Tracts Chick?

[ViaCrucis]

I think they will honestly make Christianity seem like a joke to the reader.

Even when those readers are, themselves, Christians.

The "Christianity" I see represented in Chick's publications is a very strange, foreign religion which looks precisely nothing like the religion I practice.

But then I'm not a KJV-only Fundamentalist who believes in time-traveling Jesuits whom the devil used to create Islam, and later Communism, as part of the global ancient Babylonian plot instigated by Nimrod which finally finds its fulmination in the Vatican. Which, by the way, also has a super computer with the names of every Protestant, and which has several times now attempted to destroy "True Christians" through special agents such as Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, and Vladmir Lenin. Oh, and it was behind the American Civil War, because America is good and they wanted to destroy us.

Also Halloween was invented by blood-craving Druids to worship Satan.
Dungeons and Dragons was invented by demons to induct children into Satanism.

Oh yeah, also belief in faceless giant light-entity being "Jesus" who is super into sending people to burn in hell forever after having an angel make them watch an old-timey projector screen version of their life.

I don't know that it would be possible to make a better parody version of Christianity if one was actually trying.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Even when those readers are, themselves, Christians.

The "Christianity" I see represented in Chick's publications is a very strange, foreign religion which looks precisely nothing like the religion I practice.

But then I'm not a KJV-only Fundamentalist who believes in time-traveling Jesuits whom the devil used to create Islam, and later Communism, as part of the global ancient Babylonian plot instigated by Nimrod which finally finds its fulmination in the Vatican. Which, by the way, also has a super computer with the names of every Protestant, and which has several times now attempted to destroy "True Christians" through special agents such as Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, and Vladmir Lenin. Oh, and it was behind the American Civil War, because America is good and they wanted to destroy us.

Also Halloween was invented by blood-craving Druids to worship Satan.
Dungeons and Dragons was invented by demons to induct children into Satanism.

Oh yeah, also belief in faceless giant light-entity being "Jesus" who is super into sending people to burn in hell forever after having an angel make them watch an old-timey projector screen version of their life.

I don't know that it would be possible to make a better parody version of Christianity if one was actually trying.

-CryptoLutheran

Huh? You are starting to sound like one of the Godless Heretics I read about in one of the Tracts left lying about my workplace.

 

[Robban]

1. What do you think about people handing out religious literature and tracts? Why?

2. What do you think of chick tracts in particular? Why? www.chick.com

Depends, if they have a crossword or not,

 

[Robban]

The Church paper that is sent by post to all households always has a crossword.
I sometimes flick through it, it contains info about activities and general info.

But I always have a go at the crossword.

 

[Raggedyman]

Crikey
Some think chick tracts are offensive
I hope they never pick up the bible, that book is thousands of times worse
It's a krypton item to the non believer

 

[Jack of Spades]

1. What do you think about people handing out religious literature and tracts? Why?

2. What do you think of chick tracts in particular? Why? www.chick.com

Handing out religious literature generally is ok.

Chick tracts serve as a good warning letters against fundamentalist Christianity. It's all about hell, and the whole world view is built around making a standardized conversion to avoid hell.

The thing chick's God does most memorably is to send people to hell. There is little else to note about the character of God in chick's tracts. The rest of the world view in chick tracts is a fine demonstration about how people, who's religion is based on fear of hell, turn out to be. Like the conspiracy theories, shallow, paranoid and narrow-minded world view and incapability to be humane and reasonable in any way and total lack of depth or beauty.

As an ex-fundamentalist, I don't see chick tracts as jokes, but rather as a nice demonstration about what an emotional desert the mind of a fundamentalist is. If you want to become like the characters in chick's tracts, shallow, sin-obsessed, standardized religious robots who can only parrot Bible verses for conversation and base their entire life around being afraid of hell, with no other substance to thinking, life or faith, then read a lot of chick tracts, take them seriously and you're on your way.

 

[farout]

1. What do you think about people handing out religious literature and tracts? Why?

2. What do you think of chick tracts in particular? Why? www.chick.com

I do not use tracts. I leave the Gospel of John in hospital waiting rooms, with a place they can contact if they wish. I also leave out a 3 month daily devotional small booklet called Our Daily Bread. There has never been a time when I received a negative remark in almost 45 years. I do not dump a bunch but carefully place them where people who want to read them can.

I think tracts in the bathroom, and every place you turn is a good witness, and generally these wind up in the trash. I am very mad at Watch Tower. JWs put then where they do not have permission and dump as many as 10 in many places. Chick tracks often stir up feelings that may or may not be good.

All tracts cost money, a wise person puts them where they are wanted, winding up in the trash is a waste.

 

[Zoness]

1. What do you think about people handing out religious literature and tracts? Why?

I'm not a fan. Mostly because its usually just a phoned-in, drive-by attempt to convert me. I mean, if you really want to try...how about having a polite conversation? That way we get to know a little about each others backgrounds. Plus, I've only ever received in them in lieu of whatever is socially acceptable; like a tip. That's adding insult to injury.

2. What do you think of chick tracts in particular? Why? www.chick.com

They used to offend me deeply but I'm mostly past that and look on them as a curiosity. An artifact of a very warped brand of American Christianity that I understand isn't mainstream, even if a lot of the individual sentiments are. However, I can see how when given to someone who isn't familiar with them, they could really turn that person off from Christianity.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Crikey
Some think chick tracts are offensive
I hope they never pick up the bible, that book is thousands of times worse
It's a krypton item to the non believer

1. As someone who has been reading the Bible since he could read, I'm going to go ahead and disagree with the "thousands of times worse". But I guess that's subjective. The Bible I read is principally about the God who created all things and who, ultimately, has revealed Himself through the person of Jesus, who is His own Son and Incarnate Word, and through whom He has come to redeem and rescue the world. Who takes hold of the world, by his love and grace, and with all the world's sinfulness and brokenness He mends it, heals it, and makes it whole in Christ, and promises that death is not the final answer, resurrection is. I suppose if someone is taking a radically different message from the Bible than what the Christian Church has historically then it could be subjectively worse--I've certainly met many Christians who seem to think the Bible is basically a book about an angry God who wants to send people to hell unless they fix themselves up right.

2. The word you're looking for is Kryptonite, Krypton is the name of Superman's homeworld, Kryptonite is a piece of Krypton, hence the diminuitive suffix "ite".

3. Crikey indeed.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[keith99]

I just had a very confusing chat with my good friend Screwtape.

He absolutely loves Chick Tracts. Whenever someone takes them seriously they generate so much fear, and fear of both God and Satan. The poor humans who swallow them become such fun prey for him and the other tempters. Best of all the fear of God is little different than the fear of Satan! And once the two are confused it is not at all difficult to keep the confusion in place.

He is a bit upset however that God does not permit him or the other servants of Satan to actually generate such tracts. They have to depend on humans for that and it seems it is very tedious and difficult work to so corrupt a human.

 

[MehGuy]

I confess, when I was a kid.. I actually spread some of them around a parking lot once..

While I generally abhor them, there was something kind of charming about the first tract at least (This Is Your Life) and the general idea might be decent if it was executed under more capable hands.

 

[gord44]

Haven't seen a Chick tract. From what I hear they seem kind of silly.

 

[jacknife]

Haven't seen a Chick tract. From what I hear they seem kind of silly.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1162/1162_01.asp Here ya go.

 

[gord44]

Thanks Jack old chap. I'll check them out.

 

[MehGuy]

A few (very cheap) computer animated cartoons of some of his tracts exist. They're worth a laugh too. If you Youtube The Bible Reloaded they riff on them as well.

 

[redblue22]

But then I'm not a KJV-only Fundamentalist who believes in time-traveling Jesuits whom the devil used to create Islam, and later Communism, as part of the global ancient Babylonian plot instigated by Nimrod which finally finds its fulmination in the Vatican. Which, by the way, also has a super computer with the names of every Protestant, and which has several times now attempted to destroy "True Christians" through special agents such as Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, and Vladmir Lenin. Oh, and it was behind the American Civil War, because America is good and they wanted to destroy us.

I missed the part of time-traveling Jesuits.

Generally, people do not condemn a publisher. Publishers put out all sorts of books. Some books I might agree with, some I might disagree with. That doesn't just apply to publishers, but to books; I often disagree with parts of books. Christians of all sorts believe and write many conflicting ideas. Some Christians have ideas that are really strange and I disagree strongly. In short, I've seen far worse. But I don't throw out the whole book or publisher.

How do you see this as different?

 

[ViaCrucis]

I missed the part of time-traveling Jesuits.

Generally, people do not condemn a publisher. Publishers put out all sorts of books. Some books I might agree with, some I might disagree with. That doesn't just apply to publishers, but to books; I often disagree with parts of books. Christians of all sorts believe and write many conflicting ideas. Some Christians have ideas that are really strange and I disagree strongly. But I don't throw out the whole book or publisher.

How do you see this as different?

Jack Chick isn't just a publisher, his publishing company exists to publish his works. There are other authors which his company publishes, which are equally crackpot as Chick himself.

Chick Publications isn't Harper Collins, it's a very particular niche publishing company that serves to propagate the unique conspiratorial and lunatic teachings of Jack T. Chick and his league of super-villains.

I missed the part of time-traveling Jesuits.

It's easy to miss, this panel is from "The Deceived" a 1990 tract by Jack Chick:

Some things to keep in mind, the time period spoken of is the 7th century (the 600's). It mentions "Vatican spies", though there was no "Vatican" to speak of then, Vatican hill was, in the 7th century, outside the city limits of Rome and only came to be included in the 9th century when the walls of the city were expanded under Pope Leo IV. And the Pope's residence was the Lateran Palace, and the Pope's cathedral was St. John Lateran Archbasilica which is the Bishop of Rome's cathedra. The palace is located on the Caelian Hill.

But that's not really the most egregious anachronism present, it's the "Vatican spy" in question, located on the right-hand panel declaring "Perfect!".

It definitely looks like he's wearing stereotypical Jesuit clothing.

Why's that a problem? Because the Jesuits didn't exist until the the 16th century, 900 years after the founding of Islam. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was a religious order founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, and the guy in the picture looks very strangely similar to what Jesuit missionaries wore in the 17th and 18th centuries:

I can only conclude that what Chick is trying to say is that "the Vatican" sent Jesuit spies back in time to found Islam.

Ergo, time-traveling Jesuits.

I assume the Vatican has its time machine next to the super computer with the name of every Protestant on earth.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[gord44]

Lol brilliant!

 

[redblue22]

Well done.

 

[Larniavc]

1. What do you think about people handing out religious literature and tracts? Why?

2. What do you think of chick tracts in particular? Why? www.chick.com

His views on D&D (and most everything else) are hilarious. When I first saw them I was convinced they were an elaborate poe.