![[0116] Jesus Of Nazareth](http://www.sandraandwoo.com/comics/2009-11-30-[0116]-jesus-of-nazareth.png "[0116] Jesus Of Nazareth")
- Woo: That’s this Christian cross, isn’t it? Do you believe in God?
- Sandra: Oh, I’m not sure if there is really a “God”. But Jesus was definitely a swell guy!
- Sandra: He cared for the outcasts and sick, made his fellow men forgive others their sins and preached that violence mustn’t be answered with violence.
- Woo: Wow, cool.
- Sandra: …
- Sandra: If he lived today all those religious nutjobs would call him a socialist hippie and send him death threats.
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I think I found the fundamental flaw of Christianity
:
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Sad, but true, sad but true…
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i fully support this comic, its hard being religious when everyone else who reads the same book goes crazy
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Ok, this is oficially the best thing I’ve seen all day. So true, every word. Throughout history, so many people who have called themselves followers if Jesus have been cruel, and not what he would have wanted.
I’m very glad you’re taking on conteversial issues. Many other comics would be too afraid to tread on unstable ground, but the subjects you discuss are what makes Sandra & Woo so awesome.
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I meant followers OF Jesus. Sorry.
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The J.A.M. says: Hey, you ripped that off from a Soup-To-Nutz strip!
I have never heard of Soup-To-Nutz before. But I’m sure there’s a handful of other comics that have made a similar joke.
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Cody MacArthur Fett says: […], but if these kind of topics keep popping up I’m honestly considering dropping my subscription
I’d be happy if you would at least stop writing comments.
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My question is this: If Sandra honors Jesus as an admirable ethical figure rather than a messiah, woudn’t it make more sense to have an image of him showcasing his ethical behavior?
Speaking of which, I suspect Sandra might be intrigued by this:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JefJesu.html
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Cody MacArthur Fett:
I don’t think you get it. This strip is not poking fun at Christians, it’s pointing out how SOME OF THEM have betrayed the basic philosophy they are supposed to be following, mainly by disrespecting other religions, and the fact that in the past, they have tried to forcibly kill or convert anyone who thought differently. (As in the Crusades).
It is NOT saying that Christians are stupid. It is saying that SOME people who call themselves devout are actually selfish and intolerant.
I respect your opinion, but I feel that you are taking offense at something that isn’t there. If the authors of this strip didn’t put in controversial material, it would become just another shallow gag-a-day strip, instead of the elaborate storytelling strip it is.
And for the record, I describe myself as agnostic. I do not actively believe in any one religion, but i don’t actively deny that there might be a higher power.
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Well it seems that people are taking offense when offense isn’t there… I know it’s story time !!!
Ok, well here’s my story then. My cousin is very religious, yet at the same time very liberal. In his own words, “The Bible is a set of guide lines for how people are supposed to live. It’s not for everyone. There are so many religions in the world, who’s to say any one is correct and another is not? I take the teachings of Jesus to heart, because I know that Jesus wouldn’t stone homosexuals or drown Jews for not converting to my beliefs. Jesus helped the sick, the poor, and the weak to give them hope. I’m sure that if Jesus ever returned to earth, he’d be very disappointed in many of his followers for misinterpreting his teachings.”
My cousin is awesome. He spends most of his time working at a homeless shelter, and as a registered minister he holds services for death row inmates at the maximum security prison a few towns over. All the while my Extreme Republican Grandparents who burn harry potter books call him a worthless hippie.
So as you can see, someone who trys his best to take an example from Jesus and live like the Savior is rejected by not only his family, but by a family that shares his beliefs and often spout the phrase, “If Jesus was alive I’m sure he’d be just as sickened as I am!”
So in the end I think the message was lost unto most of my Christian brothers and sisters. My advice is to lighten up. I’ve been going to church my entire life and am a very involved follower. I laughed. I thought it was hilarious.
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Insert Positive Comment Here ^^; I wasn’t horribly offended by this comic or anything, and want to try to balance out the negativism. Keep up the good work
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Fundamental Law Of The Offensive Internet: Everything on the internet is an offense against you or anything you might represent.
Addendum: …including this comment, of course.
Corollary: If you aren’t sure if it is offensive, take offense anyway just to be sure.
Nice comic, by the way. Don’t submit yourself to the fools who think they need to fix the internet by correcting everyone who does wrong in their eyes, keep up the good work!
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I agree entirely with Sandra. I’m not a “Christian”, because I don ‘t believe in “Christ”. I do, however, believe that Jesus of Nazareth existed and was an incredible man, a good teacher, and generally a worthy role-model. I don’t worship my other role-models though, simply try to follow their ideals.
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I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
-Mohandas Gandhi
I understand Pacdude. Anyone who tried to be nice to the poor is considered stupid by so many people. The conservatives feel that the poor are lazy, while many of them are actually working as hard as they can. Nobody donates or gives charity anymore because they are too afraid of scams. But what’s the loss of five dollars to you, even if it is to a scam? You are being a good person.
Like Bobisonlybob, I have role models. I believe in people who have the courage and heart to be kind to even their enemies, people like the Doctor from Doctor Who, Jean Valjean from Les Miserables, people like Pacdude’s cousin, and even idolized figures like Jesus.
Whoever Jesus was, even if he wasn’t the “son of god”, he was still a great teacher.
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Great comic that makes an excellent point.
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More to the point, the current alliance between the economic right and religious social conservatives is a temporary and fragile one caused by the post-Civil Rights shift in American politics. Historically, deeply religious politicians in the US (William Jennings Bryan is a good example) have married socially conservative views to progressive and even… (gasp) socialist economic views.
The narrower your politics, the more likely they’ll be obsolete tomorrow.
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You think she’d be religious, considering [0071].
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I read this every day and this one I agree with wholeheartedly..and for those downing it because of its religous nature, honestly, there are 3 things you need to remember.
1. If you really had faith, you couldn’t be offended by someone making fun of it, because you wouldn’t care. Your way is paved, and they don’t want help finding theres…obviously though, your still paving your way, thus your faith is still weak, thus any alternate viewpoint is offensive
2. Where they called him a socialist hippie in the strip, they weren’t saying he was, but socialist is a general insult thrown around branding anyone who wants to help other people, which if you actually read, is what they basically did, though old ways were much harsher.
3. What others are referring to in the fact that christians don’t act like christ intended, is because their reading a book that man has had his hand in for so long its no longer the books original form…take a copy of your favorite book (I’ll use Jurassic Park for reference) and have it translated to another language…now, using another translator, translate it to another language from the second one…repeat this about 30 times before returning to your language…bet you get a very different story.
All in all, Keep making good comics, weak of faith be damned, I’ll still be here, laughing and refreshing to get the new one.
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I have said this once and I will say it again.
No matter what religion you are, what political slant you are, what race you are, there is one thing that we all have in common.
The Idiots get the airtime…
Its the raving lunatics that get reported on, and are in the mainstream eye, and do NOT correctly represent what they say they believe in.
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Hi everyone
Novil,Powree ^_^
I has returnth from the dreaded W.O.R.K. to be able to actually explore the vast wilderness known as the internet.To better assess Blitzkrieg’s question or anyone else has been wondering,I don’t think the comic has ever solely commentated on one particular topic,being it religious,political,or environmental.The point of the strips are not to just to entertain,or how some of you may think,get a reaction,but to make you think.Plus this strip has always put me in the mind of “dare to be different” type mindset because of the fact that you do not see many comic strips touch on subjects like this all the time and actually get it right,which makes it very unique and special in its own way.
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If a lightning rod is needed for this strip, I herby declare that all biblical figures who were resurrected or had unexplained ends(that is, Jesus, Elijah,Enoch, possibly Moses depending on whether his coffin was in fact a TARDIS ,and anyone else I’m forgetting) are Time Lords.
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Love this strip, and it touches on one of the (many) reasons I’m not with the church, anymore. Keep up the good work, be fearless, and bring on the funny. Oh, and for you, Cody MacArthur Fett, I *do* happen to believe that Creationists believe in “faeries and pixie-dust”, and intolerant whining and puling isn’t going to help change my beliefs. Intelligent, honest debate might, but that is one thing lacking on the net.
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Talking about: “What would Jesus do?!”
Is it just me or are you getting faster AND better with your comics?
Also I completely support your opinion.
when I’m asked wich religion I am I say that I’m evangelic,
but only because it’s closer to my opinion how people should live than any other religion.
And I’m talking about the actual content and not what some people do with it.
I simple try do be nice and help where I can but I don’t think I need to go to the curch every week just because someone said that.
And as you can think, some people say I’m not a real christian.
Well, I’m “enough” christian for my taste.
What would Jesus do?
PS: Sorry for my awful english ^^”’
have a nice day
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My wife (who is emphatically *not* a Christian or even a believer in that God) refers to Jesus as “the Carpenter Rabbi”, and laments that today’s “Christians” wouldn’t recognise him if he showed up and bit them on the bum.
Personally, i am willing to stipulate, if there is a God (i’m agnostic) that the afore-mentioned Carpenter Rabbi was who he is claimed to be.
However, when His religion was hijacked by the Pauline Heresy, changing from a vaguely Dionysian faith to an aggressively Apollonian one, it all went off the trolley.
Woody Guthrie said it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDS00Pnhkqk
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As a devout church going Christian who reads the bible every day, I have to say you are absolutely right.
So many Christians (and many of those who claim to be Christian) miss the point. And it is extremely sad.
Dya know? There was once an estimate that if every churchgoing christian in every church in the world gave 10% of their income to that particular church (a tithe) that there’d be enough capital there to essentially eliminate poverty?
Isn’t that crazy that there are enough Christians out there to provide for all the needy of the world, and COMFORTABLY?
Granted I’m just repeating what I heard and I’m not really sure of the accuracy of that claim. But if every Christian did that (and every church made good proper moral use of that money) then the world WOULD be a better place for all to live.
Human nature is sickening sometimes.
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XD
I love your comic.
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Hmm “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the gates of Heaven.” Or something like that. And no, I highly doubt that the “needle” was the gate to Jerusalem. Some people actually said that. Eesh, there goes capitalism… (and no I don’t know where this was, but I’m pretty sure it was said!).
And believe me this kind of hypocrisy is not exactly specific to Jesus. Similar arguments could be made about how Muhammad would be unhappy with the behaviour of certain “fundamentalist” groups. Or even non religious groups as well. What would Mao think of China now (and I don’t particularly put much stock in HIS opinion)? Or the founding fathers of the United States? The founders of the Roman Republic would have a collective heart attack. And so would the ancient Athenians with their “democracy.” Though I admit that some changes have been positive (see Mao and definitely “democracy”).
As for myself, I am agnostic (can’t accuse me of being a hypocrite on that front!), I simply cannot believe that God(s) exist. But I cannot be convinced that He/She/It/Them (whatever, take your pick) do not exist. To each side I declare: “Prove it!”
I agree that regardless if Jesus was the son of God or not, he was a remarkable human being with an amazing message that at least bears listening to. Empathy is good! And who said us agnostics (and the atheists too) cannot be moral! Humpf!
Human nature is sickening sometimes indeed. Good day/night (take your pick) everyone.
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Well, it is a common problem, not only with religions, but also with other ideals like socialism, democracy and even communism.
It is the difference between the original ideal and what those with power make out of it, as Canuovea already pointed out. It’s what happens when those who stand for the ideal but do not truly believe in it get the power over the followers of the ideal. The ideals become twisted and bend to misuse against the people to achieve more power and control.
As for religion, I would even go one step further and state that all of today’s churches break the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
Isn’t the Christian Cross an idol? Isn’t a romanic church building an idol? Aren’t all the saints’ statues in cathedrals where people come together to pray to the saints an idol, or even worse, “a god beside God”? Shouldn’t God rather be in your hearts than inside a tall building you visit every sunday?
Well, anyways, what’s to say about those people who feel offended by this strip?
Sandra says “those religious nutjobs”. And you feel offended? Well, if the shoe fits…
Personally, I like these provoking strips far better than flat slapstick.
And I like that alignment chart. Keep up the good work, I love to read this comic.
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What is wrong with having a comic on subjects that, even if we dont like it, take up a decent chunk of our lives?
Great comic btw!
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The sad part is this is a damning statement about some Christians today. If we as Crhistians were all doing our job, socialism would be irrelevant.
Christ taught that we are all made in the image of God, and that we should love each other as God Himself loves us. Therefore we are to take care of those less fortunate within out community as an act of love and charity.
Socialism tries for the same effect, but strips love from the equation. The socialist government has to right to take one’s possessions (by force if necessary) and redistribute them to anyone they see fit. When fraud comes into play, this leads to a lot of resentment.
To those who have cried foul from the crusades. Good knowledge of ancient history. Let he whose sect is guiltless cast the first stone. What did atheists in charge do to persons of faith (any, this includes Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc.) in China and Russia for the better part of the 20th century?
People have been jerks to each other for almost any reason since Cain murdered Abel. All they need is an excuse. Warping ideology to suit their ends is a sorry habit.
Definitely a thought-provoking comic! =^^=
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Someone: If you interpret “religious nutjobs” as meaning every Christian, then you’re not only misinterpreting the point of the comic, but you’re essentially placing yourself in the nutjob category.
Y’all need to chill.
Seriously.
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Hell, that’s what they did back during his lifetime, more or less…
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This is one of those “sad but true” comics. Which only makes me sadder.
To those who are throwing a hissy fit because you think Novil was making fun of you: calm the hell down. Religious nutjobs refers to people who take their religion far too seriously and refuse to even listen to other people’s opinions, while simultaneously forcing their own down other’s throats. If you think this applies to you, I suggest you take a minute for some personal reflection.
And for the record, no, I’m not a Christian, or a Catholic, or Buddhist, or Hinduist, or anything. I do believe that a God exists, however.
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Sandra —
Things don’t change. The religious establishments of Jesus’ time sent Him death threats, too…
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Why am I not surprised a comic like this would light up the shoutbox like a flamethrower in a fireworks storage building?
As a Christian conservative, I ought to be offended, but Powree makes a good point. A great many Christians forget that the community of believers have the responsibilty to provide for those in genuine need. If we would do that, others (like the ever-efficient beaurocratic government) wouldn’t feel the need to step in.
We would also do well to remember to that we are not the judge of others, God is. While pointing out that sin is a serious matter isn’t a bad thing, we must show grace to others as Christ did. Did he throw a stone at the prostitute brought before him? Did he take an angry condemnative tone to the tax collector who stole from his own people? It was the Pharisees (religious conservative leaders) with whom he took a sharp tone. It was the ones who felt they were better than others..
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A quick note to SWicked:
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”
“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Mark 10:17-22
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This is so true. Im not chirstian but if he did come back people would nail him to a cross again.
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I don’t understand how anyone can take offense. All this strip is saying is:
“Jesus was nice to people. Today, anyone who is nice to people is called a hippie”
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Sheesh, if that isn’t EXACTLY my biggest issues with religion. hypocrisy. And that’s not just Christianity.
well done.
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Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Digg by prompel: I couldn’t have put it better myself. Well, I’d probably go one step further.
Jesus is the biggest threat to all the established christian religions and churches. And Satan is their biggest supporter.
How…
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The punchline to this strip made me laugh, and yes, I do think it’s true. The only thing that bothers me is that I’m seeing hypocrisy, intolerance, and generalizations from both “ends” of the spectrum, and the people in the “middle” – kind, caring, moral people (to which being religious has never, nor does it currently hold the patent on) are trying to dodge the crap being thrown from the extremists that do believe in a higher power (not just Christianity, but any organized religion) and the extremists that do not believe in a higher power (hint: extremist means what it’s always meant – but after reading some of the comments here, I believe I have to quickly clarify – this doesn’t refer to the average Joe/Jane who doesn’t go out of his way to ridicule(jokes are jokes, funny is funny, and the line can be debated, but the intent of some people is clear)/attack/”shove opinions/beliefs down the throat of others”). For those who say the latter are somehow justified, I think that’s just plain sad and definitely hypocritical.
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To parrott other comments – so true! I remember that Thomas Jefferson even took all the supernatural elements out of the Bible that had to do with the life of Jesus and what you had left is the good works and regard for the poor. To think some folks now are considering doing the opposite – taking out the “do unto others” and injecting more consumerist language.
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Chip Uni:
I’m not sure what you’re saying. Someone asked him what to do to be “good”, and Jesus told him what to do.
He was not forcing anyone to do anything. He was not some kind of Robin Hood, stealing from the rich, ensuring wealth would be redistributed. He asked people to give of themselves.
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Figures, the comments on religion get everyone riled up. People are strange.
@Novil
point nicely put. =]
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This is all there is.
If anybody does not like it, s/he is absolutely NOT forced to read, enjoy or like it.
I, personally, found this strip amusing, and that’s my point.
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I just want to say I don’t too much of a problem with the strip, even if I don’t agree that most of the death threats would come from right wingers. After all, Jesus said he was the only way into heaven, and that’s terribly politically incorrect. He’d be burned at the stake for being terribly, terribly intolerant of their left wing feelings.
I mostly have a problem with the potshot you took with your first post here in the comments. Way to be “controversial”.
I was really under the impression this comic was supposed to be light and fun. It’s a young girl and a talking raccoon, for crying out loud. Could you please start a parallel comic that can contain all your talking points? Most people try to AVOID isolating their viewers.
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This strip only pokes fun at those who CLAIM to be Christian. Like most of the so-called Christians that I know, their life style shows they truly do not follow Jesus. Unless you count goofy emails that DARE you to forward it.
I’m a real nutjob Christian. I believe Jesus is God in the flesh. I believe in the literal 6-day creation by God. I believe the Bible. I hate the modern day church, because it is a business which has very little to do with the Bible.
I don’t find this one strip insulting. It’s more of an semi-accurate observation rather than a ha-ha funny.
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I’m a Christian myself, and I agree with the point of the comic with out taking any offense at all.
On a similar note, here’s a quote that I feel pertains to the comic:
“A great rabbi stands teaching in the marketplace. It happens that a husband finds proof that morning of his wife’s adultry, and a mob carries her to the marketplace to stone her to death. (There is a familiar version of this story, but a friend of mine, a Speaker for the Dead, has told me of two other rabbis that faced the same situation. Those are the ones I’m going to tell you.)
The rabbi walks forward and stands beside the woman. Out of respect for him, the mob forbears, and waits with the stones heavy in their hands. “Is there anyone here,” he says to them, “who has not desired another man’s wife, another woman’s husband?”
They murmer and say, “We all know the desire. But, Rabbi, none of us has acted on it.”
The rabbi says, “Then kneel down and give thanks that God made you strong.” He takes the woman by the hand and leads her out of the market. Just before he lets her go, he whispers to her, “Tell the lord magistrate who saved his mistress. Then he’ll know I’m his loyal servant.”
So the woman lives, because the community is too corrupt to protect itself from disorder.
Another rabbi, another city. He goes to her and stops the mob, as in the other story, and says, “Which of you is without sin? Let him cast the first stone.”
The people are abashed, and they forget their unity of purpose in the memory of their own individual sins. Someday, they think, I may be like this woman, and I’ll hope for forgiveness and another chance. I should treat her the way I wish to be treated.
As they open their hands and let the stones fall to the ground, the rabbi picks up one of the fallen stones, lifts it high over the woman’s head, and throws it straight down with all his might. It crushes her skull and dashes her brains onto the cobblestones.
“Nor am I without sin,” he says to the people. “But if we allow only perfect people to enforce the law, the law will soon be dead, and our city with it.”
So the women died because her community was too rigid to endure her deviance.
The famous version of this story is noteworthy because it is so startingly rare in our experience. Most communities lurch between decay and rigor mortis, and when they veer too far, they die. Only one rabbi dared to expect of us such a perfect balance that we could preserve the law and still forgive the deviation. So, of course, we killed him.”
-Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead(book)
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SWicked –
> I’m not sure what you’re saying. Someone asked him what to do to be “good”, and Jesus told him what to do.
No, SWicked. That’s not what the rich man asked.
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@PrairieGhost:
And you are misinterpreting my comment oÔ
No offence. I’m just confused why you came up with that…
Honestly… I have no idea XD’
you need to chill
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Oh, sorry PrairieGhost!
I just found the one with the same Nickname as I have above you…
(I was the first one way way up… I haven’t seen the second one cause the comment is hidden)
never mind…
“Note to myself: think of a better nickname…” *sigh* >_>’
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@Unclever:
I would be curious as to how much the distribution of said tithe would cost, and how much that would ’tilt the scales’, so to speak. Not everybody has digital bank accounts, after all.
The same problem befalls most ’solve world hunger’ plans–we can grow it, we just can’t get it to where it’s needed in time. Logistics on a global scale is a staggeringly difficult problem.
@Tahvohck:
I love that quote, and the book it’s from. Not so much the later ones in the series–Scott Card kind of goes into strange territory, but Speaker is excellent.
On the comic: I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Sandra holds this particular view, although I wonder if having her adopt a soft agnostic stance is intentional to make her as easy as possible for the widest audience to relate to, or to minimize the collective pool that disagrees with her.
Me, I’m a gelatin-atheist. I’m not a hard atheist, who will run around declaring there is no such thing as God with absolute certainty. Nor am I quite a soft atheist (also known as agnostic), who thinks any religion is equally likely to be true. I’m a gelatin-atheist–I doubt there is a higher power, but I’m not exactly going to Vegas with that conviction. If push comes to shove and someone tells me “NAME A CATEGORY” all Jeopardy-style, I’d probably say I’m an agnostic.
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As an inobservant-but-guilty-about-it jew who at least avoids pork, you’re all missing the point. The point is not that “Jesus was a socialist”(unlikely, since the philosophical groundwork for the Marxist analysis of history that socialism is based on had not yet been laid). It’s simply that many of the members of Christan churches who claim to be the staunchest defenders of Christianity in the public forum disagree with major ideals propounded in the document they by all rights ought to uphold. It should be noted that this is not unique to Christianity but merely more obvious owing to the prominence of politicized Christianity. It should be noted, incidentally that it’s possible to overstate how distinctive Jesus was in the context of his time; there were a number of would-be Messiahs in Judea at the time and the emphasis on ethical concerns over temple ritual is an essential feature of Pharisaic Judaism(and the reason it was the only branch to survive the destruction of the second temple).
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Isn’t that pretty much exactly what happened to him? Religious nutjobs took offense to what he said and had him killed.
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I’m reminded of the line from the introduction to The Hitchhicker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
“…one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change.”
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I believe that Jesus is the son of God
! But I do wonder, would Sandra be right about this? If she is correct, that would be very sad 
.
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Hmph.. after reading all these comments, I think she is .
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This comic doesn’t work.
If Jesus wasn’t God, then he was a nut. And if he wasn’t God, how did he heal anyone, or forgive sins? If he wasn’t God then he was a lair and a lunatic.
That said, I think he was God. And am not trying to offend anyone.
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Looks like the punchline flew right over some people’s heads.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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“REMINDS ME WHY I HATE MOST PEOPLE ” like the strip just hate the people that complained. The majority of anything is bad, the majority of people are worse then anything have fun with that note. And please for the love of god try to think about what you “people” type before everyone that can think for them selves turns around and punches you in the face.
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Jesus really was an alright guy!
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Ha ha ha, I got a good laugh out of this one. I admire this comic’s balls to take on touchy subjects and question authority.
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What’s funny is how “all those religious nutjobs” is interpreted by different people. This is a very generic statement that leaves the meaning open to the reader, for instance what if “those nutjobs” were of some other religion besides Christianity? In essence, this is a fill-in-the-blank statement.
What makes this comic great is that is goes beyond the “safe” boundaries of the standard boring “Newspaper funny” and makes you think.
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lol
S’all good, Someone v. 2.0
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As a Swiss guy, I can hardly express just how true that statement is.
(If you don’t know why, check the vote we had this weekend.)
At least the christian churches around all got it right this time and reprimanded us for that particular vote. Including the pope himself.
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Religion; talk about a sensitive nerve to irritate.
I’ve not seen such use of the thumb rating system, before.
Oh, and agree with every word in today’s strip.
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He also told his followers to get themselves swords, and to sell their cloak if they didn’t have one…
and drove a mob of moneylenders out of the temple with a whip….. and told people straight out that he did not bring peace, but a sword, and that his words would set brother against brother and father against son… not that he advocated violence in the least, but that he knew it was a violent world (who else would know better?) and that his followers would have to defend themselves against a terrible and violent world.
He may have been peaceful, but he was not a pacifist.
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@ novil/powree, don’t be afraid to talk about touchy issues in this strip, they are expressions of who sandra and woo are, just as sandra and woo are expressions of you. What you want to avoid is for this strip to only be about those issues all of the time. In the same way, most normal people spend some time thinking about politics and talking about thier faith, but not all of it. And please handle it with humor
. And i would argue that that diagram in the first comment is flawed. There’s something. . .different to what Jesus preached. Not “order” in the sense of the word, but not “chaos” either. Maybe “upside down”?
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Why do people get so annoyed with PERSONAL belief used toward satyrical ends? Can’t them just admire the work of art? You don’t get smart retorts on Dante’s Divine Comedy…
Laugh a little, people… sheesh. This is entertainment, innocent and desired by thousands of people at the least.
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@BK.. Well-spoken. The Pharisees were largely the ones who pushed for Jesus’s death, and were the instrument God used to bring about the ultimate scarifice, so to speak.
Part of it was that Jesus spoke out against them because they were concerned more about religion and looking good for others, and were obstacles to many kinds of social justice (a commonly found theme in the Old Testament as well). There were a number of other factors as well, which makes the events of that time a bit more complicated, but there’s not enough space to go into all that.
Yes, the Gospel (“Good News”) is about more than simply correcting social injustices. It has eternity in mind as a primary focus. Nonetheless, the Bible does make it clear that aiding the needy on this side of eternity is our responsibility.
@Random – You would be correct. Jesus was God in the flesh. However, I doubt it enters into the punchline itself, and certainly I don’t look to webcomics for my theology. A movie/documentary title I heard which would go along with this is “Lord, Save Me From Your Followers”.
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Also, it may very well be possible that some of the things some of the characters may say or do may not reflect the author’s personal beliefs. I highly doubt Powree would approve of setting random fires just to watch the glow, for instance, and yet Larisa is a character in this strip.
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Irony is a bitch, ain’t it?
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@A Concerned Citizen
tl;dr
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Interesting fellow, that Jesus guy. Made a whip and drove the money-changers from the Temple. Wasn’t afraid to call a sin a sin. Said it was okay to carry a weapon to defend yourself. Cast out demons. Performed miracles. Healed the sick. He came to preach The Good News to the poor–not just those with small bank accounts–but the poor in spirit, the downtrodden. Yet liberation theology seems to make him into a sort of resistance fighter.
He taught to regard God as Father. The feminists seem to have a problem with that.
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This strip is actually pretty funny XD The truth hurts. Honestly, Jesus was Chaotic Good. If you look at his life, he was a prankster (I mean, come on, taking the dirty water that was used for cleaning people’s feet and turning it into wine? How awesomely prank-ish is that?) Jesus was a great person and he lived a wonderful, happy, and fun life. Christians nowadays try to make things that are fun and make them immoral. Jesus was rich (proving you can have money and still be a Christian), he pranked people and had fun (proving you CAN have fun and still be a Christian), and the biggest thing of all…HE DIDN’T COME TO FORM A RELIGION, JUST TO GIVE PEOPLE A WAY TO HEAVEN. Christians made a religion, Christians made rules, and Christians ruined it for a lot of people. Also, he hung out with sinners, so you can hang out with non-Christians and still be a Christian.
Anyway, I’m done ranting. Also, as a note, I found this comic just today and read through the archive. Great job, keep up the good work, and don’t let anyone else tell you different. This is a great comic.
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Waaaow commentspam. I echo Mort.
So, still pushing forward with the “gentle controversy” initiative here
It’s one way to get known I suppose. And oddly, I can’t help but agree here… no particular religious leanings expressed (either here or in daily life), but as a role model you could do worse than Jesus H. Christ-Josephson, Nazarene Carpenter.
There’s a Chrisitian Union advent countdown calendar poster put up on a noticeboard (or more accurately over the whole board
in one of the buildings where I work. The square for 7th Dec caught my eye — two anthro hearts, one looking sad, the other comforting it, caption “What does it mean to live a Christ-like life?”. The particular wording seems odd – not “Christian”, but “Christ-like”, almost like they’re trying to emphasise the philosophy and distance the idea from what the church has become.
The conclusion I personally came to was that to live a Christ like existence, you’ve got to be a chilled out rock star. Be born out of wedlock into poverty. Get divine inspiration. Go out and spread your word to anyone who’ll give you the time of day. “All you need is love”, and money can’t buy it, nor the satisfaction that you can’t get none of on earth but awaits you in heaven, should you live right enough to earn the right to climb the true stairway and knock on that door. Get yourself some groupies. Be cool. Spread the love and what wealth your fame brings. Fight the man.
Then be killed before you’re 40, in such a spectacularly gruesome way that people remember it for thousands of years, and pernicious rumours are sparked that actually, you ain’t dead…
Now if that isn’t rock, what isn’t?
(Not to mention the totally metal beard and the ability to get an epic party started with just a few jugs of water, some bread and fish…. keeping your party trick of driving your mule ACROSS the swimming pool for when things are flagging. The good die young do they not …… and leave great-looking corpses)
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Oh yah… and I forgot….
Chilled most of the time, and good for a story or two, but not afraid to kick ass when needs be, if confronted by bad dudes who are TOTALLY taking liberties with others’ good faith. Walk softly and carry a deceptively heavy staff.
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Emily:
good point on the “didn’t come to form a religion” thing. The feeling you can get from a lot of the new testament was that – “follow me” exhortations aside – that Mr JHC’s main intent was to try and de-corrupt early judaism and get said religion and its people back on track. Born and died a jew after all. Then he has to go and get himself martyred and suddenly a load of people are deciding he is himself enough of a holy figure to stand in place of, or even higher than, Abraham and the like. It’s hard to tell even if “son of God” may have originally just been an honorific that then got twisted to mean something more literal
After all, as even my staunchly atheist father attests, there’s more actual evidence of his existence and life’s work than for quite a few other promient people in the Roman Empire. Debate the divinity side all you like but whatever the outcome, there are some grains of truth to all the stories.
And maybe there’s a lot more truth in Life Of Brian than it would first seem (and why it hits close enough to home that a lot of places banned it, even though the pythons went out of their way to make it “no, it’s NOT The Life of Jesus, just some random schlub who lived around the same time”)… perhaps it was all a big accident… just a kickass lay preacher trying to put a few things to rights, and suddenly everything gets WAAAAY out of hand.
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I am heartened by the fact that most of the comments are intelligent and supportive, and the ones that are just people wanting to get offended at anything and everything are quickly buried by thumbs-down.
Let me say it again, though I know the ones that need to see it aren’t paying attention. If you see “religious nutjobs” and think, “how dare they say that about me!?” then you have just made yourself the nutjob. When we talk about “religious nutjobs”, we’re talking about fools like Fred Phelps, who honestly believes all the hardships in our country are due to our tolerance of homosexuals, and the fools on TV this year who were telling parents not to let their kids go trick-or-treating because “demons live in the candy” or the people who honestly believe Obama is the antichrist. If you’re getting offended by someone talking about nutjobs, then you’re either a nutjob yourself, or you are just looking for something to be mad about, which isn’t any better and is certainly not Christlike.
Let’s recap, shall we? This comic is about: how some people will claim to follow Christ, then behave in a very un-Christlike way. It is NOT–let me repeat that, NOT–about everyone who is Christian being a nutjob. If you honestly believe the comic is a slap at all Christians, then you’re trying way to hard to find something to be mad at, and you need to take a deep breath, count to ten, and step away from the internet. Mkay. We got that cleared up? Great.
Those are some well-thought-out closing words by PrairieGhost and I think it’s for the best of all of us when I’m closing the comment section for this strip now.