…This one’s called “The Choice,” and this guy’s being told at a buffet that all his relatives, even the nice ones, are going to hell if they don’t choose Jesus. According to this, we’re all born belonging to Satan, and have to choose to overcome him. A few little things stand out:
“Satan also uses education. Many think they are too smart to accept this one truth.” (And here the illustration is of a teacher pointing to a picture of a gorilla, with the word “Daddy” underneath it. Apparently this is a jab at evolutionists)
“He uses sports to keep many others away from it.”
“Satan keeps some people so busy chasing the cares of this world, they never stop to cinsider this truth.”
“Peer pressure stops many young people from accepting it…because their friends wouldn’t think it was ‘cool’.” (And here we see a normal guy being harrassed by some dude with a mohawk, and a couple of others who look like something out of a Gwar concert)
“‘How can you be so sure that you are right about all this?’
‘Because it’s ALL recorded in the Word of God.’
‘Man, I could have gone to Hell! Thank God you told me all this. I want to get saved right now! What do I have to do?**’
‘Sincerely repent of your sins and ask Jesus Christ to become your Saviour.’
‘I’ll do it!’”
See the tract here. What gets me is the part where Chick illustrates the concept of sin by drawing a little boy in a high chair playing with a cereal bowl by placing it on his head. THAT is a sinful act? Only a hateful person would see evil in a boy playing with his food.
Now get this part:
With what? Naugahyde?
How come God didn’t see this coming? I thought He had the gift of prophecy. Also, that Isaiah verse refers to whomever was king of Babylon at the time it was written.
I got one in the mail at work today. “Love the Jewish People.” It’s really sad how Jack has gone downhill from classics like “Death Cookie” and “Where’s Rabbi Waxman?”
And I though Man was created from a clot of blood?
Jab, I don’t know if you’re a man, woman, beast or child but either way, you’ve stolen my heart. I seem to have to bring that point up in every angel thread that rolls into GQ
I’ve been reading these threads for a while now, laughing at the idiocy they spoke of. I was content with experiencing them vicariously, listening to the masters deconstruct them and point out their flaws. I laughed hardest when the deconstructers used the Bible to refute Chick because I could imagine the look on a Zealot’s face when his arguments were shot out from under him by the book he regards as infalliable.
I know how stupid and willfully ignorant Zealots can be. They harassed me through my early childhood, when I was but a young Atheist, and insecure in my philosophies. I had to pretend to renounce my Atheism to the face of my tormentors, something I will never be able to forget. I am still physically repulsed by people displaying willfull ignorance, and I work to eradicate ignorance around me. The marks the Zealots made will always be on me.
So I read the tract. Like a car wreck, I was repulsed but was unable to turn away. I saw within that tract the entire philosophy of my tormentors. I’ll never understand how someone could kill his mind enough to follow that philosophy. I’ll never be able to see the world through the eyes of a Zealot.
I won’t deconstruct the tract. I won’t point out the flaws. I’ll let the more experienced here do that.
Do a web search on “Gary Ezzo”. On second thought, don’t, if you value your sanity. He’s the self-appointed spokesbeing for this sort of attitude among extreme Christians - the attitude that children, even babies, are evil little creatures who must be tamed for the good of their immortal souls. One of his hobbyhorses is “highchair manners” - that infants barely old enough to suck pablum off a spoon should be taught to sit with their hands at their sides and be swatted for daring to grab the spoon, touch their food, or even blow a raspberry. Chick is definitely not alone in this.
Thankfully, most Christians are not this stupid. But there are churches that pressure parents to participate in “parenting classes” where Ezzo’s methods are used, and all the books are available in secularized versions to try to lure more parents into believing this bull**** :mad:
Did the Baby Jesus have to slide down the dotted arrow from heaven (see page 12 of tract)? I would think the dotted arrow would be bumpy and make the Baby Jesus cry.
The girl who sat next to me in Sociology last semester was the epitome of what this tract is talking about. She sincerely believed all this stuff. Of course, the day she decides to go public with this info is the same day she forgot her book and I had my desk scooted over next to hers so she could share mine. I was alternately breaking into cold sweats of panic lest she hit me in the course of her arm-flailing witnessing, and trying not to fall out of my chair from suppressed laughter.
