Showing posts with label Gospels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gospels. Show all posts

the Gospel according to a cartoonist

Title:

Hell

Artist: M. C. Escher

~ + ~ + ~

when i was cleaning yesterday, max (my almost 18 year-old son) heard the doorbell ring and i told him to see who it was. when he returned a couple of minutes later, i asked him who it was and he said it was "some old dude trying to save my soul. he gave me one of those things that people try to put in your bag when you go trick-or-treating."

oh, no --- a jack chick tract. sure, i know the link i provided is the Catholic spin on what they are; however, anyone can read for themselves and be really afraid that these things are actually being purchased and left in random places so as to "spread the Gospel."

i asked, "what did he say to you?"

"he said he wanted to give me something, looked at me, went through his bag and said, 'i think you will like this one,' and then left."

it was entitled "No Fear?"

and how is it, exactly, that this man thought my son would appreciate this *gift*?

because he is a teenager?
wears a lot of black?

the tract itself it deals with suicide. how appropriate -- one of our close friends committed suicide almost three years ago and that act, in and of itself, would never be enough to prevent us from doing it ourselves -- oh, no. thank God for the tract to set us all aright. (sarcasm, in case you were not aware.)

it is mortifying to me that these tracts still exist and that people find distributing them acceptable practice for evangelization - through fear. he is one lucky old dude that i was up to my elbows in cleaner lest i ran down the street after him to give him back his propaganda along with a little piece of my mind.

(not that my evangelizing would have been acceptable, either. i realize that :)

i am wondering if i am alone in my rationale - do you think this modern-day Jonathan Edwards-style of evangelizing-by-cartoon is acceptable and your reasons why?
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes as the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.
ahhhh. what a cartoon that would make!

Yesterday's Gospel reading

Lk 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
"To you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

"Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you."

~*~*~*~

If you do not hear His voice, the balance of what Jesus says after the bolded selection, above, is perhaps irrelevant or simply "nice things to try and do."

To those who do believe in Him, the balance should be life-altering.

note to self:

watching "Mary, the Mother of Jesus" on the Science Channel may be a bit skewed as far as their message may be concerned.

oy.

without raising a total firestorm with the following question, one of the more interesting sidebar-type comments the sidebar-type commentator (read: scholar) made was about the "many brothers and sisters Mary had given birth to after Jesus" that were made mention in "several places in the Gospels."

uh....oh. really.

really?

where, exactly? and once the words are found referring to all of His sibs, could you please indicate the origin of these words?

thanks in advance :)