This is a rather bizzare tract in that the message, while explicit, is
not exactly supported by the plot of the comic and, in fact, the two
seem contradictory.
We start out by getting some background about two religious
philanthropers, the Davidsons. They've done a lot of work bringing a
higher quality of life to third-world countries and apparently they
have boarded a doomed flight.
They happen to sit next a very cheery ex-murderer (he is surprisingly
open about his crime, on the verge of scary). And they talk about the
works of the Davidsons.
Now, the message of this strip is supposed to be that one's works here
are irrelevant, but that message is very crudely fumbled here.
Ed explains this message, however, only moments before he was raving
about their works. The change in opinion comes about when he learns
that they were not being evangelical about their faith. So it seems
that Ed's concern is not that they were doing good works, but that
they weren't using their philanthropy to push their religion onto
anyone else. It seems odd that Ed would care about this, since
evangelicalism is a work in and of itself, and wouldn't count either.
So aparently if you aren't a rabid evangelical Christian, you aren't a
Christian at all.
Then we have the kicker. The Davidson's faith is not really addressed
at all. They say they did their works with the help of God, which
suggests that they are Christian, yet the end up in hell, for no good
reason at all.
Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that doing good works was
not supposed to help you, yet it seems that doing good works is a
straight ticket to hell, regardless of the integrity of one's faith in
God. So there you go, Walt, an admission that Christians cannot, by
their own faith, do good works.
> This is a rather bizzare tract in that the message, while explicit, is
> not exactly supported by the plot of the comic and, in fact, the two
> seem contradictory.
> We start out by getting some background about two religious
> philanthropers, the Davidsons. They've done a lot of work bringing a
> higher quality of life to third-world countries and apparently they
> have boarded a doomed flight.
> They happen to sit next a very cheery ex-murderer (he is surprisingly
> open about his crime, on the verge of scary). And they talk about the
> works of the Davidsons.
> Now, the message of this strip is supposed to be that one's works here
> are irrelevant, but that message is very crudely fumbled here.
> Ed explains this message, however, only moments before he was raving
> about their works. The change in opinion comes about when he learns
> that they were not being evangelical about their faith. So it seems
> that Ed's concern is not that they were doing good works, but that
> they weren't using their philanthropy to push their religion onto
> anyone else. It seems odd that Ed would care about this, since
> evangelicalism is a work in and of itself, and wouldn't count either.
> So aparently if you aren't a rabid evangelical Christian, you aren't a
> Christian at all.
> Then we have the kicker. The Davidson's faith is not really addressed
> at all. They say they did their works with the help of God, which
> suggests that they are Christian, yet the end up in hell, for no good
> reason at all.
> Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that doing good works was
> not supposed to help you, yet it seems that doing good works is a
> straight ticket to hell, regardless of the integrity of one's faith in
> God. So there you go, Walt, an admission that Christians cannot, by
> their own faith, do good works.
Drafterman wrote:
> Then we have the kicker. The Davidson's faith is not really addressed
> at all. They say they did their works with the help of God, which
> suggests that they are Christian, yet the end up in hell, for no good
> reason at all.
> Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that doing good works was
> not supposed to help you, yet it seems that doing good works is a
> straight ticket to hell, regardless of the integrity of one's faith in
> God. So there you go, Walt, an admission that Christians cannot, by
> their own faith, do good works.
Yep, this is the sort of junk I got from my Christian education: what
good you did in life doesn't matter; only your faith does,
Another thing I was told that really bothered me; you could be a
rotten sinner and a terrible person your whole life, and, if you
repented at the last minute before you died, you'd still go to heaven.
> Drafterman wrote:
> > Then we have the kicker. The Davidson's faith is not really addressed
> > at all. They say they did their works with the help of God, which
> > suggests that they are Christian, yet the end up in hell, for no good
> > reason at all.
> > Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that doing good works was
> > not supposed to help you, yet it seems that doing good works is a
> > straight ticket to hell, regardless of the integrity of one's faith in
> > God. So there you go, Walt, an admission that Christians cannot, by
> > their own faith, do good works.
> Yep, this is the sort of junk I got from my Christian education: what
> good you did in life doesn't matter; only your faith does,
> Another thing I was told that really bothered me; you could be a
> rotten sinner and a terrible person your whole life, and, if you
> repented at the last minute before you died, you'd still go to heaven.
Yes, but without this little catch, Hamlet would have been a lot
shorter.
> Yep, this is the sort of junk I got from my Christian education: what > good you did in life doesn't matter; only your faith does,
We are saved through Grace by faith not of works. We do not deserve it, We cannot earn it, There is nothing we can do to warrant us to have it. Yet because we are loved and broken in spirit (repentant of our sins) God grants it to us.
On 7/17/08, Richard Robbins <1robb...@atlanticbb.net> wrote:
> > Yep, this is the sort of junk I got from my Christian education: what > > good you did in life doesn't matter; only your faith does,
> We are saved through Grace by faith not of works. We do not deserve it, We > cannot earn it, There is nothing we can do to warrant us to have it. Yet > because we are loved and broken in spirit (repentant of our sins) God > grants > it to us.
On Jul 17, 3:28 pm, "Richard Robbins" <1robb...@atlanticbb.net> wrote:
> > Yep, this is the sort of junk I got from my Christian education: what
> > good you did in life doesn't matter; only your faith does,
> We are saved through Grace by faith not of works. We do not deserve it, We
> cannot earn it, There is nothing we can do to warrant us to have it. Yet
> because we are loved and broken in spirit (repentant of our sins) God grants
> it to us.
It's amazing. Why did God bother giving us self-esteem in the first
place? Just to beat it out of us?
The only other chick comic I read until today, was the one about the
D&D game.
Since I didn't know who this guy is, and the comic was so absurd, I
actually first thought it was a gamers' parody.
This time I knew better, and yet the reflex of thinking it is a parody
on Christianity is still strong...
On Jul 17, 8:38 pm, Drafterman <drafter...@gmail.com> wrote:
> This is a rather bizzare tract in that the message, while explicit, is
> not exactly supported by the plot of the comic and, in fact, the two
> seem contradictory.
> We start out by getting some background about two religious
> philanthropers, the Davidsons. They've done a lot of work bringing a
> higher quality of life to third-world countries and apparently they
> have boarded a doomed flight.
> They happen to sit next a very cheery ex-murderer (he is surprisingly
> open about his crime, on the verge of scary). And they talk about the
> works of the Davidsons.
> Now, the message of this strip is supposed to be that one's works here
> are irrelevant, but that message is very crudely fumbled here.
> Ed explains this message, however, only moments before he was raving
> about their works. The change in opinion comes about when he learns
> that they were not being evangelical about their faith. So it seems
> that Ed's concern is not that they were doing good works, but that
> they weren't using their philanthropy to push their religion onto
> anyone else. It seems odd that Ed would care about this, since
> evangelicalism is a work in and of itself, and wouldn't count either.
> So aparently if you aren't a rabid evangelical Christian, you aren't a
> Christian at all.
> Then we have the kicker. The Davidson's faith is not really addressed
> at all. They say they did their works with the help of God, which
> suggests that they are Christian, yet the end up in hell, for no good
> reason at all.
> Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought that doing good works was
> not supposed to help you, yet it seems that doing good works is a
> straight ticket to hell, regardless of the integrity of one's faith in
> God. So there you go, Walt, an admission that Christians cannot, by
> their own faith, do good works.
On Jul 17, 12:39 pm, Drafterman <drafter...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jul 17, 3:28 pm, "Richard Robbins" <1robb...@atlanticbb.net> wrote:
> > > Yep, this is the sort of junk I got from my Christian education: what
> > > good you did in life doesn't matter; only your faith does,
> > We are saved through Grace by faith not of works. We do not deserve it, We
> > cannot earn it, There is nothing we can do to warrant us to have it. Yet
> > because we are loved and broken in spirit (repentant of our sins) God grants
> > it to us.
> It's amazing. Why did God bother giving us self-esteem in the first
> place? Just to beat it out of us?
Well, duhhh! Just like he made us capable of sin so he could punish
us for it and gave us a strong sex drive so that he could forbid us to
satisfy it.
> It's amazing. Why did God bother giving us self-esteem in the first > place? Just to beat it out of us?
God gave us free will to make choices on our own. We were created to look at this world and interact along with it with our conscience. But we have learned to turn our conscience off and go our own way, do our own thing.
Well, duhhh! Just like he made us capable of sin so he could punish us for it and gave us a strong sex drive so that he could forbid us to satisfy it.
God granted you with the ability of making a choice. We face it every day. We have a choice to do the right thing or do what we want. Sex was created by God as an added benefit of marriage not for enjoyment outside the boundary of matrimony.
