Chick Tracts

pro tip: it doesn't.

Unless you consider "work" to be "start a collection of them that I've never actually read".

I'd read the shit out of them, but I'm from the North East.

Scaring people into your belief system with cartoons doesn't work out here. You need fudged scientific facts at the least!

I could see how the gunman one could get converts.

The wrong kind of converts, at that.

Is there a right kind of convert to Chick's insane brand of Christianity?

I'm not surprised this kind of Christianity attracts ASSASSIN'S FOR HIRE, given that they can just join up the day before they die and go to heaven. You could commit mass murder, genocide or recreate the Rape of Nanking and you'd still go to heaven if you accepted Jesus into your heart... five minutes before you die.

It's so absurd. Many of the Chick tracks make God appear as a tyrant more than a jolly chap. It's the same message repeated over and over again: ACCEPT JESUS OR BURN IN HELL. There's even a track called The Choice (oh the irony) where a man is explained the origins of christianity and the creation of the world. He is told that from the moment he is born, he is a sinner (the original sin being passed down and all that) and that his only choice is to open his heart to Jesus.

And don't get me started with the homosexual, D&D, left-wing and minority-themed tracks.

edited 29th Sep '11 6:45:08 AM by germi91

Wait, those exist?

"I'm not surprised this kind of Christianity attracts ASSASSIN'S FOR HIRE, given that they can just join up the day before they die and go to heaven. You could commit mass murder, genocide or recreate the Rape of Nanking and you'd still go to heaven if you accepted Jesus into your heart... five minutes before you die. "

The things is... that is how it works in almost every branch of Christianity. You need to ask for forgiveness and repent.

If you literally go around with a plan to do bad shit and just say "my heart for Jesus" before you die, you don't get in.

Yeah, at least there is one.

It was basically "U die, Y U no be good person? U go to hell!

Instead, U be good person!"

It was badly written, and very condemning, but altogether not to sucky.

So I then went online and fulfilled my desire to see someone shoot my arguments in the foot by reading anything else by him.

Is it "This Was Your Life!"?

I think it might have been.

Pretty much, take a Chick Tract, and strip out the stuff most people would think of as Refuge in Audacity.

It was still really, really dark.

You can't go to Heaven if your morals and actions aren't those preached by Jesus himself. The whole point of the Heaven/Hell dichotomy is to judge people not only by their faith, but by their actions too. Indeed, the latter has become a stronger requirement for Heaven than the former in more mainstream Christianity. No matter how much you may genuinely believe in God, Jesus or God Jesus, if your actions aren't Christ-like, you're not going to Heaven.

Edit: The Catechism of the Catholic Church elaborates on this:

We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the poor and the little ones who are his brethren. To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called "hell."[1]

Then again, the Chick tracks are pretty much anti-Roman Catholic Church, so...

edited 30th Sep '11 1:23:46 AM by germi91

We have a thread of this in OTC.

Anyways, I can't read anything by Jack Chick without suddenly being depressed for the state of the Christian Church.

The "Christian Church"?

There is no such thing. Christianity is a house divided. The existence of and need for ecumenical services should indicate that.

Kind of, but also not really.

In a way, yes, the church is divided. Denominations are plenty, and then you get into the sub-denominations, and the sub-sub-denominations, and so on.

But also, all Christians are united in one central belief:

(1) Jesus is God. (2) Jesus is our savior. (3) We need him to get to heaven.

Anything else, while it matters, matters less than these three central beliefs.

</rant>

Wars have been fought over ideological points. Yes, they're the same faith, but they're hardly united.

People have been killed over something as silly as Transubstantiation.

Infighting has always existed in any group. They are united if they stand together when they are attacked, and in that sense, then Christians are united.

^ I dunno . . . I'm not sure Christianity as a whole would stand together to defend Mormonism from attack.

(I'm using that as an example because it's a sect I personally don't have a problem with—it's just that a lot of people react negatively to the mere mention of it.)

edited 14th Oct '11 7:51:31 PM by feotakahari

Jack Chick's tract, Dark Dungeons, is being turned into "Dark Dungeons: The Movie!"

Old thread has been given new life...?

My church has these. I read them for the lulz, but don't pass them out. There are some that aren't lulz-worthy, though, like the one that is more or less addressed to Christians. "Why no revival?" if I remember correctly.

Considering that I'm running a tabletop role-playing game (GURPS) with nothing but members of my church, I question the whole "D&D makes you go stupid" idea.

Obvious troll is obvious. (The person who made the Kickstarter, not you.)

Yeah, I sort of figured it was trollish. Odd that he has that many backers, though. Must have hit a nerve with that one.

It's not meant to be trolling; it's meant to be a satire/parody.

I'd have actually bought and passed around Hi There! if it only consisted of the first 18 panels, with no narration at the end of the last one. I rather like Charlie Connors.

Oh, and this tract actually managed to piss me off. Nice going, JC, I'm usually more apathetic to your work. You're seriously telling me that mistrustful patient was an "ungrateful wretch" who deserved a horrible death, when he only doubted the doctor in the first place because of the asswipe janitor. Who, by the way, is never even implied to receive any comeuppance, and is never blamed for instigating the situation. Fuck you.

edited 10th Jul '13 9:22:23 PM by Robotnik

I got a real, printed, authentic Chick Tract with a pair of shoes I bought on eBay once. Unfortunately my brother threw it away.