# Jack's Back in Black (GASP!) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243 "2003-04-08T05:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/1 "2003-04-08T05:09:12Z")
Our favorite tract boy, Jack Chick, is back to his Catholic bashing ways in [_Man in Black_](http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/5023/5023_01.asp). He’s in rare form with even the apostle John giving a trademark “GASP!” No “HAW! HAW! HAW” but I think we can use this as fodder for another write your own tract thread. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/2 "2003-04-08T05:54:42Z")
Note to self: If I ever run across a despondant priest who’s lost his faith and is contemplating suicide, the correct response is to confirm that Jesus ALSO hates his religion. That’ll cheer him right up. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/3 "2003-04-08T06:03:26Z")
I like the little check boxes. Am I going to get into Heaven faster if I have a little ticket? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/4 "2003-04-08T06:04:28Z")
And on second thought, that can’t be Satan. That’s only one of his goblins. It doesn’t look like Tim Curry at all. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/5 "2003-04-08T06:08:10Z")
Am I the only one who opened this thread expecting some sort of rant about comedian/musician Jack Black? Anyway, I’m glad to see Chick’s back on his game. I was disappointed by the last few tracts he’s released, but this one is up to his typical level of intolerant un-Christian crapflinging. Anyone else catch the “symbolism”\* and “irony”\* of the priest being named Damien? \*-I put these words in quotation marks because I don’t think Chick could actually grasp these concepts. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/6 "2003-04-08T06:55:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brianjedi \* > **Am I the only one who opened this thread expecting some sort of rant about comedian/musician Jack Black?** Nope. But I considered Chick a possibility since he was about due for another one, and they all get drug out here at the SDMB for our amusement and ridicule. > [@](#): > > \*\* > Anyway, I’m glad to see Chick’s back on his game. I was disappointed by the last few tracts he’s released, but this one is up to his typical level of intolerant un-Christian crapflinging. > > Anyone else catch the “symbolism”\* and “irony”\* of the priest being named Damien? > > \*-I put these words in quotation marks because I don’t think Chick could actually grasp these concepts. \*\* Yeah, that was the lamest attempt at “symbolism” this side of a moody high-schooler’s short stories. I love how every anti-Catholic tract of his uses that same mystifying conclusion that the RCC is the “whore of Babylon”, with his support for that interpretation never given, only a cite to a book he publishes. BTW, I thought Babylon was what turned into either Iraq or Iran, right? Seems pretty unrelated to Rome. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/7 "2003-04-08T07:06:07Z")
IANJC, but I imagine it’s something along the lines of a “symbolic” Babylon. Lotsa corruption, gold-leafing, artworks, and pointy hats. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/8 "2003-04-08T07:51:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by brianjedi \* > Anyone else catch the “symbolism”_ and “irony”\* of the priest being named Damien? Ironically enough, my English teacher first year of HS was Father Damian. A priest. No, I am not making this up. I rather doubt, however, that he’s heard of Jack Chick. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/9 "2003-04-08T10:19:39Z")
**GMRyujin** : Oh God, no pointy hats! You can strap me to the comfy chair, but don’t torment me with pointy hats! When Idiots Breed: The Jack Chick Story (… I own a TV, but the Internet is more fun anyhow …) ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/10 "2003-04-08T13:45:15Z")
I didn’t check out one of the Bible verses, but it Does say DO not call any man your Father. I was brought up in a Catholic church. I was also taught that you can get to Heaven by being good enough, faith wasn’t even mentioned. No, I’m not agreeing with Chick, but there are some glaring faults with the Catholic Church. A chrsitian can be in ANY church. I have never been an official member of any church. After I became a christian, I leanred that presits cannot forgive your sins. I was taught that in Catholic Church. And that saying repetitive prayers would make up for my sins. Wrong also. ---
**Author:** ![Skerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Skerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skerri)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/11 "2003-04-08T13:52:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Jack Chick, is back to his Catholic bashing ways in **Man in Black**. Johnny Cash should sue! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/12 "2003-04-08T14:53:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Ironically enough, my English teacher first year of HS was Father Damian. A priest. And Father Damien of Molokai is the patron of lepers, social outcasts, and people living with AIDS. There’s a chapel to him at St-Pierre-Apôtre church here in Montreal that’s also the world’s only Catholic memorial chapel for AIDS victims. I’m a gay pagan who likes Catholic Church trivia. Sue me. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/13 "2003-04-08T14:56:18Z")
Has Bob’s hairline receded a little bit, or is that just me? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/14 "2003-04-08T14:58:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skerri \* > \*\*Johnny Cash should sue! \*\* Forget Johnny Cash, I want someone to turn this into a parody of a bad Will Smith song! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/15 "2003-04-08T15:06:17Z")
vanilla: I respectfully submit that either (a) the folks teaching you that stuff in the Catholic church you attended glossed over quite a bit, or (b) you must’ve missed a good deal of what they were teaching. I say this because what you explained isn’t at all what Catholic teaching is. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/16 "2003-04-08T15:07:32Z")
agreed. It was a long time ago (I am old) and that may have been what I decided or thought they were teaching. But I still couldn’t see how a preist could tell me I was forgiven simply by saying repetitive prayers. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/17 "2003-04-08T15:09:03Z")
I noticed that ol’ Chick thinks that Shing-Moo is Venus (good grief!) and also that nobody wrote any part of the Bible after the Revelation of John was penned. Anyone care to try to explain is rationale (I know, I know) for those two glaring mistakes? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/18 "2003-04-08T15:11:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\* > > Anyone care to try to explain is rationale (I know, I know) for those two glaring mistakes? \*\* Chick has found the _good_ mushrooms… ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/19 "2003-04-08T15:11:35Z")
It’s not the saying of repetitive prayers that forgives, vanilla. It’s the contrition, the feeling & thoughts behind why one is performing a particular penance, that gains God’s forgiveness. The Sacrament of Penance is also scripturally based. How about one of the more knowledgeable Catholics jumping in here? Y’all probably don’t want this Mormon teaching the Catechism! ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243/20 "2003-04-08T15:13:13Z")
Like I said, I was a young one(grade school) while in that church. But its true, the repentance and sorrow for sinning is all you need( plus No Tea!) 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jacks-back-in-black-gasp/167243.md?page=2)