ArtieShaw

a very literal interpretation

This is literally what Christian fundamentalists believe. If any aspect of the bible is not the literal truth, it all falls apart in their eyes. They are very absolutist.

And it’s not just Genesis.

“But translations…” Hahaha no. It varies by sect but it usually falls under either “our religious founder was guided by God to the true translation” or “The King James version was a work of revelation and it undid all the false translations introduced by the Romans and Greeks.”

“But it contradicts itself on key points.” No it doesn’t.

“Hey, maybe Lazarus was just in a coma” Get behind me, Satan.

There is no argument that hasn’t been heard and rejected. Disagreement is an attack.

I will reply not with my own view, but of the person who is most likely the author if this tract: Jack Chick. “Catholics are not Christians.”

Absurd, you say? Of course, and I agree that it’s absurd.

In the US there are two broad categories of people who would disagree.

1. Old school bigots, many of whom came from immigrant families and wanted to align with the ruling class in America: WASPs. These were generally families who came from northwestern Europe and Scandinavia. (This describes the oldest members of my own family, who are still scandalized that my uncle married a woman from an Italian family in the 1960s).
2. Fundamentalist Protestants. There are a thousand different flavors, so it’s hard to give them a single name. They agree that the bible is the literal word of God and that Catholicism is fundamentally flawed - as is any religion that stresses the need to “do unto others” in any significant fashion. “The only way to heaven is through me,” said Jesus. In other words, if you’re a serial killer but you truly believe in Jesus Christ and have pledged your soul to him - well, Jesus must have a good reason for all that serial killing you did. (This describes my in-laws, so yes - my entire family is fucked up).

The serial killing thing is a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly - these people are almost shockingly mean to each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract

This was extremely well said. My in-laws adhere to one of these high control (fundie) sects, so I have an enlightening and disquieting inside look at it.

One of my nephews dreamed of becoming a marine biologist from an early age. And even as he got older he never wavered. We privately wondered what was going to happen when he got old enough to realize that he would need to attend a school that taught actual math and science for that to become a reality.

He’s currently studying to become a nurse at a Christian College. He’s safe from forbidden ideas, but he’ll blend well into the alternate parallel economy favored by the people at his church. In addition to social isolation from non-believers, they prefer to do business with companies run by people from their own or an affiliated church.

The parallel economy still unnerves me for some reason. Learning about Christian Health Insurance was an eye-opener.

It looks like a Chick Tract, and these panels would be part of a larger work. They’re dumb, but completely serious. Popular with fundies, and if you’re not careful you might find one on your desk at work. (I have, lol).

There is definitely an anti-Catholic sentiment in some of them, so that’s probably what the frame in the first clip is getting at.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract

In the US they were definitely out of fashion in the '80s and '90s. They were fashion statement that said “I’m a gross hippie” or worse, a BeeGee.

I was a teen at the time and the consensus among teen girls was that a beard was the ultimate dealbreaker of a physical attribute. Makes sense, really, because most guys our age couldn’t grow a nice one if they wanted to. (And also - hippies are gross). I always respectfully disagreed, and would point to our classmate, Murad. He had pretty well grown facial hair by junior year and he looked fiiiinne.

The exception that proved the rule? Luckily (for Murad) my classmates generally agreed, but refused to back down from their opinion in general.

That attitude persisted, with the occasional appearance of a goatee or soul patch in the late '90s, both of which proved to be a gateway drug that led to the appearance of proper beards. I think a lot of guys would have liked to have beards, but realized that they were driving away potential partners. But they were pretty normal by 2010.

I’ll drop this line from wikipedia, which should illustrate just how boringly mainstream beards have become in the US.

Since 2015 a growing number of male political figures have worn beards in office, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton.

Damn hippies.

I have an at-home laser hair removal gun. It works best on dark hair and very pale skin because it uses the absorption of UV light to heat and kill the hair. It has a safety feature that makes you validate that “my skin is pale enough to use this” before it will turn on because it will burn anything dark. Hair, skin, whatever.

It won’t work on blond or white hair, and there’s no real workaround to that. Electrolysis is an option for light colored hair, but I think that’s more invasive. Not an option for me, so I haven’t looked into it.

Glad you saw it! I skipped travelling for it in 2017 because the weather forecast was so dismal.

Southwest Ohio got lucky this year.

It’s lovely. We watched from our backyard. And I know my strength is not photography, so thanks for this.

It’s hard to describe “it looks like non-directional sunset but there’s a deeply uncool eye in the sky.”

Twenty years ago my grandmother was dying of old age. She didn’t have any specific disease or diagnosis. She was just 92 and her body was shutting down. Whenever she was hospitalized for general organ failure they would give her a blood infusion and she would rebound.

Yes, everyone in the family made the same grim vampire jokes.

No one asked for her to receive this treatment, and she was definitely not well off financially. Her treatment was entirely driven by the medical staff. The only money being collected was through Medicare.

In retrospect, I’m more than half-way wondering if they were collecting data.

7:07am. Milan.

I’m woken by two texts from my coworker. “Thought we were meeting in the lobby at 7:00. Heading to the train station.”

The train leaves at 7:20. “Well I can’t…” or can I?

Clothes on. Glasses on. All toiletries swept into purse. I run like hell.

There’s a pedestrian underpass, but I Frogger across the road and through the square. I’m in the station with a minute to spare and I’m still somehow running. My shoes are shabby Converse and the floor is polished marble. And I’m 45.

Things are going as ok as any of that can be until I have that out of body moment when I know my foot to forward motion ratio is incompatible with staying upright.

I lunged into the fall, made an extremely satisfying “splat” sound, and skidded several horizontal meters on the marble floor. Two or more nicely dressed Italians look at me in horror, but I’m not physically hurt. Big smile. I thought about Mary Catherine Gallagher-ing it with a victory pose, but just got up and kept running.

Made the train as it was pulling out, brushed hair/teeth once i caught my breath. Moved to the correct train car at the next stop, and met up with my colleague.

We had a nice day trip and the waiter was horrified at how much wine we drank at lunch.

Is “going back to school” a thing in Germany? From what I know about that education system I’m guessing not, but in the US that’s a standard answer.

“I want to move to be closer to my aging parents.” - might work. If you haven’t shared much about your life, it’s an easy lie. And it’s dull and depressing, so the odds of followup questions are slim. I hear it a lot when interviewing job candidates in our area.

Indeed. Too real.