silversolitaire

You know, I am Unitarian. I truly believe in got. But this is just... sick. I just read the Allah one. This is disgusting. And the "amusing" thing is that the muslim man sounds all religiously fanatic and they make him look all twisted, and in all the other booklets THEY sound like that! Sheesh!

From:

I love their logic. Especially since Allah is simply the word for God in Arabic. Not to mention its basis in Jewish faith, whereby believers in Judaism were held in higher regard than everybody else within traditional Muslim faith.

And you know, Roman Catholics don't believe in Jesus of course. As far away from my Catholic roots as I have gotten, that sort of shit still pisses me off. My mother's boss once said, in front of her and another Catholic co-worker (they are in fact the only three people who work there), "Oh, he's Catholic, I'm not really sure if he's Christian," of somebody else. Grr.

Side note, there should be a law that if you are not going to allow your children to celebrate halloween, you have to be castrated/have your tubes tied. Damn I hate people.

From:

kmazzy.livejournal.com

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

the evolution one is terrible. and so is the gay one.

>_

From:

No, wait, I found something even worse in here. In its section on supporting Israel (that could be an entirely separate rant, but I shall not go there now), it suggests that the holocaust was done by "Catholic Germany." Catholic Germany! Catholics were looked down upon! It was a protestant movement! Many Catholics were kicked out of Germany! MY GOD! It is worse than their interpretation of the bible and particularly the old testament, totally missing the point about where and when heaven came into the picture...but I guess you don't need historical context if you're an asshole.

From:

I guess you don't need historical context if you're an asshole

Heh, that's certainly true.

But about the Germany vs. Catholics bit, that's not entirely true. Protestant movement started in Germany, yes, but the balance between Catholics and Protestants was always kinda even. As it is now, it's about 50/50. The North-West generally is more Protestant, whereas the South (Bavaria specifically) is very Catholic. Most villages have Virgin Mary statues at the town square and all that. So, I'm not sure what you refer to. Since there only is a Germany as we know it a couple of centuries now and before that it used to be a quilt of all sorts of counties and what have you, I don't think anything like that happened then. And as far as I know, Nazi Germany didn't have a problem with Catholics either, even though they had a dislike for the church in general. What did happen occasionally is that when a region got a new Lord everybody had to change their denomination, too. Dunno if that's it... What I'm saying is that today Bavaria is then biggest, wealthiest and most influencing state of Germany and they are 98% Catholic. So maybe that's what they're referring to?

At any rate, they're full of crap. I just finished reading the anti-gay ones (Doom Town and Sin City) and I have a headache. The anti-Dungeon & Dragon one is very odd too... (Dark Dungeon)

From:

Actually, Nazi Germany did have a problem with Catholics, and many were persecuted. It was a protestant German thing, and this is what I am talking about. When I say "persecuted," I mostly mean thrown out of the country, not taken to death camps, it's not like what happened to Jewish/gay/gypsy/politically conscious Germans at the time, which was much worse.

Yeah, the gay ones are definitely very bad, I think the whole "God has cursed these African nations" really got to me more than most of it, on top of the suicide, teenagers-think-hell-is-one-big-party thing. The gay ones, while theoretically more offensive, well, I think I have just gotten used to it because America is how it is, people bashing me for that reason is just so normal now. Roar.

From:

This is the first time I'm hearing this. I've studied quite a bit about German history (that's kinda a given since I grew up there ^_^;;;) and all I know is that the Nazi regime had a general problem with the church, but let them be mainly. Some Lutheran priests went to death camps to comfort their people and died along with them, like Bonhoeffer for example. The Catholic church was frowned upon for years because they kept so quiet during the Third Reich and I think last year or so they issued an official apology. I'm really interested, can you tell me some concrete examples, so I can research on it?

And yeah, I know what you mean. The gay one is nothing new, really. But it still annoys me. How they manipulate the reader with cheap tricks of imagery. The "good Christians" always look like fair angels with pretty faces and perfect hair, and the "bad ones" always have crazy eyes and mean expressions on their faces. And the image composition and so on... this is just so manipulative. What's really getting to me is how these booklets seem to react to comtemporary reasoning. Like I absolutely believe the Sodom and Gomorrah bit is not about homosexuality but inhospitality and then the booklet actually says how this isn't true. So, to a doubting reader this might change their view again. And the Allah one gives pseudo-scientific evidence, including citing sources (never mind the fact that they cite their own books). So it always sounds somewhat plausible. With the exception of the evolution one which I have read three times so far and I still don't understand the reasoning at some parts... ^_^;;;

From:

There are things you here, growing up Catholic, that may or may not be true. So quite frankly, it could all be lies, but it is very agreed upon among my other Catholic born friends. So, I can't give you any examples, and I wouldn't hesitate to say that it may all just be lies that they tell us.

From:

othersideofthis

Jack Chick and his stupid tracts represent absolutely everything that is wrong with Christianity.

*kicks close-minded, arrogant Christians*

Bah!

From:

Do you know anything about this dude? And where does the word "tract" come from? I'm curious now!

From:

nortylak.livejournal.com

That absolutely freaked me out.

From:

Tell me about it... this is just so sad.

From:

nortylak.livejournal.com

Do you know if they target that specifically at children?

From:

No, I know nothing about those people at all. Been wondering for years. But seeing the other booklets there are I think they target everyone.

From:

This is a Jehovah's Witness site, right? they don't just come and say it, which is annoying. A friend of mine left home when she was sixteen after she confessed to her parents, who are Jehovah's Witnesses, that she was NOT a JW. Well...they couldn't live in the same house anymore. She felt so alienated from her own family by their religious beliefs that she had to leave. That doesn't seem like a good kind of religion to me. *shrugs*

From:

I have NO freaking clue who those people are! Somehow I don't think they're JW. They'd teach slightly different things and there's no booklet about the blood and organ donation issue, I believe. Or do you know it for sure? I really wish I knew who those people are.

And yeah, I know what you mean. I have many friends who had to leave their families because it was impossible to live with them any longer. A friend was outed to his family and they completely cut him off from everybody he knew, totally removing him from their life. That's just so sad... Our neighbors were JW. They were very nice and they never tried to convert us, but it was just very strange. They always had their gathering in their garden and I remember that their son married a girl that we had never seen before in our whole life and she couldn't even speak German and later we heard they just were paired off by their community...

From: (Anonymous)

Whoever those people are, they're certainly not JW. There are several things in their statement of faith that contradict what JW believe. Like, they clearly say that Jesus died on a stake, NOT a cross. They also don't believe that the church is nowadays the 'body of Jesus'.

The pairing people off through their community, I've actually never heard about anything like that while I was there or later. But many things happen there under the cloak of faith that others don't know about, and if, it's never talked about anyway.
Well.

Just stating those crazy people aren't the crazy JW's.

From:

Yeah, that's what I thought. It didn't sound like the JW at all from what I know (even though my knowledge is very limited, I've only argued with my neighbors and a friend a bit).

I've never heard of the pairing off bit before that either. Or let's say, after that, since I was 13 or so when they married, but we've talked with them a bunch of times and at some point they let it slip. Plus, I knew Harold pretty well and before that he'd never as much as dated anyone. I remember when his future wife arrived for the first time. It must have been the first time, because the car pulled into the driveway and she got out (she was very beautiful) and Harold went up to her and shook her hand very shyly. Don't think he knew her. And shortly after that they already arranged the marriage! Unless it was love at first sight, this is rather dubious...

From: (Anonymous)

If they say it was arranged then I don't doubt it was, but it isn't the general way of finding a partner among JW. So much shit happening, makes me so angry...

From:

I just thought they were JW because they kept talking about "witnessing" to people and ways to do it...also the huge focus on the devil and the dangers of the occult...well, they're not Catholics, obviously, since they keep talking about saving them.

I had a friend who came out to his Mormon family right after our high school graduation. The sad thing is that he had always been really devout and involved in his church, and when he couldn't deny to himself any longer that he was gay, he realized his church and his family wouldn't support him. He was already booked to go on a two year missionary trip to London, and now he didn't want to go there and spend two years promoting an organization that didn't even support him. After he came out ot his family, they told him if he didn't go on the missionary trip, they would disown him. :-(

From:

Actually, I think they're Evangelists. "How to turn Halloween into a night of Evangelism." O_o;;;

From:

Oooh, yeah, look at this (http://www.chick.com/bc/2002/culture.asp)

From:

eaeelil.livejournal.com

i just read the ones abuot Witches, gays, & D&D.... oh man, they are the ones that need help. If thats what a christion really is, i'm glad i'm gay, a witch, & play D&D. & yes, i'm now officaly freaked as well Silver o.o;;;

From: