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kevinbolk — My Time As A _____ist/ian
Published: 2013-09-25 19:44:38 +0000 UTC; Views: 35412; Favourites: 1354; Downloads: 100
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Read more "I'm My Own Mascot" here: www.kevinbolk.com/comic/mascot…This is me (and a lot of other folks, I imagine) in just about every belief system, political affiliation, and social movement I've ever found myself allied with.
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Comments: 263
That's a big gripe many people have with religions.
Unfortunately, in the case of religion, it's all or nothing. Religion isn't a cafeteria you can pick and choose based on your personal comforts. Religion usually requires self-sacrifice of a few personal comforts.
It's a lot like a recipe, you can't call a triple-chocolate cake a "cake" if you don't put in the eggs just because you don't like them, or skimp on the flour because you don't feel comfortable with the recipe's amount of flour. It's not a triple-chocolate cake then, it's something else entirely. And it won't work without all that the recipe calls for.
(unlike recipes there aren't really substitute ingredients)
In today's world that emphasizes personal comfort, choice and ease, and immediate gratification, people can't wrap their minds around a system that requires you to give up temporary comfort for long-term satisfaction. A flip-flop society can't understand the "stand your grounds" all-or-nothing of religious beliefs. Religion is not and really cannot be a pick-and-choose or else it falls apart and you get extremism from people picking and choosing what supports their personal views while discarding anything that contradicts them. That's the core of religious strife, really. It's people picking and choosing, and choosing their personal pride of arrogance (there are different kinds of pride, arrogant pride is the bad rash kind) and discarding the facets of the faith that would otherwise inhibit their actions from hurting others.
"Don't judge something by those who don't practice it, but by those who DO and those who do it PROPERLY."
Although, I have to agree on the end point of this comic, some people are too vehement towards others who differ. I don't know about other faiths and their philosophies on "outsiders" but I do know that the Catholic faith frowns on such flogging. But, there are too many people who love to feel superior and will attack difference. That's not true to the Catholic faith, that's human fallacy, which can never really be avoided. It really should never be part of any system, but it is, since it's humans.
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On the note of religion: No, you can pick and choose. Because it doesn't make too much sense too take everything as the same... I mean. Look at Christianity. The bible was written by many different people, who added there own things, and such. Each one of them talked about what they thought jesus's messages was, or there idea of morality.
The common theme between them....None, there is none. If you took several stories from several different religions and put them into one, you probably have a hard time picking out which one's which (Save from popular stories and versus). The fact there are many sections of Christianity already that try to desifer what the bible says, and its many meanings.
The people who formed the religion arn't perfect, and there are a few CORE value's that should be kept in mind in each one. The bible is very clear on a few things. But everything else is simply filler that everyone contributed too that has vague since of morality.
Everyone is free to interpret things how they see it. If the relgion itself can't find a set ground, why does anyone have too follow "all or nothing"
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All I see here is very common misunderstanding.
Yes, there are different viewpoints but if you read deeper than just surface value, everything is interconnected. There are common themes all throughout the Bible, mirrored over years and years.
The Church and its Sacred Tradition offer the true way to interpret the Bible. The Catholic Church is the source of the Bible after all, despite what people want to believe. To put it metaphorically, the Bible is a complex power tool with multiple functions. The Church and Sacred Tradition are the user manual. People want to use the tool as they please, but unless you follow the manual, you're going to screw something up or miss a useful setting.
The many sects of Christianity are the result of human pride, people wanting to say "Oh I believe in (ex: the dvinity of Christ) but I don't feel comfortable with (ex: his literal flesh and blood)". Well, unfortunately, that happened, and picking and choosing isn't quite an option. With religion, it's not as simple as you're trying to make it out to be.
Big example is abortion. Many people want to be Catholic, but also want to support abortion. But you can't do that, because Catholicism itself, in its core values, is very stalwartly opposed to abortion. But people want that "cafeteria" of convenience, they want the benefits of belonging without taking it seriously. "If you're not part of the answer, you're part of the problem" as they say. If you're not going to support the whole thing, you're a weak link, even if you pray 100 times a day and donate to charities and all that.
The bible was written by many different people, yes, but that's not an excuse. The Church has spent hundreds of years cross-referencing and researching and studying the books, and there were many books that were put forth for consideration but ultimately were scrapped. They may be different viewpoints but they all convey the same messages. They are meant to be read and interpreted a certain way, and the division of the sects comes from people trying to interpret for themselves. You can read the Bible in innumerable different ways and come out with vastly different meanings, that's the whole point of the Church and Tradition. It was meant to be interpreted a certain way, not a free-for-all, and the Church gives us that interpretation guideline.
Think of it this way. Our teacher gave us an example sentence: "I never said you stole money". Depending on what word(s) you put emphasis on, the entire meaning completely changes.
"I never said you stole money." - implies someone else said it.
"I never said you stole money." - changes the above definition, someone else implied the theft through means other than spoken/written word.
"I never said you stole money." - referring to yourself and stating an absolute.
"I never said you stole money." - means you said someone stole, but it wasn't the person you are speaking to.
"I never said you stole money." - now the addressee has stolen something but it wasn't money.
With the pick-and-choose attitude, the entire meaning changes and becomes contrary to the original intention of the faith. All the facets of Catholicism are interconnected and to abandon some means you weaken the structure as a whole. Kind of like the foundation of a building.
Thats about all I have for this discussion, I'm sorry. I'm not very good at debates or discussions and they tend to stress me out 
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I just don't get it. I'll go out and say that I'm not technically Christian Anymore. At least not by common definition. I liked the things that Jesus did, and honestly believed he did talk to god and was a very holy man. I just don't really believe in the rest of the bible as a whole. It just never made sense to me why the Bible means so much.
CHRISTianity should be about Jesus. What would Jesus do. That's the important part. Everything else in my mind, even as far back as when I was Christian was children stories of morality. For the longest time that's what I believed. But I was told I wasn't a christian then. Even though I was exactly the same as all of his followers. Wanting to follow in HIS example.
There are some versus in the bible that I like yes. But there are a lot I don't like. Why? Because it was written back in an archaic time, when owning slaves was the norm and women were property. God didn't WRITE anything about that. It was people telling good morals OF THE TIME.
Time's change. And we find out that women are people too, and NOT property. Slavery is wrong. And other lessons like that. Saying you have to believe in the whole thing...well. Better go fight for Slavery then. Bible said you have the right to own a slave... or wait..?
Is that wrong? Because... Bible says so. All or nothing. No choice. So go. Go fight for slavery.
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That was the Old Testament. The New Testament added on and gave grounds to fight against slavery and gender oppression. At surface value, yes, all you're going to see is bad stuff, but you have to read it deeper and you'll see connections between things. Metaphor: It's like a computer, at surface value all you see is a box with parts that plays games and music and videos, but if you get to know it deeper everything starts to connect and there's a whole lot more than just word processing and iTunes.
Don't debate if you're going to cop an attitude like you did at the end there. I'm not attacking you, I'm just giving what I know and correcting a misconception, at no point were there really any grounds to pull an attack statement like you did. I don't fight for slavery and I don't appreciate such an underhanded attempt to have the final say. Makes you look like a dick, in which there's no point bothering with you anymore. If you're going to reply, be more mature please.
God bless.
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yeah. Your right. That was immature of me. And I'm sorry for that. I did get kind of angry. So..yeah, I apologize.
But the point still stands. how can there be a New Testament, if your supposed to be ALL or Nothing. For you to be able too add or change something, someone has to find something wrong with the original. If there was something wrong with the original, then that says the Bible was never perfect.
Now, if you can acknowledge the bible was imperfect back when the saints that knew Jesus wrote it. How is the new one any more perfect? Yes. They did do away with a lot of the stuff that was quiet awful, but how do we know it did away with everything wrong?
For there to be a New Testement, SOMEONE had to go. "This is wrong". Someone had to not be in it for "All or nothing" in order to change it.
All or Nothing is a very dangerous attitude. That has caused lots and lots of problems. And that is why I got angry. People used to support slavery because of an "All or Nothing" Attitude. Because to them. If slavery is wrong, then so is all of the bible.
Were getting that a lot now today. People pushing the "All or Nothing" Attitude. Gays are wrong. Abortion is a sin. So many things like that.
The bible was allowed to add a New Testament, whats stopping them from adding another? Fighting against other unfair oppression that common belief is holding too today.
All I'm seeing is a contradiction. "You have to believe either all or None of the Bible" ... "But the bible can be changed". Those two are incompatible ideas. Either your in "All or Nothing". Or, the New Testament doesn't apply. Because the people who wrote it weren't in "All or Nothing"
And if it does apply. And there were people in the past allowed to differ from the old teachings. Then why doesn't everyone have the same right now? And if your arguement is times change. Then your right. They do.
You don't have to share the same attitude. You don't have to go with everyone else's beliefs, especially if there minor. You said it yourself, there is a lot in the bible that connects in a deep and meaningful manor. And those are the important parts. Not the superficial things that people only believe because the Bible says so.
The core things in the Bible matter. The 10 commandments, Jesus's Teachings. Things like that, yes. Those are key parts to the Bible and not believing them would not make you a christian. But, the rest?
My closing argument is that, The All or Nothing Attitude is something we should be avoiding. And it actually makes me very angry thinking about sometimes. The end of my last post was because I started getting steamed thinking about it. How people used your same exact argument to push slavery. To say why it was right, and how not believing in it is a sin and you'll burn in hell if you try to fight against it.
Instead of holding every tradition in a belief, we should celebrate only the ones that make life better. Celebrate the CORE ideas, and ignore those that are obviously oppressive or negative.
Christianity had enough since too correct its mistakes in the past. But that doesn't mean every mistake is still fixed. To say that that none of Christianity matters if you disagree on a superficial thing, is losing sight of what the base of the belief is.
Worry about why the belief was formed, why it was made, and stop worrying so much about the small things. Every Religion has a lot of deep meanings and many can hold much significance. Don't tell them there not a true believer because someone says they think Gays should be married. Because that quiet honestly seems very counter productive of the entirety of the Belief itself.
And that holds true with all beliefs.
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May I inquire if you are Christian?
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Depends on your definition. Did I like the things Jesus did and want to follow in his example? Yes. Do I believe in 85% of the bible? No.
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Why not? I heard others say the same thing.
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Have been there often. And when you wanna go deeper into stuff, they sooo get rude o3o at least here.
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At the very least, you can have fun replacing the _____ with the silliest word imaginable
Hagloooberblurbleflurplevoopidoobidooists are the best belief system ever
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This is so amazingly accurate
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awww. you look so cute with the cookie. Adorable dude.
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I have this hilarious mental image of the sock puppet giving you a beating, which would basically be him head-butting you.
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or this: www.youtube.com/watch?feature=…
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YES! This is the naked TRUTH! You've hitted the right spot.
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Yepp.
I was raised as a _____ian and anything different I do from my family they treat like a slap in the face towards them. -_- Frustrating.
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I like the puppet's curroption.
keep him
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i founded the order of the headless chicken. first of all, i am what i eat. second, i used to be part of the flock with a good head on my shoulders, then due to the actions of someone stupid with a superiority complex, i lost my mind and i now do whatever the hell i feel like for no good reason at all!
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This is pretty much how it goes. I have found myself in that situation.
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This situations seems so familiar...
Oh, I know, it was last week when that escaped mental patient was crouching down at crotch-level and talking to me by way of a sock puppet with ping-pong-balls for eyes.
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I'm a proud Blankian. I vehemently agree with everything I believe in!
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All the "isms" out there leave many a person butthurt. Neat comic.
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One of your better politico/socio strips.
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and this is why I refuse to associate with groups
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Pretty much everyone in a nutshell I suppose.
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This is probably why I don't like labeling, just, in general. I'd rather be my own person and believe in what I choose to believe, and not be roped into what a lot of other people generally believe.
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If you were to release that shirt in real life, do you think the text would swap between sections of conversation too?
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lol. I see your point. i'swhy I always try to explain my belief's solution the problem to people who don't understand or don't support it instead of just berating them for disagreeing. :/ I find logic and reasonable explanations win more people that way.
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I need a shirt that says "________ist/ian"
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some days. Except most of 'them' would have a hard time trying to tan my backside
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agreed.
it's funny 'cause it's true.
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It's funny, because despite what everyone says, literally all the churches I've been a member of has show to be very friendly and welcoming to strangers no matter what they believe. My last church, despite their conservative lifestyle, worked very hard and gave multiple bible studies to a transsexual person, and he felt very welcome there, even knowing that the members did not approve of that he is doing.
A church that is genuinely following Biblical principles never excludes outsiders; they always "hate the sin, but love the sinner."
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