Would be funnier if people didn’t really believe this sort of thing. According to the Bible, God saves any person from hell who has faith in him. This is because of God’s grace–a gift from God. Hell is real. Purgatory is not.
@hi9 - I’m guessing you don’t see the irony in speaking of people not believing “in this sort of thing”, and then speaking of believing in God at all. :)
On the subject, if I were Calvin, I’d be more concerned about the points he earned with Santa. At least he delivers something once a year!
@hi9, your comment would be funnier if it didn’t include a threat by proxy of infinite torture for those who don’t accept your baseless ideas.
Take your nasty threats somewhere else. The greatest irony here is that some people are going to see me as the antagoniser.
@doctortoon, god is a man-made up concept too. You have nothing to fear from the stories of ancient ignorant fearful goat herders. Enjoy your life, don’t let people scare you into wasting any of it worshipping made up entities.
doctortoon says:
“Church doctrines and dogmas are pretty funny things. I’ve been to so many different kinds of churches with such varied beliefs that I’m fairly cynical about religion. Not about faith in God, just the man made-up stuff.”
Amen, doc. I like the way Gandhi put it: “I like this Christ very much…it’s the Christians that annoy me.”
……….
I’m thinking Hobbes might be CATholic, but not Calvin.
The Lord is not made up. I know this to be true as it was only thorough His love and grace that I was able to go through a year of chemo while raising 4 daughters, the youngest being autistic. I am a military wife and my husband is hardly ever home. It was hard and I often wanted to just give up. He gave me the strength to continue the fight. I am now cancer free and all I can say to that is Praise the Lord for He is good and He does good.
Yukoner and plus 4,
The word for purgatory is in the dictionary but two other words (curgatory and furgatory) are NOT in the dictionary. You need to look two words up in the dictionary. :-/
Inquisitor says “@doctortoon, god is a man-made up concept too. You have nothing to fear from the stories of ancient ignorant fearful goat herders. Enjoy your life, don’t let people scare you into wasting any of it worshipping made up entities.” Well if there is no God, how did we get here? If we came from apes, how did they get here? from fish? who put the fish there? from molecules? how did they get there? There is someone who made us and still cares for us.
We’ve known the answer to “How did we get here?” for a while now – evolution. Of course the origin of the universe is another matter, but our present ignorance doesn’t have to be filled in with belief in god or gods. Instead it should call for further inquiry, further research…
Also, if it comforts you to believe that there is a magical sky-fairy listening to your prayers and caring for you, be my guest…unfortunately, wanting to believe something exists doesn’t prove that it exists.
Yes, I get great comfort in believing in my Lord and Savior.
Yes, everyone is entitled to believe whatever they choose to.
Yes, I will continue to believe as I do because it is my free will to do so.
In regards to evolution, why aren’t the apes and such still evolving?
When one of my daughters was in kindergarten, one of her classmates was a cute little girl that was always getting in trouble. I asked my daughter why her friend was always acting up and she replied “she’s just curious”.
So there you go, Calvin has a good heart, he’s just curious. He’s very lucky to have Hobbes too.
You know…I think a bunch of you got lost on your way to your local bible-pounding hall. If you’re going to stop and smell the flowers, try NOT to analyze them to death.
And ‘carmy’ we’ve been espousing the evolutionary theory for approximately 200-plus years. It took 200 MILLION years for creatures to crawl out of the sea into muck, and then onto land, so just how much evolution do you think can happen in a mere 200 years? I think you need to spend less time poking around in your ‘good-book’ and try for more quality time reading a text-book. I feel certain you could find some clues about how evolution works.
Actually they are, including us! For organisms with long generation times, like primates, evolution is generally a slow process.
Also, many evolutionary changes don’t produce a visible effect, so you won’t “see” it happening unless you start comparing DNA sequences.
Here’s a couple articles about recent human evolution if you’re interested:
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/1210/1?etoc
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/204/2
I knew there would be a huge discussion on religion when I read this. I think I’ll butt out of that aspect of it this time since I don’t have time to write a long post. But it’s cute how Calvin was petting Hobbes and making him purr.
Burgundy, my daughter Angela will be 11 next month. She is in gifted classes and is competing in this years spelling bee. She won the bee at her school and survived an elimination round for our district. She is competing in a bee this Tuesday. The winner of that bee will go on to the regional bee and then it’s off to D.C.
Yukoner and plus 4,
The word for purgatory is in the dictionary but two other words (curgatory and furgatory) are NOT in the dictionary. You need to look two words up in the dictionary. :-/
Hi, Wild mustang. Those two words aren’t real words, they just made them up for fun, so no, you won’t find them in any dictionary.
“Curgatory” is a play on the word ‘cur’, which means a mongrel or inferior type of dog. “Furgatory” is based on ‘fur’, Hobbes has fur.
I enjoy laughing at the comics, but I also enjoy the serious debates. For those who don’t, I recommend either skimming or skipping the comments.
I am a bit of an oddball - a biologist who takes the creation account literally. I’ve studied the theory of evolution, and there are just too many holes for me to believe it. I’ve also studied the Bible, and my faith is built on a foundation of evidence. True, umpteen hundred different concepts of Christianity cannot all be true, but just because many are flawed doesn’t mean there is no God. Judge ideas based on their own merits, not on past experiences.
Hey! I’m cute and cuddly and relatively furry (well, furry anyway), how come no-one wants to rub my belly. It should be good for a few minutes from purg.
Love these comics. They can be enjoyed on so many levels. You can enjoy them as a smart satire of American life, you can enjoy them as the adventures of a boy and his imaginary tiger, you can enjoy them as a clever parody of a typical American household…
widjibeaker said “I am a bit of an oddball - a biologist who takes the creation account literally. I’ve studied the theory of evolution, and there are just too many holes for me to believe it”
Holes? You mean because we haven’t found fossils of every single animal that ever lived, the theory has holes? I guess you think gravity has holes because we haven’t weighed every rock in the universe. If you’re really a biologist, then you must know that evolution is a predictive theory that guides agriculture, disease control and is the core of biology. I call tigerpoop on your pathetic attempt at an argument from authority. A real scientist would know better than to make such an argument. Where did you get your degree? A diploma mill perhaps like Kent Hovind.
th O.C. [Original Calvin] believed one was either saved or damned from birth, nothing pious or evil done during your life would change the outcome. I prefer this kind of Calvinism that included good deeds, such as a butt scratch or tummy rub. It is way more satisfying.
For those who ignore all of the scientific advances we have made and continue to hold to a belief in the false religion of evolution I invite you to strive for enlightenment here: http://www.ligonier.org/ Click on the ‘Video’ link and work your way into common sense and logical science starting with 01/15/09.
AND if that is not enough to counter your false beliefs and self-imposed ignorance you will find a mountain of scientific knowledge here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/ There just really is no longer any rational reason to cling to the ignorance of evolution.
olm27, man something really bad must have happened to you for you to be so cynical! If so, I’m sorry! And GOD IS NOT A SKY FAIRY! THAT COMMENT WAS HIGHLY INSULTING!! And as this is a comics page, I shall let this rest! As I said to your buddy Thelin…. What will you say at the Pearly Gates?
Well, I’m sure this is exactly the discussion Bill Watterson intended to spur when he wrote this cute Sunday comic strip.
To my fellow Christians: remember that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
To non-Christians: I apologize that we Christians do such a bad job of conveying who God is to you. I hope and pray that someday you will come to know God as personally as we do.
Margueritem,
It was nice of you to explain to wildmustang about the word play back there. Hang in there Wildmustang! Our English is a funny, crazy old language!
Religion is a by-product of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn’t killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?
My thoughts:
@ The inquisitor: While evolution is a valid scientific theory, with much evidence, you must remember that as a theory, by scientific definition there is a slight possibility that some scientist may disprove it sooner or later. This does not mean that the Christians have got all the answers. But as a scientist, I always try to be objective, what if?…
d0e8r says:
All scientific theories can be disproved. As alternatives for them, you can bring fairy tales etc that can not be disproved.
I think your objectivity is affected by fear or religious practice you had. It shows in your addition of “sooner or later” to one sentece you wrote, which is not necessary to convey your idea.
“by scientific definition there is a slight possibility that some scientist may disprove it sooner or later”
Drystyha: “What are you going to say when you get to them pearly gates? Huh? Gonna become a believer all of a sudden?”
Funnily enough yes. I will withhold belief in a claim until some evidence is presented. To do otherwise would force me to accept every claim ever made by anyone ever. I’d say what Bertrand Russel said he would say, “Oh Lord, you did not give us enough evidence”
If I’m to be damned for not believing in something that I honestly see no evidence for, then there’s nothing I can do about it.
Now let me ask you a question. What if the real test is to see if you will accept unreasonable claims without evidence when tempted or frightened? What if only atheists go to heaven? Can you take that chance that you’re wrong? I trust you now see the absurdity of this argument. It’s called Pascal’s wager and it’s wrong on too many levels to go into.
d0e8r: “This does not mean that the Christians have got all the answers. But as a scientist, I always try to be objective, what if?”
I agree, we could be wrong about anything. Absolute knowledge is impossible. What if the world is actually flat? The state of the evidence for evolution is almost as overwhelming as the evidence for the shape of the Earth.
Oh and Zippy007, answers in genesis? Really? Why don’t you take a look at www.talkorigins.org and read the numerous rebuttals to that nonsense. Go to youtube and watch the videos series by thunderfoot, “why do people laugh at creationists?”, as well as the videos of cdk007, shanedk and potholer54. The evidence is so overwhelming it’s just not funny. How about the 2 hour lecture by Ken Miller (a christian) about the evidence for evolution. In my experience, creationists don’t even know what evolution IS, and answers in genesis is only convincing if it’s the only source you read.
will all of you quit slamming christianity! you have to realize it isnt religion. Religion is man reaching up to god. Christianity is God reaching down to man since sinful creatures like us aren’t fit to got to heaven. that’s it. I guarantee you in the future, there will be a new useless theory to prove evolution wrong just like they did with ‘sun goes around the earth’ and ‘earth is flat’
Why do anti-christians always feel the need to refer to a christian’s religion as fairy tails? Can’t you see how offensive that is?
We are not idiots, we just have a faith and a belief in something higher. You may not believe what we believe, but does that really make you want to belittle us by referring to our God as a sky fairy?
..and i thought it was ‘curgatory’ because of ‘cat purgatory’.. ;P but this definitely is one of the most-commented strip just because of the religious hint in calvin’s last statement.. imho, ‘faith’ is believing in non-evidence based, intangible things/being.. human nature wanted to believe there has to be a greater power over us and thus religion came about. if not for faith, fear, and religion then we’d all be living like barbarians wont we?
@ The inquisitor. OK, I’ll admit it. I am a proponent of intelligent design. And don’t pull the “you are ignorant” garbage on me. I have read Darwin’s “Origins of the Species”, as well of several of Richard Dawkins Books, whose claims I find unconvincing. That evolution occurs is a fact. However, I am a biochemist, and on a biochemical level, I see that mutations, as a rule, reduce, rather than increase genetic information. That mutations occur which may in fact be beneficial to an organism is true. But again, even those mutations are usually caused by damage to an organism’s DNA. Also, I look at even the simplest biochemical process and am forced to ask, how could this evolve? The interactions of chemicals are such that the removal of a single chemical destroys the whole cascade. In such ones where it seems there might be a possibility for evolution, I have to ask how could the organism acquire the necessary chemicals at the right time. The majority of evolutionists I read tend to shy away from biochemistry. If you really think your evidence is all that strong, I invite you to take a close examination of biochemistry. This is my battle ground. If you think you can come up with an explanation that is not ridiculously oversimplified, go ahead! I might be more inclined to believe in evolution if you would take a closer look at the hard stuff. Though evolution has come a long way since the days of Darwin, most of you are still stuck in his world, refusing to examine evolution in the light of the current scientific discoveries of biochemistry.
d8e0r, I’m certainly no biochemist, but if you say yourself that evolution is a fact then what are we arguing about?
The fact that full and complete explanations of the evolutionary pathways of certain biochemical processes haven’t been devised yet doesn’t in any way demonstrate intelligent design.
Rather than simply saying that evolution isn’t adequate and therefore ID wins by default, why not present some positive evidence for the existence of this designer? Without demonstrating the existence of this entity, you’re only explaining a mystery with another mystery.
All of the popular examples of supposedly irreducibly complex systems such as the blood clotting mechanism and the bacterial flagellum have been demonstrated to not be irreducibly complex. I refer you to the transcript of the Dover trial and the embarassing failure and demonstrated deception of Behe and his cohorts.
Since this is getting rather verbose for a Calvin and Hobbes comment board, I have a youtube channel with this same username that you can contact me on if you prefer.
If you want to make a case for ID, then present some evidence of the designer, rather than simply saying evolution is wrong therefore ID wins by default. That’s not how you demonstrate scientific theories.
However, if you do have such evidence, then don’t waste your time with me. Write a paper and submit it for peer review. The problem with ID all along has been the way it’s proponents have tried to bypass the scientific method and inject their ideas into the classroom without going through the scrutiny that ALL other theories have to go through. Why not just present these ideas at scientific conferences and in the scientific literature? Why try to cheat your way in through the back door?
There is something out there bigger than we puny humans but none of us knows who or what—and if you think you know God, you delude yourself. Calvin just enjoys Nature and as mischievous as he is he knows right from wrong. Saying you know God just limits your Imagination.
@iwascalvin – you ask why so many “anti-christians” call your religion a fairy-tale. The reason is because Christians attack everyone else, and are trying to turn the USA into a Christian theocracy. From marriage bigotry to atheist persecution to anti-science, too many Christians act like the “American Taliban” who want to force everyone else to live by their rules.
If Christians would keep their religion to themselves and mind their own business, it wouldn’t be such a great evil in the world, and people wouldn’t feel the need to defend themselves from it.
I take great comfort in the fact that the Internet has allowed atheists to finally speak freely without the need to hide. I’ve noticed that young people are feeling more and more comfortable with declaring non-belief. It bodes well for the future.
Nairebis, you make it sound like Christians are intruding into aetheists’ lives. Christians werent the ones who outlawed prayer in schools. Evolution is called “science” and taught in schools which goes against Amendment 1. Even though nobody has ever, ever seen a fish turn into a monkey.
PaulAtreides, no-one has outlawed prayer in schools. The kids can pray as much as they want to during their breaks. What has been outlawed is MANDATORY prayer.
The arrogance of this never fails to astonish me. You’ve been so used to a privileged position that when someone finally stops you from pushing your beliefs on others, without any comprehension of the irony, you call this a restriction of YOUR freedom.
And you dare to invoke the first amendment when that is precisely what is being violated by your imposition of your religious rituals in public schools.
Also, your statement about “a fish turing into a monkey” is not remotely what evolutionary theory proposes. What astonishes me the most about evolution deniers is that they don’t even have the most basic concept of what it is they’re denying. You might as well criticise gravity by pointing out that birds don’t fall like rocks. Read a book you moron.
@PaulAtreides – Christians are intruding into Atheist’s lives, as well as everyone else’s. Prayer in school is a perfect example. As TheInquistor points out, kids can pray anytime they want. But that’s not good enough for you. You insist that the schools must lead the prayers (and, if you’re in a charitable mood, the atheist kids don’t have to, but who cares if they are ostracized in the process? Serves ‘em right – right?)
And your comment about fishes turning monkeys is just silly and ignorant. We may not have observed that, but we have observed new species being created. Surprised? Google for “observed instances of speciation.” There are many sources who would be happy to educate you.
But you know you won’t. Because you don’t want to learn the truth. You “already know” the truth, right?
Believe whatever you want to believe, that’s fine! Just stop pushing your beliefs on others and we’ll get along fine. Pray with your kids at home, where it belongs. Where the bible conflicts with reality (and science is the study of reality), accept reality and don’t presume to know the mind of God (as the Catholics did with the sun being the center of the solar system – if they can do it, so can you). If you don’t want to marry a person of your same sex, then don’t! Nobody will force you to. But don’t deny happiness to others.
In short, mind your business and keep your religion in your own home where it belongs. Why is that not good enough for you?
margueritem over 15 years ago
I’d say at least 6 years, Calvin. That was very kind, indeed.
Yukoner over 15 years ago
Two thoughts for today’s cartoon.
Although it is very appropriate for a Sunday I didn’t realize that Calvin was Catholic. Do bad dogs go to curgatory?
wndrwrthg over 15 years ago
Ah, Calvin. We know you will erase it by tomorrow. We have faith in you.
Yukoner over 15 years ago
Further to yesterday, if you remember those matinees and the serial movies you might also remember some of this music.
http://www.snjmall.com/chico/
Dutchboy1 over 15 years ago
Of course purgatory is a crock, so it doesn’t work that way.
rentier over 15 years ago
Hobbes likes strokeing very, very much!
hi9 over 15 years ago
Would be funnier if people didn’t really believe this sort of thing. According to the Bible, God saves any person from hell who has faith in him. This is because of God’s grace–a gift from God. Hell is real. Purgatory is not.
Nairebis over 15 years ago
@hi9 - I’m guessing you don’t see the irony in speaking of people not believing “in this sort of thing”, and then speaking of believing in God at all. :)
On the subject, if I were Calvin, I’d be more concerned about the points he earned with Santa. At least he delivers something once a year!
Yimsootlaw over 15 years ago
heehee. This strip cracks me up!
hi9 - word
TheInquisitor over 15 years ago
@hi9, your comment would be funnier if it didn’t include a threat by proxy of infinite torture for those who don’t accept your baseless ideas.
Take your nasty threats somewhere else. The greatest irony here is that some people are going to see me as the antagoniser.
@doctortoon, god is a man-made up concept too. You have nothing to fear from the stories of ancient ignorant fearful goat herders. Enjoy your life, don’t let people scare you into wasting any of it worshipping made up entities.
lazygrazer over 15 years ago
doctortoon says: “Church doctrines and dogmas are pretty funny things. I’ve been to so many different kinds of churches with such varied beliefs that I’m fairly cynical about religion. Not about faith in God, just the man made-up stuff.”
Amen, doc. I like the way Gandhi put it: “I like this Christ very much…it’s the Christians that annoy me.”
……….
I’m thinking Hobbes might be CATholic, but not Calvin.
carmy over 15 years ago
The Lord is not made up. I know this to be true as it was only thorough His love and grace that I was able to go through a year of chemo while raising 4 daughters, the youngest being autistic. I am a military wife and my husband is hardly ever home. It was hard and I often wanted to just give up. He gave me the strength to continue the fight. I am now cancer free and all I can say to that is Praise the Lord for He is good and He does good.
Wildmustang1262 over 15 years ago
Yukoner and plus 4, The word for purgatory is in the dictionary but two other words (curgatory and furgatory) are NOT in the dictionary. You need to look two words up in the dictionary. :-/
olm27 over 15 years ago
@ TheInquisitor: here here!
PaulAtreides over 15 years ago
Inquisitor says “@doctortoon, god is a man-made up concept too. You have nothing to fear from the stories of ancient ignorant fearful goat herders. Enjoy your life, don’t let people scare you into wasting any of it worshipping made up entities.” Well if there is no God, how did we get here? If we came from apes, how did they get here? from fish? who put the fish there? from molecules? how did they get there? There is someone who made us and still cares for us.
olm27 over 15 years ago
@ PaulAtreides:
We’ve known the answer to “How did we get here?” for a while now – evolution. Of course the origin of the universe is another matter, but our present ignorance doesn’t have to be filled in with belief in god or gods. Instead it should call for further inquiry, further research…
Also, if it comforts you to believe that there is a magical sky-fairy listening to your prayers and caring for you, be my guest…unfortunately, wanting to believe something exists doesn’t prove that it exists.
carmy over 15 years ago
Yes, I get great comfort in believing in my Lord and Savior. Yes, everyone is entitled to believe whatever they choose to. Yes, I will continue to believe as I do because it is my free will to do so. In regards to evolution, why aren’t the apes and such still evolving?
carmy over 15 years ago
When one of my daughters was in kindergarten, one of her classmates was a cute little girl that was always getting in trouble. I asked my daughter why her friend was always acting up and she replied “she’s just curious”. So there you go, Calvin has a good heart, he’s just curious. He’s very lucky to have Hobbes too.
lazygrazer over 15 years ago
Science will prove the existance of God long before religion does.
JTRaine over 15 years ago
FFS it is a COMIC. Take the stupid religious debate elsewhere.
Marderofski over 15 years ago
@Grazer
lolololololol.
@Carmy
Natural Selection.
Marderofski over 15 years ago
@ BugsMoran
We both had the same idea at the same time. that was weird.
BugsMoran over 15 years ago
You know…I think a bunch of you got lost on your way to your local bible-pounding hall. If you’re going to stop and smell the flowers, try NOT to analyze them to death.
And ‘carmy’ we’ve been espousing the evolutionary theory for approximately 200-plus years. It took 200 MILLION years for creatures to crawl out of the sea into muck, and then onto land, so just how much evolution do you think can happen in a mere 200 years? I think you need to spend less time poking around in your ‘good-book’ and try for more quality time reading a text-book. I feel certain you could find some clues about how evolution works.
olm27 over 15 years ago
“why aren’t the apes and such still evolving?”
Actually they are, including us! For organisms with long generation times, like primates, evolution is generally a slow process. Also, many evolutionary changes don’t produce a visible effect, so you won’t “see” it happening unless you start comparing DNA sequences.
Here’s a couple articles about recent human evolution if you’re interested: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2007/1210/1?etoc http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/204/2
carmy over 15 years ago
Okay, I will agree to disagree here. Thanks for all the interesting comments. Have a good day.
alondra over 15 years ago
I knew there would be a huge discussion on religion when I read this. I think I’ll butt out of that aspect of it this time since I don’t have time to write a long post. But it’s cute how Calvin was petting Hobbes and making him purr.
Emp454 over 15 years ago
Very sweet comic! Good on ya Calvin.
carmy over 15 years ago
Burgundy, my daughter Angela will be 11 next month. She is in gifted classes and is competing in this years spelling bee. She won the bee at her school and survived an elimination round for our district. She is competing in a bee this Tuesday. The winner of that bee will go on to the regional bee and then it’s off to D.C.
margueritem over 15 years ago
Wildmustang1262 says:
Yukoner and plus 4, The word for purgatory is in the dictionary but two other words (curgatory and furgatory) are NOT in the dictionary. You need to look two words up in the dictionary. :-/
Hi, Wild mustang. Those two words aren’t real words, they just made them up for fun, so no, you won’t find them in any dictionary. “Curgatory” is a play on the word ‘cur’, which means a mongrel or inferior type of dog. “Furgatory” is based on ‘fur’, Hobbes has fur.
widjibeaker over 15 years ago
I enjoy laughing at the comics, but I also enjoy the serious debates. For those who don’t, I recommend either skimming or skipping the comments.
I am a bit of an oddball - a biologist who takes the creation account literally. I’ve studied the theory of evolution, and there are just too many holes for me to believe it. I’ve also studied the Bible, and my faith is built on a foundation of evidence. True, umpteen hundred different concepts of Christianity cannot all be true, but just because many are flawed doesn’t mean there is no God. Judge ideas based on their own merits, not on past experiences.
wndrwrthg over 15 years ago
Hey! I’m cute and cuddly and relatively furry (well, furry anyway), how come no-one wants to rub my belly. It should be good for a few minutes from purg.
SamFP over 15 years ago
hhhmmm .. looks to me that Hobbes is not sleeping but enjoying the attention.
gigabyte03 over 15 years ago
grazer: Excellent!
Your statement portends MUCH fruit, especially if one is willing to spend time in its contemplation.
Tom1142 over 15 years ago
Love these comics. They can be enjoyed on so many levels. You can enjoy them as a smart satire of American life, you can enjoy them as the adventures of a boy and his imaginary tiger, you can enjoy them as a clever parody of a typical American household…
TheInquisitor over 15 years ago
widjibeaker said “I am a bit of an oddball - a biologist who takes the creation account literally. I’ve studied the theory of evolution, and there are just too many holes for me to believe it”
Holes? You mean because we haven’t found fossils of every single animal that ever lived, the theory has holes? I guess you think gravity has holes because we haven’t weighed every rock in the universe. If you’re really a biologist, then you must know that evolution is a predictive theory that guides agriculture, disease control and is the core of biology. I call tigerpoop on your pathetic attempt at an argument from authority. A real scientist would know better than to make such an argument. Where did you get your degree? A diploma mill perhaps like Kent Hovind.
tabbylynn over 15 years ago
i think it was very sweet of calvin. sha baby look how cute hobbes is. just want to kiss him
Pires7 over 15 years ago
th O.C. [Original Calvin] believed one was either saved or damned from birth, nothing pious or evil done during your life would change the outcome. I prefer this kind of Calvinism that included good deeds, such as a butt scratch or tummy rub. It is way more satisfying.
Yukoner over 15 years ago
plus4 - Are you sure that is not purr-gatory?
JonD17 over 15 years ago
For some reason, The Inquisitor makes me think of MPH
mrprongs over 15 years ago
There’s another way, Calvin: Behave.
swolf48110 over 15 years ago
I’d give anything for a good scratching and rubbing like that… especially not even have had to ask for it!
Zippy007 over 15 years ago
For those who ignore all of the scientific advances we have made and continue to hold to a belief in the false religion of evolution I invite you to strive for enlightenment here: http://www.ligonier.org/ Click on the ‘Video’ link and work your way into common sense and logical science starting with 01/15/09.
Zippy007 over 15 years ago
AND if that is not enough to counter your false beliefs and self-imposed ignorance you will find a mountain of scientific knowledge here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/ There just really is no longer any rational reason to cling to the ignorance of evolution.
Dry and Dusty Premium Member over 15 years ago
olm27, man something really bad must have happened to you for you to be so cynical! If so, I’m sorry! And GOD IS NOT A SKY FAIRY! THAT COMMENT WAS HIGHLY INSULTING!! And as this is a comics page, I shall let this rest! As I said to your buddy Thelin…. What will you say at the Pearly Gates?
Dry and Dusty Premium Member over 15 years ago
Thelnquisitor, What are you going to say when you get to them pearly gates? Huh? Gonna become a believer all of a sudden?
jweb1510 over 15 years ago
Well, I’m sure this is exactly the discussion Bill Watterson intended to spur when he wrote this cute Sunday comic strip.
To my fellow Christians: remember that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
To non-Christians: I apologize that we Christians do such a bad job of conveying who God is to you. I hope and pray that someday you will come to know God as personally as we do.
Durak Premium Member over 15 years ago
Margueritem, It was nice of you to explain to wildmustang about the word play back there. Hang in there Wildmustang! Our English is a funny, crazy old language!
si_rat over 15 years ago
Even Calvin in many strips question shows that he is unsure about the existence of God.
It is really pathetic that too many people believe in a God.
If there is a God, isn’t he the cruel guy Cal was mimicking last Sunday…
si_rat over 15 years ago
DrystyhaPro and jweb1510
Religion is a by-product of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn’t killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity?
Arthur C. Clarke
d0e8r over 15 years ago
My thoughts: @ The inquisitor: While evolution is a valid scientific theory, with much evidence, you must remember that as a theory, by scientific definition there is a slight possibility that some scientist may disprove it sooner or later. This does not mean that the Christians have got all the answers. But as a scientist, I always try to be objective, what if?…
si_rat over 15 years ago
d0e8r says: All scientific theories can be disproved. As alternatives for them, you can bring fairy tales etc that can not be disproved.
I think your objectivity is affected by fear or religious practice you had. It shows in your addition of “sooner or later” to one sentece you wrote, which is not necessary to convey your idea. “by scientific definition there is a slight possibility that some scientist may disprove it sooner or later”
TheInquisitor over 15 years ago
Drystyha: “What are you going to say when you get to them pearly gates? Huh? Gonna become a believer all of a sudden?”
Funnily enough yes. I will withhold belief in a claim until some evidence is presented. To do otherwise would force me to accept every claim ever made by anyone ever. I’d say what Bertrand Russel said he would say, “Oh Lord, you did not give us enough evidence”
If I’m to be damned for not believing in something that I honestly see no evidence for, then there’s nothing I can do about it.
Now let me ask you a question. What if the real test is to see if you will accept unreasonable claims without evidence when tempted or frightened? What if only atheists go to heaven? Can you take that chance that you’re wrong? I trust you now see the absurdity of this argument. It’s called Pascal’s wager and it’s wrong on too many levels to go into.
d0e8r: “This does not mean that the Christians have got all the answers. But as a scientist, I always try to be objective, what if?”
I agree, we could be wrong about anything. Absolute knowledge is impossible. What if the world is actually flat? The state of the evidence for evolution is almost as overwhelming as the evidence for the shape of the Earth.
Oh and Zippy007, answers in genesis? Really? Why don’t you take a look at www.talkorigins.org and read the numerous rebuttals to that nonsense. Go to youtube and watch the videos series by thunderfoot, “why do people laugh at creationists?”, as well as the videos of cdk007, shanedk and potholer54. The evidence is so overwhelming it’s just not funny. How about the 2 hour lecture by Ken Miller (a christian) about the evidence for evolution. In my experience, creationists don’t even know what evolution IS, and answers in genesis is only convincing if it’s the only source you read.
coffeeturtle over 15 years ago
another wasted thread. Soapbox anyone?
PaulAtreides over 15 years ago
will all of you quit slamming christianity! you have to realize it isnt religion. Religion is man reaching up to god. Christianity is God reaching down to man since sinful creatures like us aren’t fit to got to heaven. that’s it. I guarantee you in the future, there will be a new useless theory to prove evolution wrong just like they did with ‘sun goes around the earth’ and ‘earth is flat’
iwascalvin over 15 years ago
Why do anti-christians always feel the need to refer to a christian’s religion as fairy tails? Can’t you see how offensive that is?
We are not idiots, we just have a faith and a belief in something higher. You may not believe what we believe, but does that really make you want to belittle us by referring to our God as a sky fairy?
nyer73 over 15 years ago
..and i thought it was ‘curgatory’ because of ‘cat purgatory’.. ;P but this definitely is one of the most-commented strip just because of the religious hint in calvin’s last statement.. imho, ‘faith’ is believing in non-evidence based, intangible things/being.. human nature wanted to believe there has to be a greater power over us and thus religion came about. if not for faith, fear, and religion then we’d all be living like barbarians wont we?
d0e8r over 15 years ago
@ The inquisitor. OK, I’ll admit it. I am a proponent of intelligent design. And don’t pull the “you are ignorant” garbage on me. I have read Darwin’s “Origins of the Species”, as well of several of Richard Dawkins Books, whose claims I find unconvincing. That evolution occurs is a fact. However, I am a biochemist, and on a biochemical level, I see that mutations, as a rule, reduce, rather than increase genetic information. That mutations occur which may in fact be beneficial to an organism is true. But again, even those mutations are usually caused by damage to an organism’s DNA. Also, I look at even the simplest biochemical process and am forced to ask, how could this evolve? The interactions of chemicals are such that the removal of a single chemical destroys the whole cascade. In such ones where it seems there might be a possibility for evolution, I have to ask how could the organism acquire the necessary chemicals at the right time. The majority of evolutionists I read tend to shy away from biochemistry. If you really think your evidence is all that strong, I invite you to take a close examination of biochemistry. This is my battle ground. If you think you can come up with an explanation that is not ridiculously oversimplified, go ahead! I might be more inclined to believe in evolution if you would take a closer look at the hard stuff. Though evolution has come a long way since the days of Darwin, most of you are still stuck in his world, refusing to examine evolution in the light of the current scientific discoveries of biochemistry.
TheInquisitor over 15 years ago
d8e0r, I’m certainly no biochemist, but if you say yourself that evolution is a fact then what are we arguing about?
The fact that full and complete explanations of the evolutionary pathways of certain biochemical processes haven’t been devised yet doesn’t in any way demonstrate intelligent design.
Rather than simply saying that evolution isn’t adequate and therefore ID wins by default, why not present some positive evidence for the existence of this designer? Without demonstrating the existence of this entity, you’re only explaining a mystery with another mystery.
All of the popular examples of supposedly irreducibly complex systems such as the blood clotting mechanism and the bacterial flagellum have been demonstrated to not be irreducibly complex. I refer you to the transcript of the Dover trial and the embarassing failure and demonstrated deception of Behe and his cohorts.
Since this is getting rather verbose for a Calvin and Hobbes comment board, I have a youtube channel with this same username that you can contact me on if you prefer.
If you want to make a case for ID, then present some evidence of the designer, rather than simply saying evolution is wrong therefore ID wins by default. That’s not how you demonstrate scientific theories.
However, if you do have such evidence, then don’t waste your time with me. Write a paper and submit it for peer review. The problem with ID all along has been the way it’s proponents have tried to bypass the scientific method and inject their ideas into the classroom without going through the scrutiny that ALL other theories have to go through. Why not just present these ideas at scientific conferences and in the scientific literature? Why try to cheat your way in through the back door?
papawhale over 15 years ago
There is something out there bigger than we puny humans but none of us knows who or what—and if you think you know God, you delude yourself. Calvin just enjoys Nature and as mischievous as he is he knows right from wrong. Saying you know God just limits your Imagination.
Nairebis over 15 years ago
@iwascalvin – you ask why so many “anti-christians” call your religion a fairy-tale. The reason is because Christians attack everyone else, and are trying to turn the USA into a Christian theocracy. From marriage bigotry to atheist persecution to anti-science, too many Christians act like the “American Taliban” who want to force everyone else to live by their rules.
If Christians would keep their religion to themselves and mind their own business, it wouldn’t be such a great evil in the world, and people wouldn’t feel the need to defend themselves from it.
I take great comfort in the fact that the Internet has allowed atheists to finally speak freely without the need to hide. I’ve noticed that young people are feeling more and more comfortable with declaring non-belief. It bodes well for the future.
PaulAtreides over 15 years ago
Nairebis, you make it sound like Christians are intruding into aetheists’ lives. Christians werent the ones who outlawed prayer in schools. Evolution is called “science” and taught in schools which goes against Amendment 1. Even though nobody has ever, ever seen a fish turn into a monkey.
TheInquisitor over 15 years ago
PaulAtreides, no-one has outlawed prayer in schools. The kids can pray as much as they want to during their breaks. What has been outlawed is MANDATORY prayer.
The arrogance of this never fails to astonish me. You’ve been so used to a privileged position that when someone finally stops you from pushing your beliefs on others, without any comprehension of the irony, you call this a restriction of YOUR freedom.
And you dare to invoke the first amendment when that is precisely what is being violated by your imposition of your religious rituals in public schools.
Also, your statement about “a fish turing into a monkey” is not remotely what evolutionary theory proposes. What astonishes me the most about evolution deniers is that they don’t even have the most basic concept of what it is they’re denying. You might as well criticise gravity by pointing out that birds don’t fall like rocks. Read a book you moron.
Nairebis over 15 years ago
@PaulAtreides – Christians are intruding into Atheist’s lives, as well as everyone else’s. Prayer in school is a perfect example. As TheInquistor points out, kids can pray anytime they want. But that’s not good enough for you. You insist that the schools must lead the prayers (and, if you’re in a charitable mood, the atheist kids don’t have to, but who cares if they are ostracized in the process? Serves ‘em right – right?)
And your comment about fishes turning monkeys is just silly and ignorant. We may not have observed that, but we have observed new species being created. Surprised? Google for “observed instances of speciation.” There are many sources who would be happy to educate you.
But you know you won’t. Because you don’t want to learn the truth. You “already know” the truth, right?
Believe whatever you want to believe, that’s fine! Just stop pushing your beliefs on others and we’ll get along fine. Pray with your kids at home, where it belongs. Where the bible conflicts with reality (and science is the study of reality), accept reality and don’t presume to know the mind of God (as the Catholics did with the sun being the center of the solar system – if they can do it, so can you). If you don’t want to marry a person of your same sex, then don’t! Nobody will force you to. But don’t deny happiness to others.
In short, mind your business and keep your religion in your own home where it belongs. Why is that not good enough for you?
Roblox Lover! :P over 3 years ago
that strip made me yawn