L.B.: Sunday afternoons

Left Behind, pp. 221-225

So how do you spend the first lazy Sunday of the end of the world?

Rayford Steele, we're told, went to church. Afterwards, the Rev. Bruce Barnes invites him to lunch.

"I'd want to call my daughter first, but sure," Steele says, doing his part to maintain the phone-calls/pages ratio for the book. Considering that a third of the planet's population disappeared without a trace just a few days earlier, you'd expect people to be a bit more obsessive about calling loved ones when they're going to be late, but that's not the main reason Rayford is calling. He's checking in to see if she has converted yet. She hasn't.

Rayford let Chloe know where he'd be. She didn't ask about the church meeting, except to say, "It went long, huh? Lot of people there?" And he simply told her yes on both counts.

Chloe didn't talk long on the phone because she had to get back to ... what exactly? She doesn't have a job, or classes to study for, and she doesn't leave the house. I'm not suggesting we need a detailed itinerary for every off-screen character, but some suggestion of how Chloe is passing the time would've been nice. Since she got home, all we know is that she hasn't yet watched the In-Case-of-Rapture video. She doesn't seem to doing anything.

That would be odd enough on a normal Sunday, but again this isn't a normal Sunday, it's the first Sunday of the end of the world. Generally speaking, there are two main responses to massive, world-altering calamity. You can try to take it in, to comprehend -- numbly watching hours and hours of cable news, devouring newspapers and surfing the Web. Or you can try to Do Something -- donate blood, collect canned goods, organize a vigil, drive to New Orleans or Manhattan, fly to Banda Aceh. Chloe doesn't do any of that -- nobody in Left Behind does. She gets home and sits around for three days not-watching a videotape.

Bruce and Rayford grab lunch at "a small restaurant in Arlington Heights," where the main course is two more pages of Bruce's extravagant humility and self-flagellation.

Here yet again it's the dog that doesn't bark that's most interesting. Here was the scene five days ago:

But now the roads are clear and Noodles & Company is open for business and it's just like any other Sunday.

Restaurants probably took a bit of a hit from the Rapture -- what with there now being 2 billion or so fewer potential customers. Chuck E. Cheese and other such places catering to children would, of course, be out of business for good. (It probably also would be best, post-Rapture, for restaurants to remove the kids' pages from their menus, as the uncontrolled sobbing they would likely provoke could be distracting to the other diners.)

But on the other hand, evangelical Christians are notoriously lousy tippers, so the news isn't all bad for the hospitality industry.

Anyway, in between bites and lashes, Bruce invites Rayford to join the New Hope church's leadership team, a "little core group" of leaders who would lead the new congregation as the leading piece of what Bruce calls his "leadership model." Rayford accepts.

"I'm willing ..." Rayford said. "As long as I'm not expected to take any leadership role."

Rayford returns home, where Chloe immediately informs him that she still hasn't yet watched the video tape. But actively not watching it is hard work, and after three straight days of this she's getting tired, so she promises to watch it before riding along on the flight to Atlanta with him the next day.

Rayford had been home about 20 minutes and had changed into his pajamas and robe to relax for the rest of the evening when Chloe called out to him. "Dad, I almost forgot. A Hattie Durham called for you several times. She sounded pretty agitated. Said she works with you."

Rayford explains that Hattie is a flight attendant he's been trying to avoid. "I ducked her," he tells his daughter, and then ducks her questions about why he did that.

Rayford was reaching for the phone when it rang. It was Bruce. "I forgot to confirm," he said. "If you've agreed to be part of the core team, the first responsibility is tonight's meeting with the disenchanted and the skeptics."

"You are going to be a tough taskmaster, aren't you?"

"I'll understand if you weren't planning on it."

"Bruce," Rayford said, "except for heaven, there's no place I'd rather be. I wouldn't miss it. I might even be able to get Chloe to come to this one."

There's no place he'd rather be, which is why he was sitting home in his pajamas planning to "relax for the rest of the evening."

I'm glad he's going, though, and glad to see the additional build-up to what is sure to be one of the most interesting and important scenes in the book so far. Bruce's dialogue with the skeptics at this Sunday evening meeting provides a perfect platform for LaHaye and Jenkins to engage with and respond to their critics and the tough questions about their vindictive eschatology. Chloe will be there as a sympathetic stand-in for these critics, and she's already raised one of the most crucial and toughest questions: How can their theology be reconciled with the idea of a loving God? The scene is set and it's rife with dramatic potential, the perfect opportunity for the authors to expound on their views without interrupting the dramatic and narrative flow. As I said earlier, I'm very much looking forward to this upcoming scene.

Rayford calls Hattie:

"I just got some disconcerting news," she said. "You remember that writer from Global Weekly who was on our flight, the one who had his computer hooked up to the in-flight phone?"

"Vaguely."

"His name was Cameron Williams, and I talked to him by phone a couple of times since the flight. I tried calling him from the airport in New York last night but couldn't get through."

"Uh-huh."

"I just heard on the news that he was killed in England in a car bombing."

"You're kidding!"

This seems intended to produce a frisson of recognition for the reader -- a thrilling hint that these parallel stories might soon intersect. We're supposed to think, "Why, they're talking about Buck!" and to delight in the way these stories begin to overlap. It's just like Crash, or Magnolia, or Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, or The Decalog. Except not. Those stories (or collections of stories or however you want to classify them) hint at connections and interconnections to underscore our common humanity -- to show that we all are, in fact, connected, interacting with and interdependent on each other. This interconnectedness shows up as a motif even in less ambitious pieces of storytelling, such as disaster movies, where a diverse collection of characters are shown coping with calamity as stand-ins for the rest of us, for everyone.

But here in Left Behind the select few characters are not stand-ins for everyone, they are stand-ins only for the elect, for the chosen few. Rayford's and Buck's storylines are bound to intersect not because we are all interconnected, but because they are among the only handful of people, among the billions on earth, who really matter to the authors. The author's affection is as they imagine God's to be: exclusive and highly selective. Everyone else be damned. Everyone else can go to Hell.

Rayford, hoping to avoid any awkwardness with Hattie, still manages to duck having her assigned to his flight to Atlanta. Instead he invites her to come to his house for dinner with him and Chloe. What could be awkward about that?

"Could we get together sometime soon?" he asks. And she replies, "I'd like that, Rayford, I really would." They have rather different agendas for this meeting, of course, and the confusion is likely to persist even after Rayford explains that he wants her to watch this special video tape with him.

This can't end well. Flirt to convert never does.

Comments

[PK]

Finally!

The steady punditry diet was getting tiresome ;)

[PK]

Also: this is how you make a rapture ready video!

[Jody]

Yes- Finally. It's like I haven't laughed in months.

[Jesurgislac]

"Could we get together sometime soon?" he asks. And she replies, "I'd like that, Rayford, I really would." They have rather different agendas for this meeting, of course, and the confusion is likely to persist even after Rayford explains that he wants her to watch this special video tape with him.

Hee. Now that's a scene I'm looking forward to.

Especially if Rayford suggests that Hattie watch this special video tape with him and Chloe.

I'm not suggesting we need a detailed itinerary for every off-screen character, but some suggestion of how Chloe is passing the time would've been nice. Since she got home, all we know is that she hasn't yet watched the In-Case-of-Rapture video. She doesn't seem to doing anything.

She's probably updating her livejournal. Doing memes and quizzes. Joining the lj community NotRaptured.

[LL]

I like the "punditry," but yeah, it's good to get back to thrashing The Most Idiotic Story Ever Told.

[Redem]

I'm quite happy that the hiatus is over, I'm an avid reader even if it's the first time I post comment

You know it got me thinking, maybe in that world, if the faithful are all interconnected maybe the rest (that we shall call the damn) are like exterior agressor who are only there to test the fabric who come periodicly to spoil an otherwise perfect world. They basicly don't live in the same world they are adjacent to it.

[The Old Maid]

She's probably updating her livejournal.

Probably not. This doesn't come in to Volume 1, but in Volume 2 Cameron "Buck" Williams leads her to Raymie's computer in his bedroom, sets up an e-mail account for her, and explains what it does. ("Now you can reach me all over the world.") This itself doesn't quite square with Volume 11, where her university utilizes very sophisticated technology (and hands over that data to the bad guys). But I digress.

So no, I don't know what she's doing either. Since she crossed three time zones a few chapters ago, I vote for sleeping off jet lag.

[John]

I'm very glad to see you back at it. I miss Left Behind Day when it doesn't happen.

[wintermute]

"I just got some disconcerting news," she said. "You remember that writer from Global Weekly who was on our flight, the one who had his computer hooked up to the in-flight phone?"

"Vaguely."

"His name was Cameron Williams, and I talked to him by phone a couple of times since the flight. I tried calling him from the airport in New York last night but couldn't get through."

"Uh-huh."

"I just heard on the news that he was killed in England in a car bombing."

"You're kidding!"

Translation: "I know that two-thirds of the world's population (including your wife and son) has just vanished without explanation, but even more stunning that that: someone you vaguely heard of once, and might possibly remember the existence of just died!"

Once again, their priorities seem monstrous. Is it just me?

[Kristin]

Thanks for sending down the manna. Enjoy it as always- satisfying and filling as usual

[Ray]

That was my thought too, wintermute.
"Hmmm, I'm not sure I remember, Hattie, which flight was he on?"

"The one where all the passengers disappeared, and we landed to discover a nightmarish world without children, without our loved ones, without any sort of reason or hope."

"Oh, that flight. Short guy, wasn't he, dark hair? I remember him now. Wow, that's awful."

[The Old Maid]

Well, the audience may receive it differently, but the authors may have intended it as foreshadowing. After all, Hattie's introduction to the Big Big, and Chloe's conversion both flow from Buck's reappearance. So it'd be nice if someone missed him. (Buck's already told everyone else he's fine.)

[The Old Maid]

"Big Bad," not big-big. Although he is a Big Big Bad. Typos not so good-o.

[wintermute]

Actually, it occurs to me that there must be very little news in the post-rapture world, if the death of a moderately famous reporter that people have "vaguely" heard of, becomes headline news half a world away.

I know that the murder of a journo really will get higher billing than it really deserved (and for very understandable reasons), but still. I find it hard to believe that they can't find anything more relevant to talk about, a mere week after the end of the world. Are there no riots, looting, murders, suicides, vigils, investigations into what happened, or anything like that that would be a better use of their time?

Maybe the Left Behind happen to be incredibly law-abiding, and Evangelical Christians made up pretty much 100% of murderers and theives. It would explain why there's so little chaos on the streets of Chicago.

So, the moral of the story is: murder, lie, cheat, steal and rape, and you're guaranteed a seat on the Rapture Express. Probably not quite what LH&J were intending...

[Ken]

But now the roads are clear and Noodles & Company is open for business and it's just like any other Sunday.

More "Cozy Catastrophe" Syndrome.

PK: Also: this is how you make a rapture ready video!

Agree. Has IMPACT; even though I figured out what they were going to pull in the first five seconds, the staging of the climax still came through as a shock.

For the record, my Church (Catholic) does NOT hold to dispensationalism and the Rapture scenario at all; our EOTW is primarily AMil, with a bit of PostMil; PreMil (non-Darbyite) is there, but is traditionally a minority interpretation. The Darbyite EOTW choreography ("Secret Rapture") bears a lot of bad fruit that are now becoming obvious; my Church has always considered being ready for Death ("Your own personal End of the World") more important than trying to put together End Time Prophecy into an escape clause -- historically, you're a lot more likely to be in the former group than the latter.

[Mike]

Finally, a Sunday afternoon when you can go to a restaurant and not have to worry about "beating the Baptists to Britlings". (Britlings was a cafeteria in my hometown, jam packed after church every week. Not that I would have eaten there anyway, but they clogged up the good restaurants too. But that was the catch phrase about Sunday afternoon dining.)

[Erin]

Thank you so much for continuing your summary/commentary. I was almost tempted to buy the book out of curiosity, but then I would be giving the authors royalties. Then I thought about checking the books out of the library, but then the library would have use statistics and might order another copy. So I practiced the virtue of patience, thank you for not having that last too long

[the opoponax]

the weird thing is that from time to time (when it suits their purpose) they will mention chaos and insanity in the streets. they're not intending it to be like 9/11 or the 2003 east coast blackout, where there was almost a miraculous sense of community and there really WAS virtually no looting, riots, street crime running rampant, etc. so it's more that they just keep violating their own rules, not that they're trying to say that there's no chaos.

maybe chloe is actually sitting at home mourning the rest of her family... going through kubler-ross' stages of grief, looking at family photos and home movies, etc. you know, the kind of stuff you'd really be doing if half your family just disappeared, never to return.

[e. nonee moose]

But on the other hand, evangelical Christians are notoriously lousy tippers, so the news isn't all bad for the hospitality industry.

Instead of Joshua 24:15, they should put little plaques up on their front doors that read "As for me and my house, We will NOT tip the pizza guy."

Also, why do they always eat out on Sunday after church? The very act of eating out on Sunday means some number of waiters/waitresses, cooks and busboys had to miss church in order to prepare and serve them their meal. I think the Chik-Fil-A guy has the right idea.

[the opoponax]

also, can i just mention the freakish narrative leap involved with that whole "special meeting" thing? so sunday morning, ray goes to church, where bruce is preaching (or not. or whatever.). they go to lunch together, and talk about this leadership team which ray has just been invited by bruce to join. they apparently spend the entire rest of the afternoon and at least a bit of the evening together, as the book mentions that ray gets home and into PJ's. only then does bruce call him and invite him to a meeting of the group ray has just been asked to join (and which they apparently discussed for much of the afternoon and evening), and which is taking place that very night.

WTF? did they even have an editor on these books? this is like something out of fan-fiction. it makes that little sense. firstly, when in real life would that ever happen? you spend all day discussing something with a friend, and then that night they call you up and say, "oh, hey, remember we were talking about how much we both love Michel Gondry and how his films have changed our lives and fundamentally altered our consciousness? i forgot to tell you. he has this new movie out, and it opens here in 20 minutes. wanna go see it?" secondly, it's just sloppy writing in general. it adds pages of necessary dialogue to engineer a scene which is about to take place, which could have been engineered much more elegantly by just having them talk about it over lunch when they talked about everything else.

oh, wait, but that would completely throw the phone calls/pages ratio, wouldn't it?

[jw]

I agree with the opopanax that Chloe's lack of activity may not be as inappropriate as it seems. But I think Fred's noting it is also relevant: the reason for Chloe's not doing anything has more to do with the writers lack of imagination than anything else. And so, aprpopos of a typical Sunday for the writers, we get a lunch out after church, and a lazy evening interrupted by important church business.

[LN]

It's only been five days? What's the phone calls/day ratio? And when DID they get the phones back up and working...

[L]

"I'm very much looking forward to this upcoming scene."

I'm getting a premonition about what this scene is going to be like...

[Stan Taylor]

If the rapture closed down Chunky Cheese's, then it would be well worth it!

[pat greene]

She's probably updating her livejournal. Doing memes and quizzes. Joining the lj community NotRaptured.

I am sitting in a public library as I read this. It was *very* hard to stifle my guffaws. I still snorted a lot.

As far as what people do in the wake of great tragedy, sometimes we just sit and stare at the wall a lot. Grief is hard. Chloe has just lost her family, which is going to hit her harder than the larger loss will.

[throatwarbler mangrove]

So, what kind of a crowd does Pastor Bruce draw for the first Sunday service after the rapture? I suppose not too many congregants are Left Behind, and the ones that are are pretty pissed at the Lord for stiffing them after all the time they put in. So who's out in the pews, besides Rayford?

[Duane]

Also, why do they always eat out on Sunday after church?

To evangelize!

[Chan]

Gah. I've got friends who are Born Again (C) and have Given Their Lives to Christ (tm) and they keep the full set of LB on their shelves right next to the Harry Potter books. None of the places they've lived in the last few years have burned down, yet. I admit to having been somewhat curious about what was in LB, but now I don't have to wonder. Thanks, Slacktivist! You really saved me some IQ points there.

I recently saw several LB: For Kids! books in the local library. This caused me to pause and scratch my head, because there shouldn't be any children left. Do they come down from heaven and have adventures? Or do these books prove that LB is a franchise that will do anything to make money, like the Young Jedi books proved for Star Wars?

My wife says that this book reads like the Heroes (Ray, Buck, etc.) are the Player Characters in someone's homebrew RPG, and they sneaked a look at the Game Master's notes while he was in the bathroom. That certainly explains their utter lack of surprise, and the amateurish way that Buck goes Undercover ("Crap! Better call my dad, or I'll be docked experience points for ignoring my Dependent disadvantage!").

[Redem]

Well consider the first left behind was made in 1995 if I remember correctly and since it's always that kind of "apocalyspe now" setting they couldn't forseen Blog at the time and that's why also @mail are that big unknown thing in the later book

[Grumpy]

wintermute: "I find it hard to believe that they can't find anything more relevant to talk about, a mere week after the end of the world."

Yeah! How come folks are chatting around the water cooler about Buck, when they ought to still be absorbed in the scintillating details of the "the international monetary conference at the United Nations" or the Parliament of World Religions? Not to mention the recent Romanian elections.

[Merlin Missy]

Pretending for a mo' that Our Esteemed Authors had a clue (I know, I know):

It could be that Chloe was taking the opportunity to try to contact her old friends from the area. Her mother and brother have disappeared; heaven only knows (literally) who else is gone. Think of the lost opportunity for a scene of Chloe, sitting alone in her kitchen while Dad is off getting churched, dialing number after number and getting machines, voicemail, or just one series of endless rings after another. Picture her panic, as friend after friend fails to pick up the phone, or as a dead-voiced parent or sibling on the other end answers, "No. I'm sorry, he's gone." Imagine the commiseration and grieving with people she might barely have noticed Before (and in these conversations, she and the other voice on the line --- those not nearly catatonic with grief --- would talk about it like that, in capitals and with longing). And then a tiny glimmer of hope (ironic, considering): an answer, a friend not whisked away into the great scary unknown. A connection, enabled by the magic of telecommunication and a friend on the other end at last. Her voice catches with joy; she doesn't realize yet that she and her friend aren't the "lucky ones" as they'll call themselves and the other survivors. Right now, there's someone else alive on the other end, someone she cares about, who isn't dead like her mother and brother or suddenly crazy like her dad.

Or, maybe she was doing her hair. That takes time, too. :P

[Jen R]

WTF? did they even have an editor on these books? this is like something out of fan-fiction.

There's plenty of fan fiction that makes way more sense than LB.

...and I've just been struck with the horrible notion of LB fanfic. I'm sure it exists; there's fanfic for everything.

[Greg]

It does. Here's an address to some. http://www.fanfiction.net/l/1675/3/0/1/1/0/0/0/0/0/1/

Do not click that link if you value your brain.

[Bugmaster]

My wife says that this book reads like the Heroes (Ray, Buck, etc.) are the Player Characters in someone's homebrew RPG, and they sneaked a look at the Game Master's notes...

You've opened your mouth. Now you have to follow through. I think I speak for most people here when I say:

Bring on the Left Behind RPG !

You can use GURPS, or you can even write a D20 mod for it. But you'd better do it quickly, because I can't wait to level up my Reporter, so that I can dual-class him into Preacher. Where do you think I should spend my points from the "Addiction: Telephone" flaw ?

[ako]

I looked at the fanfic. As someone who's indulged in fanfic myself, I felt the obligation. The sad thing? It took about three tries to find something more impressively written than the actual novels.

It was a somewhat formulaic slashfic (Buck gets kidnapped and molested/seduced by the Antichrist) but the environment had details, and the characters had actual human feelings. And they managed to get through the gay bondage seduction/molestation without stopping for a phone conversation.

I know, I know, it's horrifying to contemplate. If my sample's average, about two-thirds of Left Behind fanfic writers have somehow managed to write worse than Jerry B. Jenkins.

[Scott]

Forget LB, go see "Jesus Camp". :-)

[spygirl]

I really think the Cthulhu Mythos would be a better game model. I know I needed a sanity roll or five reading through the first volume.
Man, it's good to have L.B. Fridays back.

[JessicaR]

Heh, I used to bus tables and the absolute worst were the after church crowd. I call that whole attitude and culture "I've been nice to Jesus, I don't have to be nice to you." As for the LaHaye and Jenkins it speaks volumes that they or the characters still don't realize that the only character with warmth, with kindness, who actually thinks of other people besides herself is Slutty McTrampy the evil flight attendant.

[ako]

The kid's books are written about adolescents, who are all above the unspecified cut-off line for the age of accountability. Sort of like the opposite of the "You must be this tall to ride" signs. I skimmed one, and it's even more formulaic. There's something like eight different kids, and the big question is if they'll all get saved by the end of the first book. They didn't get saved before for one of the Three Permissible Reasons that a fundamentalist can give for atheism. 1) Wanting to enjoy some of the more entertaining sins (such as dirty magazines, an occasional drink, and cuttin class), 2) anger at authority figures transfered to anger at God (never give a copy of Freud to people devoted to uncritical 'literal' interpretations of ancient books), or 3) trying to be popular (either using atheism to look smart or having the same beliefs as everyone else).

I think the kids series had hit something like thirty books halfway through the tribulation. Basically, it's a marketing ploy for kids too young to read about things like people contemplating abortion. I bet they keep the bit where Jesus rips all the bad guy's guts out, though.

[Axiomatic]

I rejoice. LB always makes me smile.

Mind you, you know that picture you posted? The one with the random chaos and a guy screaming? It's not actually accurate. If it were accurate, there would be Steele in the background, calmly having a telephone conversation and ignoring everything around him.

Pretending for a mo' that Our Esteemed Authors had a clue (I know, I know):

Fortunately, they don't have a clue. I mean, I'm pretty sure that justifiable use of telephone conversations in Left Behind is more or less equal to dividing the universe by zero.

[Jos]

This may be a bit off-topic, but I sadly live in a country where there's no word for 'the Rapture' and I hesitate to ask this to some Real True Christians (tm).

1) So, when the Rapture comes, what happens to all the animals? Since they are incapable of chanting the magic wo- sorry, accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior because Jesus never died for their sins they also cannot become RTCs. So are all the animals destined to burn in Hell for all eternity?
And what about the plants? They're just as alive as any of us. Sure, they may not have the faintest glimmer of sentience or self-awareness, but they're still alive. Are they doomed to burn in everlasting fire as well? Or does the fact that many of them are crucial in Spreading The Word save them (or at least, some of the trees)?

2) Space. I'm an optimistic sort and I believe that, one day, mankind will venture forth into space to live there for longer than they currently do. Assuming mankind manages to do this before the Rapture happens, what happens to all the people living in space? Space stations don't have many oceans that can turn into blood, after all. When Jesus Christ returns to Establish His Kingdom On Earth, what does that mean for the colonists on Mars or living somewhere in the Alpha Centauri system?

[Sue W]

I too was wondering why Hattie would think it so terribly important to call Rayford, just because one of their passengers had just been reported killed.

I am also wondering why *anyone* would be contemplating boarding a plane after what just happened. We are supposed to believe that everyone knows it was THE rapture that occurred. Who says there won't be lots of raptures? I don't think the Bible ever gave any details about how it was supposed to happen. But everyone seems to be acting like they know that the crisis is over.

Of course, I haven't read the books so I could be missing something. I never intended to because I thought they sounded kind of stupid. (Actually, I always thought the whole rapture idea was kind of stupid itself.) But having this commentary justifies their existence in my opinion.

[cjmr's husband]

What happens to all the animals?

"All dogs go to heaven," I suppose, so us left behinders don't need to worry about land mines on the lawn.

[Jos]

But what happens to the lawn? Sure, you might not think much about blades of grass, but they're still alive.

[cjmr]

Also, why do they always eat out on Sunday after church?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness...

[cjmr]

The Rapture doesn't destroy the earth. The lawns (and dogs) are still there.

[Dina]

What happens to all the animals?

I don't think L&J believe that animals have souls, so I guess they just cease to exist.

[Jos]

Really? And what verse in the Bible (The Easily Understood Book That Has All The Answers To Everything) tells humanity that they alone have souls?

Or am I just expecting too much internal logic from fundies?

[Tangurena]

Or am I just expecting too much internal logic from fundies?
Yes. I'm afraid you're expecting logic from them.