Gospel Persuasion Force?

[richardf8]

For a while, I've been reading Jeff Darlington's General Protection Fault waiting for something to happen. Nothing has, for a while. However the current story, Providence, is irritating me immensely by reading rather like a Chick Tract. Ubervillainness Trudy has gotten severly injured in a fight with Law Enforcement, and an Indian Doctor who is an enthusiastic convert to Christianity found her and took her in. While in his care, she tried to kill herself, and he has been "witnessing" to her pretty much since then.

Now I would be content to say that this is a character acting according to his nature, and ride with it, except for this: Jeff has been providing notes on which Bible Verses are used (I suppose it's not a bad idea to cite your sources, especially since he use NIV and no one wants to be sued for plagiarism by Zondervan) and (what pushes me over the edge) critiques of his character's choice of verses for whatever challenge Trudy is presenting at the moment.

I suppose that if you have a wildly popular web-comic, it is your privilege to use it as a pulpit for evangelism. However, if you do so, you may find yourself in possession of a somewhat less wildly popular web-comic. Every web-cartoonist I know expresses their beliefs through their art. It's one of the POINTS of doing this sort of thing. But whereas, for the most part, we work in fable and parable, Jeff has chosen to make a bee-line for a tract format wherein the "hero" pummels the "poor lost soul" with bible verses, and then presents her a bible so that she can come around.

If it weren't for Jeff's running glosses, I would be waiting to see how this setup ends up being subverted (perhaps with a Future Trudy ruling over a Taliban-Like Christian Theocracy, and Akhilesh repenting ever bringing the Gospel to one who would abuse it so badly), but those glosses make it seem to me that Akhilesh's project in seeking new converts is Jeff's as well.

Comments

[kevinjdog.livejournal.com]

Wow.

I hadn't followed GPF for a while. Peculiarly enough, over a week ago, I saw the bit about Trudy being saved by an Indian "Samaritan" and thought, "Oh, it'll take me forever to get caught up" and procrastinated for a bit, maybe waiting for the next book.

I agree about the running annotations. If it were fully a character thing, Jeff might have put a commentary in the forums maybe citing chapter and verse., after, perhaps, someone had asked. But the annotations have turned it into a theological seminar. It somehow reminds me of those Christian "Archie" comics I used to read when I was in private school. Entertainment was a subterfuge for conversion.

Like you say, this is Jeff's privilege. Chances are, Christians and the indifferent will be satisfied, but those who aren't either might be put off. Jeff has pulled the rug out from certain expectations before (he sort of lost me when Fooker was revealed to be a secret agent) but this might have a worse effect, as it would appear that seven years of story and characterization have led up to the "real" point. And I think that's when the people who are satisfied and don't like to be made wrong for their lifestyle choices feel betrayed.

The reason why I don't have every character bow down to Alistair in my strip and say "Goodness, that cat makes a lot of sense!" (not to mention have Alistair speak the truth more) is because, frankly, it doesn't make for a re-readable comic. Preaching really is only something you can do once. The second time you're preached to on the same topic, it gets tiresome.

I checked the forum and I'm surprised this hasn't polarized his audience more. I posted a harmless joke about SB and God (http://p200.ezboard.com/fspocksbeardfrm9.showMessage?topicID=888.topic) in another forum and I had people nearly rip my throat out. (To be fair, too, some people came to my defense and realized it was just a silly joke.) Religion creates such a visceral reaction in people. I don't like to be preached to, but having three of my favorite bands go through "Christian" stages has made me just cope with it. They want to say it, and it's their right to. I won't stop them, but I've heard it all before, and I've already decided on where I'm going.

[richardf8]

I checked the forum and I'm surprised this hasn't polarized his audience more.

Well, I've chosen to express my irritation here rather than there for a coupla reasons. Jeff's fans are fiercely protective of him. Doesn't matter that I've been reading his comic for 5 years, if I bitch about it I'll get about 30 variations on the theme of "you're perfectly free not to read it, but don't bother us with your negativity."

I also don't really care to open a hornets nest over there. If he wants to do missionary work, I can treat him as I would any other missionary, and turn away. After all I know my path too.

I have some countermissionary work I want to do, but it ain't gonna happen in Cat-Tharsis. I have my own growing irritation with Jews for Jesus, and other "Messianic" congregations, and the countermissionary tracts from Jews for Judaism are either too wordy or too lame. So I'm thinking of doing a Chick style something-or-other designed to give Jews targeted by these organizations (mostly Russian immigrants with very little Jewish education) tools for fending off such attacks.

[bluerain.livejournal.com]

To paraphrase Hank Hill:

"Don't you see? You're not making Christianity better. You're just making webcomics worse."

[kevinjdog.livejournal.com]

Kind of like the rebuttals and counterarguments that Democratic bloggers gave to counter Republican talking points. I think that's pretty wise.

[kevinjdog.livejournal.com]

I had another thought. He could be setting up a Trudy theocracy, because I think, IIRC, there's some biblical precedent for the hypocrites talking over the world in the name of religion. Unfortunately I think the considered solution is somewhat unpleasant, but don't quote me on that. It's been a while since I read the NT.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

GPF has never been my kind of comic (tho I read it during the K&K crossover), so I can't judge. At least it sounds like he isn't preaching the ubernegative way, which is more than I can say for Jack "Fill-in-the-Blank Is Evil" Chick.

My great interest in comics will always have me toy, if not eventually go thru, with the idea of making a series for the public. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how well I can express myself without annoying readers. I'd surely show a few characters to be Catholic, tho not pressing the point week after week. I'd do my best to keep things funny, and at no denomination's expense. And there would be no unambiguous divine intervention like in "B.C." Making up miracles is one cheap way to evangelize.

[timtylor.livejournal.com]

Powerful religeous hypocrisy is pretty much a running theme in the Gospels. J of N got pretty PO'd with the priestly Powers That Be. And of course his quote-unquote followers have provided many rich and varied examples since. >:P

[timtylor.livejournal.com]

"B.C. Syndrome." :P

[timtylor.livejournal.com]

I'd guess the big danger in preaching from a strip is that you're taking something with a life and purpose of its own and using it as a means to an outside end. It would wreck Alistair to make him into a Voicebox Of Truth; he'd lose the foolish flaky side that's part of what makes him a great character with his own voice. To treat a character or a whole comic like that would be to say that it doesn't matter for itself any more; a pulpit only exists to be preached from, and if you kill a tree or a strip to make it then that's an acceptable sacrifice. Just expressing an opinion isn't the same thing; there's a difference between expressing an opinion and going out of your way to try and make it into your audience's opinion.