God's Gonna Get You (A Trip to Doom Town)

[thunter34]

So...I was reading through Moffie's "When I Was 31" thread and started thinking about what life was like for me in 1978.  Bible study, christian fellowship, summer spent in Bible School.  And passing out religious tracts.  You know...those little religious comic books you may have found in the shitter somewhere that are placed there in hopes of redeeming your soul?  That was a part of my earlier upbringing, due in large part to Uber-Christian neighbors.  My parents were God-fearing folks, but have mellowed quite a bit on this front since learning their son was a nancy boy.  I think they've come to understand a great deal of the early emotional damage that came about as a result of overly intense indoctrination.  I showed my father the picture below, and it brought him to tears.  It was in a tract that I passed out when I was a kid.  I kept a copy of it because of this picture.  I knew even at 8 years old that by the couple in the top right, they meant me.  Sinful, lost, doomed.  I studied it and studied it.  I cried.  I prayed.  And I waited to be changed.

So yeah.  I have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to religion.  Anyway, I was thinking back on 1978 and decided I would look up that old picture to share with you folks.  Along the search, I discovered that the good people at Chick Publications upped their game and made an entire tract devoted to my particular perversion.  A magnificent read.  Well worth the time to note all the attention to detail.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0273/0273_01.asp

So there it is.  And part of me is angry with myself to admit that it still hurts even now.


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[Miss Philicia]

Yeah girl... you need to let that stuff hurt you anymore.  I was raised as a twice-a-week Southern Baptist and all that was shoved aside the moment I went to college and gave myself a mohawk.

[budndallastx]

As a "reformed baptist", you have to do what you think is right.  The churches (especially the evangelical ones) tend to judge everyone else except themselves.  It took me until I was 26 before I discovered the hypocrisy that is the modern church today.  Since I walked away from the church (actually ran), I haven't been happier. 

You go girl !

[thunter34]

Thanks guys.  I think much of the "hurt" I feel about this now has to do with hurting for the kids that are still getting confronted with this type of message even now.  I think about how it impacted me when I was little, and it pains me to think of it effecting them the same way.  When I think back about how showing that picture effected my father, I can't help but hurt a bit for those caught on the "inside" as well.  I think this whole line-in-the-sand approach has created a situation where everybody loses. 

[aupointillimite]

Jack Chick tracts!

We used to read them in fake posh British accents in college.

Here's a great site that dissects his tracts and makes fun of them.

Hours and hours of fun!

http://enterthejabberwock.com/index.php?cat=12/

[david25luvit]

Born and raised a Southern Baptist...Dad was a preacher.  I don't consider myself a Baptist anymore but I still
have my faith and my God is a God of Love....not hate and not bigotry.  For those who preach hell and damnation
I can only feel sorry for them...  The word Christian does leave a bad taste in my mouth but then I suspect it does
for a lot of people who have listened to people preach one thing and then show absolutely no Christian charity or
tolerance for another person's faith.  My motto...you worship your way and I'll worship mine.  As for the past and
holding onto all the negativity....No Way!!! 

[Buckmark]

Tim,

If you are going to be angry, it shouldn't be with yourself -- it should be with the "religious" folks who spout this propaganda.   And I do consider this stuff to be propaganda.  And yet because it is "religious" teaching, it is considered to be more legitimate and even righteous.  Hogwash.

Of course, they claim to be benevolent and compassionate in their desire to "save" people and set them on the "right" path.  When I see this stuff, I see people who are so rigid and blind in their beliefs that they feel a moral superiority not only to judge others, but to berate them.   Their lack of humility and reverence (as you pointed out in the other thread) not only shocks me but disgusts me.

OK, so I too have a chip on my should when it comes to religion.  And I wasn't even raised in an evangelical faith, but in the Ukranian Orthodox church, which is focused so much and tradition and ritual that I found it very very very far removed from society.

I can certainly understand folks seeking a higher reason / power / purpose for existence through religion.  But whatever happened to being compassionate, charitable, and forgiving because it was simply God's teaching, rather than using them as tools to further a social and political agenda.

David25 is right -- as hard as it is, you have to let go of the past and the negativity -- and turn it around to become a positive force. 

And as I close this, I have to remind myself to be forgiving of even the "religious" folks with whom I disagree, and who disparage me.  I still have a lot to learn.

Regards,

Henry

[Val]

Tim,
It's a shame that you're still hurting because of these poor, uneducated  souls.  Whenever I heard the word  "religion",  I get prepared for the attack.  Because this is really what we are talking about here:  the attack of  all these sects, churches, congregations and so on, on the human soul.  It is indeed a pity  that human suffering, as a whole, should be exacerbated by all these buffons who, albeit their allegations, are suffering just as much.

If I had to resume religion in a very simple, straightforward way, it would be with just a word:  "Money".  Now, we both know that some people would do just about anything imaginable for some cash, don't we?  They will not only sell their souls, but they will sell you their mother if they could!

And, as for the so-called  "Christian roots"  that especially the evangelical claim with such vehement and unscrupulous manner, it is called  "genocide".  Nothing short of that notion would classify what the christians have accomplished (with the Muslins and others) throughout these centuries.  All of it, which is going on even today as we discuss this subject, in the name of whom?  God, of course.  Who else?  Have ever heard people killing each other in the name of, say, Satan?   Now, that would be a sin!

Take a look at this article and tell me what your  assumptions are...

Massimo Mazzuco   ---   The Christian Roots
http://www.luogocomune.net/site/modules/news/article.php?storyid=373

Val
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P.S. Sorry, the article is in Italian!  If you could find a site for the translation...