Pat Oliphant for November 03, 2009

To quote the Penguin “Hoy Moly!” I don’t know what this is all about but I love the woman’s punch line.

It looks like a good English cartoons from the 50’s.

I don’t see how this can be turned to Liberal/Conservative, or Obama/Health Care, or even Balloon Boy/Lost Pilots, but I am sure someone will try.

I’ll just call it a fun cartoon and leave it at that.

Does that plaque say, St Freddie in the fields Episcopal Church?

I agree that the cartoon looks neat. Though I cant make sense of it quite yet.

Well, I knew that the Pope had made offers to allow members of the Anglican church en mass to mass, so to speak, reversing the work of good King Henry VIII.

As I understand it, Episcopalians are off-shoots of the Anglican church when the USA split with England. How can you have Anglicans in the USA if the head of the Anglican church is the king after all?

Apparently it’s all about Anglicans that want stricter church rules, like no gays and women priests etc.

Tell it all to Jan Hus .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Hus

I’m told that during the turbulent 1960’s my mother started dating a black guy because she thought it bothered her mother. When I asked my grandmother, she explained to me “It didn’t bother me that he was black. But d@mmit, he was a Catholic!”

The pope did make an offer to ease restrictions on Anglicans who are disaffected. The issues are essentially women and gays at the altar. Although the Episcopal Church (USA) is fully Anglican, it is organized differently than the Church of England, so the offer will have less impact here. Reactionary Episcopalians have largely already left for special provinces in African or South American Anglican churches.

The offer is geared more toward England where parishes cannot align with other provinces (it is a state church). It will be interesting to see how this plays out since the pope, as the head of one state is technically interfering with the domain of another head of state, the Queen who officially the head of the Church of England.

And Scott, I’m weary of people who sow intolerance and hatred. Why is it so terrible, so revolting, for someone to be different from you? I’ve thought and thought about it and I really just can’t understand your point of view. I’ve read the same Bible as you, and it taught me to be open-minded and accept people for who they are. I know you’re going to tear me apart for saying that. I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree…

Hey Scott, I see you haven’t read the Sermon on the Mount yet! By the way, if you review what Jesus had to say about the REAL sin of Sodom, you might not want to use that metaphor anymore. Now, for therapy, Scott, please do the following:

Shout: STOP!! STOP!! STOP!! Read Philippians 4:4-9 out loud. Repeat steps 1 & 2 every time that “log” in your eye distorts your vision!

Note: I led a choir in an Orthodox Synagogue for 30 years. This works for Jews too!!

I think it’s “St. Produce in the Fields.”

And I agree with Hintzy.

scott….I’ve seen you post some flaming hypocrisy here, but this time you topped yourself.

What are you doing right now, but insisting Christianity can ONLY be defined in the way you see it? And anyone who feels otherwise is brain-dead.

Jesus said the the second of the greatest commandments was to love thy neighbor as thyself….while the only thing spewing out of YOUR keyboard every time you post, is hatred for your neighbors. ( Yes they are….parable of the Good Samaritan )

Jesus preached humility ( parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector )….while YOU’RE about as humble as the average peacock. Again and again, belittling anyone who doesn’t see things your way as brain dead, ignorant, or whatever.

And yet you rant about OTHERS ignoring the New Testament? You wouldn’t knew Jesus if you walked into Him.

But that’s okay…He never knew YOU either.

Or that’s what He’s going to tell you one day/

The comic is brilliant as it shows both an angry and peaceful reaction to religious policy that we see here in these very comments to the strip. The Bible taught me to love God with my whole being and my neighbour as myself so I guess I’ll be with the Women’s Auxiliary… :)

I like this one. I can see it happening in many places. All of it. In addition I can see no one learning from it. Its a great piece for a cartoon.

I agree with Ken on this one. People get too uptight when it comes to religion.

Poor Colonel Ponsby, obviously an English Episcopalian of the Old School.

Very David Low, but if the Anglicans want it, let them have it…in abundance.

I didn’t think ol ScottF would poke his bleeep into this one, but there he is! Scotty, I think you might be moving along the Nutbar Scale from “living-in-momma’s-basement” to “isolated-cabin-in-the-hills”.

Anyway, thanks for the warnings about sodomy. Do you worry about it a lot? All the time?

Mar 9:39 And יהושע said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My Name is able to readily speak evil of Me. Mar 9:40 “For he who is not against us is for us. Mar 9:41 “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My Name, because you are of Messiah, truly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

I think it’s Freddie too.

People get upset about religion because no religion can prove it’s the right religion, although that doesn’t stop at least some of them from trying. It’s faith, not fact, and people get really, really torqued when their faith is questioned.

Yeah, it is “Freddie,” on taking a closer look.

What would Jesus smoke??? I think Scooters been doing too much “product testing” in anticipation?

For anyone claiming to be “Christian” to be full of hate is well, total hypocrisy. Even though Jesus did say he came not to bring peace, but with a sword, he did teach tolerance, and yes love.

Religion is quite sadly turning into a soap opera, with shallow thinking, and a rather blind audience.

Man, Am I glad I’m not of any of the Abrahamic religions anymore. There are scores of good jews, muslims and christians (starting with the nuns that founded most of the acadian hospitals in my province), but they are overshadowed by the scottfrietas of this world, with whom most sane people would rather go to Hell (litterally) than be associated with.

turns politically sorrect switch off Okay, for starters, all three are rabbidly against idolatry becaus God can’t be contained in any physical thing…makes sense so far. But they go in so far as to throw the entire world into a war because they all want a mount where a temple once stood (maybe). A hill is a hill, not a god, okay?

Islam is the most anti-idolatry of them all, some of them even riot and kill because somebody drew Mohammad and yet they worship a rock in Meccah. Sorry, but that doesn’t seem very logic to me.

Hardcore zionist jews (ie, the State of Israel, not all jews) use the suffering of their people as a guilt trip to the rest of the World everytime they want to legitimize another war…

Roman Catholicism has a history so rotten to the core with greed, and genocide, and control over the masses that now it is hard to believe the pope when he says “WE’re good people now, we are not doing anything for temporal gratification anymore”.

And protestant christianism…It is built on threats of hell and rapture. Swarming with televangelists saying we need to buy their book to avoid Hell and be ready for The Grand Finale. It’s not unlike the pope selling indulgences back in the 1500’s.

All in all, All three of those religions (well, its most extremist elements) narrow down their entire spiritual lives, the fate of their souls, to a political agenda.

So Scott bases his seething hatred of other people based on ancient biblical mythology.

Do you also therefore hate people who work on Sunday, who eat shellfish, get haircuts, and women who wear clothes made of two types of cloth, Scott?

Or do you just use the bible in a lame attempt at justifying your hatred only against the people you really enjoy hating?

Oh, and try and get a clue: I don’t “make the case that homosexuality is fine” with your god because your god is nothing more than an ancient mythology. I don’t believe in your god any more than you believe in all the other thousands of gods man has invented.

Homosexuality is fine because it doesn’t hurt anyone, and it’s been around at least as long as recorded history. People like you who hate one person for loving another are the problem.

RRRRIINNNGGG….Hello, 911 what is your emergency. Yes, I’d like to report a psychopath on the loose. Do you know the name of person? Yes, his name is scottfreitas and he has a severe personality disorder. He can cause severe bodily injury to people who don’t think as he does. He has also been known to torture puppies. Please alert the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and the Pope. This person should NOT be allowed to roam freely in AMERICA. Please help us…Quickly!

Plus no matter what the topic of the cartoon, he, like Striper, invariably turns the discussion to his preoccupation with homosexuality.

Getting back to the cartoon…Pope Benedict is recruiting priests specifically from the Anglicans. Those who object to ordaining women or marrying gays. Note the irony here – Anglican priests can marry. There have been a few married priests already who transferred from the Episcopalians, but we’re talking about having priests with wives and children suddenly becoming full Catholic priests – while the rest still have to maintain celibacy. Benedict would rather have married priests than women priests. He’s also reached out to the radical right-wingers – you know, the Holocaust deniers – though he won’t give them bishoprics, he’ll accept them as pastors! It makes me want to invoke the Jewish/Catholic combined prayer: Oy vey, Maria!

an intersting note, I found this out as a student of Christ’s Word: When God “hates” somebody it is not with the “murderous” hatred that fallen Man frequently feels for his fellow man. (This is actually the Spirit of Murder as denoted in the “sermon on the Mount”). It is with the full weight of judgement and LOVE for his creatures that God has declared Sin as Sin. No one will will make it to God’s Kingdom who hates their brother. Also, Cor Frog - i believe that you are putting the cart before the horse in this instance: no one will be justified before God by their own good works. Furthermore, scottfrito, although he may need to take on more of the WALK of Christ in order to righteously make pronouncements against Sin as he does( I don’t know for sure), I do believe he speaks the truth about Sin; and if a man claims to be “tolerant” and more capable of rendering right judgements than another man; this same person will realize that truth is not necessarily to be judged by the character of the messenger, but by the truth itself. Otherwise, you may be held to the same standard you are holding ScottFrito to. Thank you.

NamelessOne ; you are such an unhappy bitter soul you have nothing better to do than argue with people using arguments and topics you know nothing about: “Do you also therefore hate people who work on Sunday, who eat shellfish, get haircuts, and women who wear clothes made of two types of cloth, Scott?” All food was declared “clean” by a vision from Christ to Peter. Further, Christ through his anointed messenger Paul, preached that ceremonial rules of covenant Israel are not applicable to Gentile Christians. To “live under the Law” was something Paul fought against Peter about in the early days of the Christian Church of Judea.

Are we really to believe Scott is anything more than a Stephen Colbert type farce? I’m still not convinced.

In any case, “good Christians” are quick to rebuke homosexuality yet they also flagrantly ignore much of God’s laws. The same book that condemns homosexuals also demands the death penalty for wearing clothing made of blended fibers such as a cotton/poly blend. Women /must/ cover their hair when they’re ouside, lest someone cut it off as commanded by God. Men, however, must /never/ wear hats as it is direct insult to God himself. You’re forbidden to consume shellfish and your forbidden to so much as touch a dead pig let alone eat one. When’s the last time anyone has paid a priest to sacrifice a goat as penance for their sins as also commanded by God?? Finally, let’s not forget that no one… NO ONE honors the Sabbath Year as commanded by God.

The self proclaimed “good Christians” of the world really need to be nicer to the gays. Breaking God’s laws as they do, “real Christians” will be spending all of eternity in Hell along with those sinning homosexuals.

Frog, I mostly with your assessment, but would add to your assessment of the Catholic Church. They have spent and continue to spend a massive amount of money on construction and upkeep of their palaces of marble and gold, expensive art work, and luxurious silken robes. They live in luxury while their followers in Africa starve to death.

Yeah, yeah, pick-and-choose, Puppy. You’re not alone in that approach to your bible.

For instance, from what you said to C.Frog about good works, I see you’re ignoring these verses:

James 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Also see Matt 19:16-21 to read Jesus’ approach on using good works to get into heaven.

(Heh…I should save this quote of yours for the next time you decide to teach us about evolution! “you are such an unhappy bitter soul you have nothing better to do than argue with people using arguments and topics you know nothing about”)

The history of the episcopal church in this country isn’t always pretty–at the time Jacob Riis wrote “How the Other Half Lives”(1890), the episcopal church was the biggest slumlord in America. And that’s when slums really were slums and apartments didn’t necessarily have to offer windows or ventilation. Some of the wealthiest men in America (like J.P. Morgan) were members, yet never seemed to see exploitation of the poor as being in conflict with their christian principles. Still, every faith has good people doing good work within it and such people deserve respect. And it’s nice to see that Benedict has turned his gimlet gaze on someone besides the Jesuits.

What gets me is the sin of ‘Sodom’ was really bugger all about buggery, it was the abuse of hospitality that was the real offence and does anyone know what the poor old people of Gomorrah had down?? And anyone who tries to propose that Bronze Age stories are anything more than faerie tales, just look at the Churchs’ new position on Mr onan and his apparent moment of indecision.

But going back to the point of cartoon, shrewd move by the Pope, throw in the Papal visit to England next year and does sort of look like the Counter Reformation is on a roll.

“Atma How about the road to Damascus? Most Paul’s epistles were written BEFORE the Gospels. Refute that please?”

The road to Damascus? You mean where Saul of Tarsus had an epileptic fit and hallucinated meeting a man who had been killed years earlier? What about it?

The Gospels as we know them were not put into writing until after their attributed authors were dead, and in fact were anonymous for about 100 years after their initial appearances. Similarly, there were scads of other Gospels whose attributed authors had as much authority as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but were not included in the official canon.

That Paul did in fact write the epistles attributed to him I have no reason to doubt, but the fact that Jesus was dead by the time their supposed meeting is to me a strong indicator that it did not occur. If I claimed to have met Elvis while walking in Memphis on New Years Eve, 1999, I’m sure I could get SOME people to believe me, but it wouldn’t hold up in court…

Excellent points, Anthony. I do notice , however, works without faith is not even mentioned at all…In the interest of full-disclosure; are you now claiming to be a Christian? Read Mark7:17-19. Scripture plainly allows for the eating of Shellfish, therefore it is not one of the “sins” left un-changed by the New Covenant in Christ.

“works without faith is not even mentioned at all”

Well, that’s pretty much inherent in the system: You can’t have christianity without blind faith, so if you don’t have faith, the question of works becomes moot.

“are you now claiming to be a Christian?”

I couldn’t if I wanted to, because my brain is wired atheist-style: I’m incapable of deciding to believe in something. All I can do is recognize whether I believe in something or not. And with christianity, that just isn’t going to happen.

“Read Mark7:17-19”

Hmm, so it also supports cannibalism, too, then. Good news for the Catholics!

“Works without faith” is the point of the Good Samaritan, as I see it. Who among the passersby would find favor with God? The Scribe and Levite who who had the right Faith but didn’t act, or the Samaritan who acted but was of the “wrong” faith?

There’s another passage that I came across a while back, but I can’t find it. Something about “You who served Me, but did not know it was Me” finding favor…

Haha, I thought we were having a logical conversation…

That’s up to you, Puppy. If you respond to my last post, then we can continue to have a “logical conversation” (as “logical” as a discussion about your illogical religion can be).

Or you can do your usual run-away, and the conversation will end in limbo.

Like the ones here:

http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/2009/11/02/

http://www.gocomics.com/donwright/2009/11/02/

And maybe here, who knows?: http://www.gocomics.com/stevebreen/2009/11/05/

The Lord has dealt harshly with me for my judgemental attitude in fact I am guilty of lurid fornications just like sodomy. Please forgive me, whomever I have maligned. I feel he is telling me that I am heaping condemnation where he has forgiven me of the same thing. God bless you all and keep seeking Jesus.

Um, so I guess we’re not continuing the conversation…

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing from The Word.

Study to show thyself approved.

Works, faith.

You show me your faith, I will show you my works by my faith. James encourages, I have faith, I also have the works. Its like a hand in hand thing. Cannot be stolen, cannot be traded, cannot be sold. All belongs to God, always.

DrCanuck, leaving aside the question of power I suggest that unlike Zeus, Odin is a tragic figure. As far as I know, there exist no ancient Greek myths corresponding to Ragnarök (Götterdämmerung), in which even the gods are destroyed, and Zeus, that epitome of physical perfection, did not have to offer his eye to gain knowledge….

Henri