[Sinfest] Appalachia II
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The "Rabbi Hole" arc is freaking high art. Even if I might not personally agree with the ultimate anti-Christian, pro-pagan message that series is an amazing narrative and really deserves to be a graphic novel (that no corporate store would ever dare carry).
And I really want this Ben Shapiro action figure: https://sinfest.xyz/view.php?date=2024-02-25
I can understand why he wrote it that way. The whole "Judeo-Christian" concept has left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. It seems like the Pharisees and their holier-than-thou, rules-lawyering, shady nonsense are the ones in charge, and they've been using Christianity as the whitewash for their tombs, so to speak. Now the smell is too strong to ignore, and we're stuck with it.
That's probably quite wrong, and the criticism is probably more along the lines of Nietzsche decrying Christianity as a religion that worships weakness, and promotes slave morality, placing agency outside of the self.
I don't necessarily agree with Nietzsche's interpretation, though I get what he's aiming for, but the solution is probably not to return to a simple "might makes right" morality where you should kill anyone who challenges you, and enrich yourself with the enslavement of anyone who can't stop you, which is where a lot of that mindset inevitably leads, as aptly demonstrated in The Melian Dialogue, when that mindset was already the norm, and spooked the Athenians on just how fucking psychotic it really was. All you have to do is listen to the English recounting the Viking raids to understand how Norse morality might actually be a level of wicked that would probably deserve it's destruction and ruination.
It's an evil, twisted, warped version of Christianity, to encourage weakness and promote self-flagellation.
We are called to care for the sick and the weak. But how are we to do that if we are downtrodden ourselves? Our culture has turned victimhood into a virtue. But that's the subversion at work, taking advantage of the charity we are instructed to provide to those who cannot. Not to those who will not.
We were called to be as gentle as doves, but also as shrewd as serpents. It's easy for the feel-good gospel gang to warp this mandate into creating a flock of doves as prey for their machinations. Indeed, it's super MEAN and BIGOTED to be observant and judge things as they are. The Bible says don't judge, doesn't it? Actually, it says to judge not, for you will also be judged. It's a reminder that we're all fallen and equally in need of saving. Not that sin should be ignored because we're all sinners so that makes it okay.
And repentance. We're not supposed to wallow in our failings and let them shackle us. We're supposed to admit to them and improve. Go and sin no more, as our Teacher put it. Some of the greatest heroes of the Bible were horrific sinners. David, the man after God's Own Heart, was also a lustful adulterer and conspiratorial murderer. It was his contrition and repentance that let him move on and recover from his terrible stumbling. Who do you trust more? The man who admits his faults and owns up to them, or the man who insists there's nothing wrong with him and everything wrong is everyone else's fault?
The problem we have is that Christianity, what it's actually supposed to be, has been supplanted culturally with a theme-park facsimile of itself. A literal strawman to be toppled over at will by the usual suspects. Containing just enough truth to sell the lie and inoculate society from the actual truths that our culture was built on.
Yeah, I don't disagree with any of this. It seems that the best way to call it out is to point out that these are all Leftist heresies that are hell bent on destroying Christendom.
It's interesting to compare and contrast Christianity and Islam.
Christianity originated when its founder, a religious reformer, was killed.
Islam originated when its founder, a religious reformer (and self-proclaimed prophet), died of natural causes after having united almost all the Arab peoples into one hell of a fighting force that quickly conquered most of the world from Spain to China.
Jesus' messaging includes statements like "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's...." This is a reminder that early Christians were persecuted by the Jewish rules and later, to some degree, Romans (though Roman persecution is way overhyped). Many Christians have a mentality of identifying with the downtrodden, the persecuted, those outside of power, etc.
Islam, to the contrary, does not have this same emphasis on self-preservation in the face of hostile political or religious organizations. Islam, during the time of Muhammad, militarily defeated his opposition! Thus some of the gravest crimes in Islam are related to apostasy and turning away from Islam (historically apostasy was a death penalty crime, and it still is today in some countries).
Without getting too long winded, yeah, I think there's an old strain of Christianity that DOES focus on the "turn the other cheek" (and not the rest of the quote), the "render unto Caesars" and the "blessed are the poors."
And, to be fair, Islam and Christianity share an awful lot in common in terms of moral teaching. THere's a big emphasis on charity, helping the downtrodden, etc.
You think Christian morality was any better when it came to pillaging, raping and murdering? Especially when it came to heresy? At least the Vikings were honest and didn't pretend to be holier than thou while committing atrocities.
Unironically yes.
Where you see raping and pillaging, you see a catholic priest typically behind making post hoc rationalizations why it's totes okay this time. For Protestants, it would be the king explicitly doing the same thing after he's seized control of the church or declared himself the sole representative of God.
For the Norse, it was standard, it was common place, and it was moral to do so without justification.
I wouldn't call it art. If you're gonna push political messaging, at the very least, allow for some kind of appearance of artistic storytelling, metaphor, and interpretation. Otherwise, it's a lecture.
As the comic stands, that lecture is subtle, so long as you spelled subtlety, like this.