is, they often condemn the Catholic Church for saying that it
has the authentic interpretation of the Scripture.
Do I think these books are evil? No, I think we have to read them with
an understanding that they are not Catholic and certainly not written
by people who recognize Catholicism as legitimate Christianity.
What value do they have?
I think they can remind us of the fact that our lives are terminal; we
are going to die one day, we will see Jesus face to face. These books
can remind us of this important fact and help us have a healthy and holy
fear of that moment.
Second, they can remind us of the importance of reading Scripture. We
must immerse ourselves in God’s beautiful, life giving word and let
it transform us in its richness.
Third, these books can show us how important it is to have a central authority
(like the Pope) tell us what an authentic way to look at Scripture is.
Without this central authority, we can run into trouble.
Enjoy another day in God’s presence!
Fr. Joe
E-mail your questions to faithteen@parishmail.com
or joeinblack@priest.com
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