Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times - Conscious Evolution TV

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How robin-bobin Popular Are the Left Behind Books . . . and Why? 23More positively, sympathetic movie portrayals of culturesdifferent from our own may help us understand the experiencesof others. All of these are examples of how popular culture mayshape or influence us, negatively or positively.Yet popular culture also reflects us. In essence, “we” choosewhat becomes popular. Television networks announce new TVseries at the beginning of a season, with extensive publicity andmanipulation of time slots, but few of the shows actuallysucceed. The public makes choices and determines whethersomething becomes popular, and the viewers are not merepawns under the network executives’ control. The question thenarises: Why did one series succeed when another did not? Howdid it resonate with the values of the public, or what needs did itfill? In a sense, looking at popular culture is like holding up amirror, in which the general public sees itself: its needs, itsdesires, its beliefs, its yearnings. What does popular culture tellus about ourselves?These are good questions to ask about the Left Behind books.Because the novels are so popular, with so many people readingand talking about them, do they influence the readers andsociety as a whole? And what does the fact that we have madethem so popular tell us about ourselves and our society? Otherchapters in this book will have some suggestions along the way,and I would like to offer a few comments as well.Let us start with the question about why the Left Behindbooks are so popular and what their popularity says about us.One could make several suggestions, but I would argue that it isimportant to see these novels in the larger context of apocalypticthemes in popular culture. This is not just about conservativeChristians, or Christianity in general, but also about broadthemes in American culture. Struggles between good and evilare not limited to explicitly Christian books or films; theypervade American popular culture in its many forms. For example,consider westerns, Disney animated movies, comic books,science fiction serials, and action–adventure novels. Whetherthey portray cosmic battles between good and evil or conflictson a more human plane, certain themes seem to arise repeatedlyrobin-bobin
24robin-bobin Rapture, Revelation, and the End Timesin American popular culture’s portrayals of these struggles:●●●●Evil comes from the outside. In a western, an outlaw gangterrorizes the town, but there is nothing basically wrong withthe innocent townspeople except perhaps for their weakness.In Disney’s animated movie Aladdin, the villain Jafar mayhave manipulated his way into the Sultan’s court, but he isclearly an outsider in both character and appearance. Thisrepeated theme of the external source of evil is psychologicallycomforting, because “we” are not the problem.People are either good or evil, not both. Think of the villainsin James Bond or Indiana Jones movies, or Lex Luthorbattling Superman in comic books, or people wearing blackhats and white hats in old-time westerns. More recently, thinkof the terrorist villains in any number of movies and televisionprograms. The “evil” characters are not people one wouldexpect to have heart-to-heart conversations with, to changetheir ways. Decisions are much easier when there is a clear-cutdistinction between our enemies and our friends.The solution is the destruction of the evil-doers. When thedistinction between good and bad people is clear-cut, it usuallymeans that the bad people are beyond redemption. Thus, thereis only one solution to eliminate evil-doers: kill them. In howmany action-adventure movies are the villains transformedto a new way of living? (Very few.) How often do they die?(Most of the time.) Situations are resolved through “redemptiveviolence.”Good wins. Movie audiences cheer when the evil space stationblows up, or when the villain falls from a skyscraper tohis death, and the heroes gather to congratulate one another.A clear victory is more emotionally satisfying than ambiguousendings, unless a sequel is planned.Of course we can think of exceptions to each of these themes,but are they not the exceptions rather than the rule? I wouldcontend that the themes listed above are dominant in Americanpopular culture, although they are challenged regularly bydissenting examples.robin-bobin
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Page 76 and 77: obin-bobin3What Does the Bible SayA
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198robin-bobinDiscussion Questions2
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202robin-bobinGlossarythe end times
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208robin-bobinAnnotated Bibliograph
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214robin-bobinList of Contributorss
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216robin-bobinIndexChristians - con
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218robin-bobinIndexmillennium, 48-9
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Rapture, Revelation, and the End Times - Conscious Evolution TV

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