"As a former witch high priest now saved by Jesus"

That one is going on the resume.

Bah, Halloween is awesome. I love giving candy out to the little kids and meeting the single moms. As the Good Book says "You know that single moms put out".

Of course they should celebrate halloween! Should Chick judge or is he without sin enough to throw stones?

I don't get this one. Halloween to kids is trying to get a cooler costume than your friends and scoring free candy. Its not "supping" with the devil as this guy calls it.

"Or, to really get them excited, stock a tray with several different Chick tracts. (See suggested tracts.) When children arrive, place the tray in front of them and let them pick any two tracts. (Be sure to give them candy too.) Kids love receiving unique gifts, like cartoon tracts. And they love picking the ones they want. Your home could be their favorite stop of the night."

From the suggested ussage for chick tracts page...
Basically it says that if you buy a whole tray of Chick tracts, your home might be the highlight of the night for these kids. And all you have to do is send Chick $$$. If I was trick or treating and some adult pulled this junk on me, he or she might find their yards vandalized the next morning.

Boo

Ban X-mas (Pagan winter solistice celebration)
Ban Easter (Pagan spring celebrations)
and a couple more...

The Crimson King,

I think you misunderstand Chick's intentions. Obviously to him getting The Word out is of more importance than any financial gain he gets from his comic strips. I'm sure, knowing this, that he wouldn't mind at all if you just printed out a few thousand copies on your laser printer and distributed them.

Either that or he's a charlatan.

Of course they should celebrate halloween! Should Chick judge or is he without sin enough to throw stones?

Of course Chick should judge. He's obviously better than the average human being. Remember that fark article where Chick claimed the Catholic Church was taking over the world, that they supported killing jews in WW2, and even told the Axis to take over France?
Towards the end of it, Chick claimed that by publishing some comic book about this, Chick threw their timetable off by 5 years. Clearly Chick is smarter than the average human. Plus I'm sure Chick will accept all major credit cards when ordering his tracts.

Why does fark continue to publish Chick's garbage?

As Dido has pointed out, there really are no "christian" hollidays. All of the days celebrated by the majority of christians have their roots in pagan hollodays. ALL OF THEM. One of the main ways christianity spread during the middle ages was to incorporate the hollidays and rituals of the people they were converting. Where in the bible does it mention x-mass trees? Or Easter Eggs? As the my granny used to say, it looks like Chick will gag at a gnat and swallow a cammel.

Um...can we get a photoshop of Chick swallowing a camel?

For that matter, the entire foundations for which the Christian church is based (the death and resurrection of Christ, and Christ's divinity) may also be fraudulent. It's analysis is flawed in spots, and they jump to some mightly broad conclusions, but the book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a fascinating read. They present a case which is at least, pretty compelling.

Jack Chick... you ARE the dumbest ass. Good-bye.

Tostfeld: Yup, it's an iteresting book a the very least. The main problem is of course that the only reliable sources are probably in the Vatican vaults, and thus inaccessible...

And for those of us who call Halloween Samhain instead, lemme just be the first to wish all of you a happy, and blessed Samhain, and hope you all had a wonderful Mabon.

they used to sacrifice people for samhain - how cool a party is that

Cormee: well, I know some people I'd gladly sacrifice. And a party it would be indeed...

dido: oh yah. a party to remember =)

My kids get forced to trick or treat if they like it or not. Where else is Mom suppossed to get her year supply of chocolate?

Ok, something I'd like to point out :) (And yes I'm bored)

"As a former witch high priest now saved by Jesus"

The story was written in the first person, and the author's name was written "By William J. Schnoebelen".

Now, Merriam Websters says that a witch is:
1 : one that is credited with usually malignant supernatural powers; especially : a woman practicing usually black witchcraft often with the aid of a devil or familiar : SORCERESS -- compare WARLOCK

and it demands that I compare it to warlock, so here's the definition of a warlock:
1 : a man practicing the black arts : SORCERER -- compare WITCH


My point to all this?

<Falwell>
Jack Chick has been deceived! The writer of this article is a transexual practitioner of Satan's magic! Why, brothers and sisters, in the language of God, Schnoebelen means Soldier of Satan. Chick's soul has been corrupted and he will burn in hell! Come brothers and sisters, let us pray for the soul of Chick, let us cast out the demons that the evil creature William J. Schnoebelen has bound to his soul. </Falwell>

Tostfeld, where can I get that book? What's it about? I've heard about some theories that Christ didn't even exist, and I find it extremely interesting. I guess I'll look on Amazon.....

Deus: Full title is "The holy blood and the holy grail". Don't remember the authors... It is worth looking for though... Another title to look for, if you're interested: "The Templar Revelation", bit different approach, but also a great read.

Oh, and as for what it's about... to put it in a nutshell: It questions the very fundation of christianity by raising some very valid questions about the origins of the new testament (specifically the "editing" that has taken place) and presenting some nice evidence to go with some seemingly unlikely answers. You have to read it to appreciate it fully. I can tell you I've seen some real cynics getting almost convinced it must be true...

P.S. I know I'm answering the quetsions you posed for Tostfeld... hope you guys don't mind

Christ disappeared for many years. Many believe he traveled to the east and became a buddhist. To further support this theory, all of his "teachings" sounded just like that of a buddhist, buddhist monks were able to pull off *tricks* such as making water into wine and walking on water.

Of course, it is also interesting to note that the bible was written around 100 years after the events happened. Except for Armageddon, which noone knows who wrote it, when they wrote it, or when it was stuck into the bible.

The oldest known copy of the bible (probably from the vatican) was translated into English by Oxford, I think it was. But no matter... nowhere in this book do you see Jesus mention: Satan, Hell, or Heaven.

You can take away my autumnal pagan worship, but don't you dare touch my spring fertility rite, uhhh I mean easter.

The book is Holy Blood, Holy Grail, by Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln (IIRC). They wrote a sequel, the name of which escapes me at the moment. The historical speculations in Holy Blood are very interesting. However, the conclusions relating to the Priory of Sion are highly suspect.

HEATHEN! :P

Seriously, man... is it me, or is Chick aspiring to become Walt Disney for God? I mean, talk about yer finger pointing..."Catholics are wrong, holidays are wrong... the only thing you can do is read my comic books and get as many people as possible to read them too. That's how you get into heaven." WTF?

Doesn't the dude realize that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and should form the right one for them in their own time? Witnessing is door-to-door sales for faith. Quite frankly, I've got my own beliefs, thank you. I believe in boobies, playing loud music and laughing when I hear funny jokes.

Here's my 2 cents (skip ahead to blow off my rant altogether)...

When civilization first started, religion was used to create the foundations of society ("Fear the sun god, or you will be stricken down"). That threat was the only thing that kept Og and Ook from clubbing the fark out of each other, and laid down the groundwork for civilization. As we became more civilized and/or educated, we needed better reasons to keep the traditions going(particularly for the church's sake, no doubt, as they started to realize that they had quite the opportunity for income here).

Now in this era, people are more materialistic, and it's tougher to sell them on organized religion, because "faith" is asking someone to believe in things without any proof. It's so against what our culture expects from us at every other turn that few people buy into it. It seems that most which choose to do it are doing so simply for the sake of tradition.

To me (stress that part), the most fanatical religious people are those who are afraid to die. The most hardcore Christians appear to be people who are on Death Row and 'find God', substance abusers who nearly kill themselves, or people in their 70's and 80's who can barely drive that muster their way off to church every week, etc.... As human beings, we're vain and can't accept the possibility that when it's over, it's just over. This offers an "out" that is too comforting to pass up.

(Bonus points: Look at the Taliban. Their followers are gonna kill themselves big time during the next while, 'cause their uneducated asses don't see anything but death and desolation in their future. Telling them they'll get into heaven because they're furthering the 'holy cause' gives them a much better option than the shiat their in now, and the solid ass-kickin' they expect to come very soon).

I'm not claiming God doesn't exist, and I'm not even saying I'm Christian. But I see what Chick's got goin' on, and the "position of moral authority" thing he's got goin' on is kinda cheezy. If that's what he believes, fine. But come on... let the children have their freakin' candy and when they're 15, 16 etc., with a mouth full o' cavities, they'll be smart enough to start to figure out what they believe in.

In the words of Belma Buttons...

"And ya know I'm through!"

I'm impressed that Chick actually new Halloween was derived from the ancient Celtic "helliday", Samhain (pronounced by the Irish sow-in, the Welsh sow-een, and the Scotts sav-en). There probably were sacrifices made long ago, but after the Catholic church turned all of the pagan Celts into "Christians", Samhain took on some new meanings. Here is some interesting trivia:

1. The Celtic people felt, and still feel, that the day of Samhain is a time where the boundary between this world and the underworld was "thin". They felt that faeries and other spirits were allowed into this world that night. So, if you were brave enough to go out and about, it was wise to dress up like a demon so that they would not know you were a mortal (If they new they would take you back to the underworld with them, making you dead). This is how the custom of wearing costumes on Halloween came about.

2. Once the Celts were turned into Christians, it was thought that if you sat on the porch of the church (the "back porch", between the sanctuary and the graveyard), anyone you saw that didn't come through the sanctuary would die within the next year. This is because in ancient times Samhain was considered the time between the two seasons, winter and summer, sort of like a Celtic new year.

3. ...

I don't remember any other tidbits. I might look some up and post them this afternoon.

Brotherlove: Yeah, absolutely. But what is compelling about the book's hypothesis is that they aren't really all that far-fetched, ad they are based on logical principles. As a Rabbi, Christ would have been breaking a major taboo by not being married. The circumstances surrounding the "crucifixion" are highly suspect, at best. The list goes on. We all know the Bible was "edited" and many texts were removed, so taken in that light, the theories aren't that fantastic.

Hi, Just wanted to come out of Lurkdom to tell you that the sequel to "Holy blood, Holy grail" is called "The messianic legacy" I havent read it yet, though I do have a copy.
Bytheway Have a WONDERFUL Samhain! ;O)

We need to organize a fark attack on this scums website. Lets see if we can bring it down for a week.

Samhain's great and all, but I'm personally a big fan of Beltane....

3Horn

Nah DrDave, you gotta figure that we're probably already the biggest suckers of Chick's bandwidth. Maybe we should just have another PS Chick tracts thing.

3Horn

"Halloween is an occasion when the ancient gods (actually demons) are worshiped with human sacrifice."

Well actually no. The ancient Celts who actually celebrated Samhain and other pagan holidays (Beltane, Yule, etc.) never committed actual sacrifices. Anything of the sort was always symbolic, such as the burning of human-shaped wicker constructs. In fact, in all of documented history there is absolutely no proof that the Druids actually sacrificed anybody.

Once again William Schnoebelen proves that he has no idea what the fark he is talking about, regardless of what "experience" he had as a witch. If you ask me, he probably just had the misfortune of ending up in a coven with members who weren't too mentally stable to begin with. Of course, that is if he already isn't falsifying what actually occurred or gravely exaggerating to further his cause (which most bigoted, closed-minded people tend to do).

Classic Chick angel tossing with Happy Halloween:
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0032/0032_01.asp

Zrn'norg: Not that I want to agree with Chick here, but I am pretty sure I read some books on the Celts that spoke of those wicker men. You see they did burn big man-shaped wicker contstructs, but they would fill them up with people before they set them on fire.

Yes, Costume Play is the work of the devil.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


I rest my case.

Easter is Luthern i think, not pagan...

oh sweet mother of god that's disturbing

halloween, as you can see is year round for some.

"Chick or treat"


Friggen small minded loser........


Fundies are sad.

damn clergy

they just want to be the only ones allowed to dress up like ghosts

In his book, Lucifer Dethroned, author William Schnoebelen describes his search for spiritual power that led him on a journey from simple witchcraft to blood-lust vampirism that was only terminated years later by the cleansing blood of Jesus.

Looks like somebody done sucked on the wrong neck!

Seriously, they use blood lust as a bad thing, then turn around and support it. Lust for the blood of Jebus is still blood lust.

Chick is dumb.

Yeah, but the blood of Jeebus is wine, so they have a legitimate excuse for getting tanked...

3Horn

Mojo
I think the full lenght shot is called for:

Ack! A lot of female Cosplayers are bad enough, but the males? *shudder*

3Horn

Case after case has come to us of children in rebellion. In many of these families, the problem can be traced back to the children being exposed to Halloween at a young age.

And exactly how did they come to that conclusion! Hearsay! I declare shenanigans!

Tostfeld -- The material on the Priory of Sion in Holy Blood, Holy Grail is suspect -- I recall a TV show (on TLC or the Discovery Channel, I think) where they stated that the Sion material was basically invented by Pierre Plantard's dissolute aristocrat running buddy -- I don't remember his name, but he was mentioned in Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

Again, the material on the historical Jesus in HB, HG is interesting, but how trustworthy is it? One thing I've wondered about is the claim you mentioned, that when his Jewish comtemporaries addressed Jesus as "rabbi" implies that he had to have been married. Are there any Farkers reading this who can comment on the truth of this as a historical point of Judaic law?

Excuse me, "an historical"

BTW, as far as "reasons to get tanked" go, those pictures that MojoMonkey posted are definitely in the top ten.