![[0381] Larisa Will Burn In Hell](/comics/2012-05-31-0381-larisa-will-burn-in-hell.png "[0381] Larisa Will Burn In Hell")
Of course Larisa isn’t becoming all soft suddenly.
I had a dozen different ideas for Larisa’s dialog in the last panel, but this one was the best in my opinion.
- Priest: … since the Lord will forgive those who honestly repent their sins. Yes?
- Larisa: Is there some sort of guideline on which sins are exceptions to this rule?
- Priest: Huh? You mean, like murder?
- Larisa: No, no, the less obvious ones. Because I really don’t want to end up like the poor fellow in Numbers, chapter 15, who was stoned to death as commanded by the Lord for gathering firewood during Sabbath.
- Larisa: I also don’t want to be mauled to death by a bear just for mocking a prophet like the little children in Kings, chapter 2. In any case, there’s no evidence that the Lord gave them time to repent before punishing them this way.
- Larisa: I’m appalled that the church refuses to give me religious guidance on avoiding sins for which I’ll be mauled to death by bears.
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Careful Larisa, you have caught a glimpse behind the curtain. They get rather annoyed when you do that.
Larisa, I love you!
I’d like to assume the Priest’s words were: “Congratulations, you graduated!”
“Glad to see at least someone reads the books around here.”
Anyway, aren’t Old Testament commands inapplicable to Christians, since Jesus died for ‘our’ sins?
@ Pillamelai:
When I think about the The Son dying and cleaning our slate, I can’t help but think “Reboot”, the Marvel way, ala “A New Day”. (I know, I’m headed to where the tortuous things are :p )
She’ll do unwanted homework for church, but fake an affair with a math teacher to get out of school work? Larisa works in mysterious ways.
Mocking priests and gathering firewood… the worst of the seven sins.
@ Pillamelai:
Jesus died for our sins according to the bible. But he also said that he did not come to replace the old laws. So technically all those laws are still very much valid for Christians, as written. The death of Jesus is not a ‘get out of jail’ card that allows you to do everything that pleases you. Larisa is making a valid point here, not all sins are created equal. And the wording in the original bible (hebrew mostly) is also in such a way that our translations do not cover the original meaning.
For example homosexuality, which was not as such recognised in the old times, and the relationship between men and women (in which women are not much more than cattle, sometimes even less).
Hey, Larisa is pointing out the plot holes.
Landbark wrote:
It may be more Sandra’s kind of thinking, but Sandra would not have spoken up about it in church. THAT is Larisa’s style! 🙂
(and I really liked today’s strip. Good one, Oliver, Powree and Lisa!)
The Simpsons said it right:
“Messing with Jesus is like wearing a Florida jersey…to a Florida game!”
On the plus side, considering Larisa´s pyromaniac streak, *burning* in hell probably wouldn´t be that much of a punishment anyway. She´d spent all of eternity fascinatedly gazing at all those lovely flames, driving the demons to sheer desperation in her unwillingness to be terrified of hellfire. ^_^
Was the word “in” actually supposed to be in the title?
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14 (King James Version)
…Larisa sidles away, trying to look innocent.
@ Landbark:
She is making fun of the church
@ Pillamelai: It’s not that the law doesn’t apply anymore, it’s that now the pastor’s first sentence in the comic does apply. Before Christ came, salvation was a lot more complicated. (Simply put.)
Sir Chaos wrote:
Are you kidding? The demons FEAR she’ll take over! 🙂
What kind of Priest isn’t ready to answer questions?
Besides, the official word is that there are no sins that are no unforgivable sins.
So you’re set Larisa. The death bed repentence plan is an incredibly childish approach to Christianity. But a valid one.
So long as you know when you’ll die.
Unclever title wrote:
“are no unforgivable sins”
Either I need to make fewer mistakes or this thing needs an edit button.
“Follow My lead, Follow My Words….and don’t make questions little sheep…..”
@ LyricDawnhagen:
On the contrary, teenagers willing to “take a glimpse” are quite popular among clergy members.
“Also do we still have to stone gay people to death?”
@ Pillamelai:
Actually, the basic commandments and other stuff still stand. It’s the stuff about sacrifice and spiritual cleansing that no longer apply.
I am Extremely pissed, you shouldn’t write a critique of something without understanding it, the man in Numbers was stoned because he spitefully disobeyed God who, in chapter 14, expressly told the people not too work on the Sabbath, In this case, it was not the sin itself, but the way the sin was committed. The kids that got eaten by the bear, where basically insulting God’s will, so I think that is understandable(I’d be like walking up to Chuck Norris, and saying, “you suck!” Except God is much bigger than Chuck)….. my two cents
While priests might not appreciate being interrupted in the middle of sermon, most of them would be able and willing to answer these simple questions after it is over. Most teachers would also much rather teach people who are able to interact with what is being taught than to teach people who are not that different from a wall.
In any case, try that in a Bible-believing church in a non-disruptive way and see what actually happens.
I don’t know about that whole firewood thing is but those “children” were a gang threatening his life. A lot gets lost in translation at times.
Shame on you Larisa, now you’ll have to offer a burnt sacrifice to make a sweet savour unto the Lord… Oh wait, that was probably the whole point.
*applauds* I wanted to show my support for this strip. Knowing my fellow Americans, you’re probably going to get some pretty angry reactions. It’s fun to see how the less rational they are, the worse the spelling becomes. You’ll know the out-and-out crazies by their excessive use of caps lock. Enjoy!
Young lady! How dare you not wear an awesome fire based shirt from http://www.pyrotechnics.net!
“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” -Oz.
And people wonder what I’ve got against organised religion – of pretty much any sort.
Besides, my faith is better served elsewhere. Trying to help people, using the skills I’ve accumulated and talents I’ve been given (yes, I do charge a nominal fee for fixing things – but it’s far less than what someone else would want, and that means I’m still helping them while they’re helping me. Win-win!)
Having the raw temerity to question – and the wit to ask INSIGHTFUL questions – seems to be an unforgivable sin in any church. (I should know, I’ve been thrown out of a few myself…)
@ Disco:
Is it not rational for someone to get angry about being completely misrepresent?
@ JKelley:
Openly displaying your ignorance is not exactly a shining example of being witty and insightful.
I think it is far more likely that people are kicked out for being disruptive than for asking insightful questions.
@ Pillamelai:
They never applied to non-Jews, except for the seven “Noahide” laws, against idolatry, murder, theft, sexual immorality, blasphemy, the eating of blood, and anarchism. This is why Paul gives the Greeks the prescriptions he does in Acts 15, against the first, fourth, and sixth.
@ Disco:
…Because “religious”=”irrational”?
Please tell me I misunderstood you.
@ Soyeong: Well, yes, but Larisa is what? Thirteen? You can’t expect her to show the same
restraint as an adult.
Or you could, but the strip wouldn’t be as funny 😉
@ Grey Wolf:
Based on Thomas Aquinas’ Five Ways, if the premises are true, it logically necessarily follows that a being with divine attributes exists. Based on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, I have concluded that the God of Christianity is the identity of this being. Based of the evidence of God keeping His promises made in the Bible, I have concluded that He is trustworthy and that I should put my faith in Him. You are free say that you don’t think the evidence supports my conclusions, but to say that religion is irrational would be mistaken.
Even if religion were irrational, it could still be misrepresented, as is the case here, and someone could still rationally become angry about that.
@ Soyeong:
Eh? I was responding to Disco’s post, and repeating what I thought s/he was saying, but asking for clarification in case I misunderstood her/him.
I wasn’t saying religious people were irrational, I was asking if that’s what Disco was saying.
If I’ve offended you, I apologize.
@ Grey Wolf:
Ack, I’m sorry, I read that wrong, my bad. I am neither angry nor offended; I just think someone rationally could get angry about it.
Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha! What, no mention of “Johnathan and the honey?”
Classic.
I think you nailed the last panel. I too was turned out of Sunday School for asking too many/too hard questions.
@ Pillamelai:
It is my understanding that Jesus stated that that there are only two basic rules 1) love your neighbor as yourself. 2)love god with all your heart, mind, and soul. The ten commandments come from these basic rules. It’s really sad some religions believe you have no personal rights, that’s half an ethical boundary violation right there.
@ Greenwood Goat:
This cracked me up! xD
@ TheInvisibleMime:
I sincerely doubt Chuck Norris would __kill__ a child for telling him he sucks. And, when you assume you know the will of God, you make an ASS out of You and Me. In fact, as I recall, Job actually did criticized God and lived to tell about it. He was apologetic for it later, but he still criticized him. Clearly that was only okay since he was an unwitting pawn. Also, God will approve of deception should the situation call for it. Check out first or second chronicles if you don’t believe me. He’s an effective God, not a vengeful one.
Religion is not GOD. Religion is mostly comprised of philosophy teachers that think their belief system infallible because it works for them. It’s about management, not about politics, establishing authority or dominion over people, and it most certainly deserves to be questioned or their wouldn’t be so many alternative monotheistic religions.
@ Unclever title:
I agree with the idea of adding an edit button. In my last comment I wanted to mention how Arthur Brown’s “Fire” had come on in my playlist (since Greenwood Goat joked about Larisa burning hell), but I realized I had already submitted the comment :p
Oh Larisa, be grateful you’re not a beligerant child. Wait… would setting fires count as beligerant? I’ll get my rocks ready, just in case….
Funny as always, but not well researched today. The Council of Acts 15 has specifically freed Christians form the Mosaic law, any pastor would tell you that:
“10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?”(Acts 15:10, regarding the Mosaic law and circumcision)
The Mosaic laws, as written in Leviticus were time-specific for the ancient Israelites, when God chose to create a theocracy. On the other hand, Jesus commanded separation of Church and state, by rejecting worldly political power:
“Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”” (John 18:36)
“Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.” (Mark 12:17)
Technically the only unforgivable sin is the rejection of God.
At any rate rather than go into the biblical context of the quotes offered, get into a faith based discussion with those on the faith-haters who fall over themselves to express their contempt for faith, and create a long debate where neither side will accept defeat and ultimately claim victory….how about I just say officially: “Love the Story and Love the Little Pyromaniac She-devil Larisa.” 🙂
http://www.weirdcrap.com/chick/intro.html
@ Tom:
Yes well technically Jesus also told the Pharisees who wanted him to condemn a woman to be stoned for adultery as commanded by the Laws of Moses, “Let those of you without sin cast the first stone.”
I think in this case Larisa isn’t so much challenging the Christian faith as she is challenging those who would not offer guidance….ironically much like Jesus with the Pharisees.
Great job!
This is why I just love Larisa.