gobear, that sucks.
Sorry to hear that, and I hope you find some comfort.
If Gobear were to tell us that he’s found love with one of the male “actors” from Baywatch and that several “actresses” from the show were headed to my apartment with huge checks for DocCathode, a variety of latex outfits, and a can opener(for non-kinky sex purposes, I broke my can opener last week ya see) THEN I would be happy.
I am also unhappy that what should be a fun trash Jack thread has degenerated into a debate on theology.
I am happy that with some changes, Death Cookie becomes Death Cartoon-a charming story of Satan telling Chick how to gain power by publishing his tracts. When Satan says ‘If they believe you have power over their souls…’ I half expected this to be the tract where Jack admits who he really works for.
I’m going to try to quote Stephen King on this topic, but chances are this’ll come off as a paraphrase, at best. At a speech he was giving several years ago[sup]*[/sup], this very issue came up regarding the Studs Turkel book Working:
If parents or a school library are banning books, or pulling books off of the shelves, then I suggest that you run, not walk to your local public library and read them, because these are things that you SHOULD know about…
[sup]*[/sup]This anecdote can be found in his book, “The Complete Stephen King”
You know, here I was, all ready to make fun of poor vanilla, when I discovered in our nation’s finest news source that Harry Potter is, in fact, leading kids to Satanism.
Reader’s Digest did an article on Rowlings and someone wrote in to protest because they’d read that Rowlings intended to lead children to Satan. RD essentially made fun of the person. A month later, the person wrote in again, furious for their disregard of her issue, and said that she’d read the words straight from Rowlings in an online interview on…The Onion.
Well, let’s be honest, we all have lots in common with Jack–
[ul]
[li]We’re all carbon-based life forms[/li][li]We’re all bigger than a Palm Pilot[/li][li]We’re all stuck in the Sol solar system[/li][li]We’re all older than Anne Frank (and probably still breathing, too)[/li][li]None of us ever appeared on My Mother The Car[/li][li]None of us is a methane-breathing pack animal[/li][li]None of us has ever been made into a Muppet[/li][li]About half of us have the same gender as Jack[/li][/ul]
I guess we’re doomed.
Rjung, obviously, you didn’t KNOW that I am actually a tiny, nine-year-old female Muppet version of Ann Sothern . . .
Of course it is possible to convert people with these tracts. I mean, just look at all the hardened criminals, rapists, witches, devil-worshippers, Hindus, Moslems, homosexuals, evolution-believers, board-game-players, trick-or-treaters, paper-clip-stealers etc etc. who fall to their knees and accept the Lord-and-savior-Jesus-Christ-into-their-hearts yadda yadda the exact moment that they are told about this dude who they never had heard about ever before.
It certainly sparks their interest in witchcraft.
Not a good thing IMHO.
IRL, all my fellow christians and I believe witchcraft, casting spells, etc. are evil, and we teach our children this.
It would be like letting them read The Satanic Bible.
Scoff all you want, I wont be changing your opinion, nor you mine.
For the record, I think Mr. Chick is a bit screwy myself.
And yet you agree with what he publishes and his theology, don’t you? Doesn’t seem to matter a whit that what he publishes is: (a) almost devoid of fact, and (b) almost devoid of any knowledge whatsoever of the groups he’s lambasting.
What IS his theology?
I’ve almost never read any of his tracts.
I am a pentecostal christian.
I don’t know what makes you think that my views aren’t subject to change. I’ve changed my opinion on lots of things. Usually this comes about as a result of reasoned arguments and a preponderence of evidence.
That’s part of the reason I’m here - to fight ignorance. Not only other people’s, but my own as well. If I were to stick my fingers in my ears and go “La la la la la” when presented with a different view, I’d never learn anything.
If your opinions are set in concrete, there’s nothing I can do about it. If that’s a result of your faith - again, there’s nothing I can say.
But don’t assume that my thinking works the same way.
Something I don’t understand. There’s Lot, trapped in his home and a bunch of raving perverts are outside, wanting to screw the strangers that they just saw enter his home. And what does Lot do? He offers them his daughters?! So, is this saying that homosexual rape is evil whereas heterosexual rape is okay in the eyes of God?
If God rained down the fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, it’s because the towns were full of filthy perverts, not because they were homosexuals. Stories as old as those in the Bible have strange plots and points that do not fit well into today’s views and standards and can be interpreted in different ways. But for Chick to just throw this out without explanation of why it is okay to give his daughters to sick sex-maniacs (as if to imply that the crowd was so satanic that they refused even to defile the opposite sex) is another in a million reasons that Jack Chick is so ridiculous.
I love reading Jack Chick!!
Background-Minor Witnessing-I am an observant Jew. I have accepted God into my daily life and draw strength from my faith. While not the expert that IzzyR or Cmkeller or Zev is, I have studied Torah, Talmud, Jewish culture and Jewish folklore. I have found that-
Homosexuality was not the major sin of Sodom and Gammorah. Folktales century old tell us that the cities' greatest crime was a lack of compassion. One story states that any stranger coming into town would be greeted warmly and given gold coins by all the Sodomites/Gammorahns. But when the stranger tried to buy anything, no merchant would sell to them. Eventually, in a town of plenty, the stranger would starve. The townsfolk would then identify their coins by various markings and take them back, to wait for the next stranger.
I've read plenty of similar commentaries by respected, learned rabbis. They consider idol worship and homosexuality sins, but never point to them as the reason for the cities being destroyed.
Remember this is Chick. Picture this scene-Jack has just died and is standing before the throne of judgement-
God-"Does the name of this one appear in the book of... Wait a second! You're that jerk!"
Jack-"No Lord! I'm your faithful servant and messenger!"
God-"No! You're that hateful, bigotted, close-minded shmuck who keeps misrepresenting me, quoting me out of context and driving people away from me!"
Jack-"But, but, but..."
God-“I’ve had it up to here with you kissing my butt! To the lake of fire.”
Jack is seized by angels
Jack-“There must be a mistake!”
God-“Oh that’s right. I nearly forgot.”
Jack looks relieved as the angels bring him before the throne
God-“Haw Haw.”
Jack is thrown into a lake of fire.
God-“Are Moses and the boys back from trick or treating yet? I just finished rolling up the NPC’s for the new D&D campaign.”
I don’t think so, vanilla.
Speak for yourself all you want, but don’t speak for others unless they ask you.
JFR, I have a pagan for a sister, and you know what? After having been exposed to the reality of it, it’s not evil, nor vile, and certainly not Satanic. It’s not Christian, but it’s sure not about casting spells, either. If you’ll bother to examine it, you’ll even find that many of the principles are quite admirable, taken objectively (‘Do no evil’, ‘harm done is returned to you three-fold’, etc)
Nothing to add right now. I just wanted to say that this is funny as Hell, and signature quality.
Indeed.
And again, even if you don’t want your children exposed to Paganism (which is your perogative, I suppose), spellcraft as expressed in Harry Potter was absolutely NO relationship to Pagan spellcraft. Reading Potter was made me no more interested in Paganism than watching Star Wars was made me more likely to support military action in Afghanistan.
Art thou pagan then, Menocchio?
No need to reply, I’m just curious.
Nope. I’m Christian. But most of my closest friends are Pagan, and I like Potter. So I’m not exactly disinterested or totally uninformed in the subject.
Besides, this kind of attitude really gets my goat (for some demonic sacrifice, no doubt). I find the attitude many Christians have towards Pagans to be very sad. We have alot to learn from one another. Pagans (in general) retain a power of myth, freedom of spirit, regard for nature and femmine divinity that many Christians seem to have lost.
And I fucking like Potter.
Mostly I just find equating any of the above with Satanism to be patently silly.
Thanks for asking.