*Sorry for the late strip! We’ve had to move servers and I wasn’t sure if I could post or not so I gave it a bit of time. The slow and often not even working sites (for both para-ten and HT) were a direct result of Happle Tea being visited so much by you awesome people, apparently. Coestar, the administrator and leader behind Xenostarz, where we were stationed had kindly let us hang out on his server but it was getting pretty rough and something had to be done. Hopefully our new home will be the solution and result in more pleasant trafficking on our sites. Thanks to Coestar for giving us a home for the last year, to Kyle Gibbons for giving us a new home, and to both of them for helping us move!*
Have you heard anything from God lately? It seems like that guy was a big deal for a while and then just sort of dropped off the radar. I wonder if he ever plans on getting back in the limelight.
It’s been a long time since I ever set foot in a church, much less Sunday School. I recall some awkward moments questioning the validity of the arguments presented and a reluctance to colour Jesus hung bleeding from the cross with brightly hued crayons. That somehow seemed more sacrilegious than anything I could say. How do you colour the greatest suffering ever inflicted on another human being, son of God or not?
That’s not to say that the focused laser of my eight year old mind was directed only at the Christian establishment. It was not and has never been. I think I was nine when I questioned my mother about the existence of Santa Claus. Does that make it okay? I sure hope it does.
But seriously, Christianity, as such, has never been a problem for me. I have, however, always found it difficult to reconcile the sort of willful blindness people have about their faith. Picking and choosing what to believe is nothing new with human beings, but it always seemed silly to me to call yourself part of an organization with a strict set of rules and tenets and then cherry pick what parts were important to you. Really, I wish people focused more on the good aspects of the Christian faith and followed Jesus’s teachings properly and with action. That’s something I haven’t got the willpower or inclination to do on a personal level and I deeply respect those that dedicate their lives to helping those less fortunate than themselves, in the name of Jesus, Zeus, or nobody at all.
I always wonder what these comics relating to God might mean to a deity of that caliber. How would they take them? Curiosity and humor are things built into us and if such a being exists, one hopes they are as forgiving as one has heard.
God doesn’t appreciate your humor bro. Sorry to break the bad news.
Jesus is on the fence though. I think you could still make a fan out of him.
Hahaha! Late comics be darned, I still laughed.
In the context of the comic, this is funny. Out of context, this comic rules.
lol i just have to agree on the comic.
“Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time!” G.C .
But He loves you. “
I think I want to tape record myself saying what you just wrote about faith, because it’s almost exactly the way I feel about Christianity, while being far more eloquent than I ever manage to be in discussion.
People never seem to believe me when I tell them I respect and even envy their ability to have faith in a religion.
i follow the dalai lama on twitter and i hope that god’s not as jealous as he used to be, cuz i’m not following him on twitter, just in my head, so it should be cool.
also, Gandhi said, “i like your Christ, but not your Christians, they’re not very Christ-like”
God hasn’t dropped off the radar.
With the kind of culture we live in, distraction and entertainment reign supreme. People would rather play X-box or Tweet about what they had for lunch than come face to face with the God of the Universe.
If you stop to take a look around you, at it’s wonders and complexities, you begin to see that there’s something more holding it all together. I don’t want to start a debate on God’s existence here in these blog comments. But, even the atom, hasn’t been reduced to its simplest pieces and understood. It’s too complex. And, the stance that existence is just some accident becomes harder to accept the closer you examine the world and it’s components.
In Biblical times, people understood that it was God who held everything together. They saw life and breath as a miracle from him. In Psalms 139:13, David talks about God taking an intimate part in his conception. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Nowadays, we explain away life and living as something that’s “normal.” There’s no magic or mystery to it. We don’t need to have a relationship with God, he doesn’t exist. Things have just happened the way they happen. A person breaths, walks, loves; but, since he and everyone else he knows does it everyday, it’s no longer a miracle. It’s mediocre.
And Jesus? He’s a testament to how much God freakin’ loves us. God put on flesh and blood, taught us how to live, and died for us.
I can’t see the end. I don’t know what God is doing with this messed up planet. But I trust him, and I have faith that he’s got a plan. Heb. 11:1, Paul is talking about faith. He says, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.”
And while faith in God at some point is certainly necessary, questioning him isn’t wrong. He’d rather you talk to him about everything that’s in your head, than snuff out your thoughts.
And if asking these questions, and making your comic, somehow brings you closer him, I think he’s pretty freakin’ excited about it.
Plus it’s really funny, and God has a good sense of humor.
Marry me.
the universe is complex = there is a god!
what kind of logic is that? D:
Pierogies… now I have to get some.
I’ve done allot of questioning myself aswell, especially when it comes to how things are taught and the way people “cheery pick”, there are allot of good teachings and when someone actually follows them, it certainly doesn’t do any harm… I know allot of people seem to have it backwards.
not to degrade this into a religious discussion, but rather as a deterent because I’ve seen some comments made about it, the bibles standings in relation to time could very well mean that the beginings “7 days” were actually much larger periods of time, considering that we are supposedly still in the 7th day (such as saying “back in my day”), that said, there was plenty of time for a designer to set up a system that supported life, and then create creatures after their kind… I mean honestly, we made computers, there’s no way they could make themselves, and they aren’t anywhere near as complex as we are, so the thought of there being an intelligence designer behind this just makes sense in my mind… it would and does honestly take a hell of a lot more “faith” to believe that something this complex actually came around by random chance…
but hey, what do I know, if you guys really want to talk about this sort of stuff, talkorigins.org is an awesome place to visit.
I hate that myself, the cherry picking. What I also hate, is that those in a group who don’t believe the exact same thing as the congregation are surely going to hell. I’m sorta Christian, though I’m on the line at the moment, but I’ve always been looked at as a heathen when at church, because, oh dear, I think God loves everyone, gay, straight, black, white, whatever. I am such a horrid person >:|
But yes, on a more important note, I love the look on the other little kids faces. XD
Stone the heretics!!!
When I was a kid going to Hebrew school God was an omnipresent jerk who would kick your ass if he felt like it. I learned at one point that you could be following God perfectly and then he would kick your ass to test your faith in him. Then I read the new testament and suddenly he is this nice forgiving guy who doesn’t forget about his covenant every ten seconds. Sure the whole killing his son thing to forgive everyone’s sins thing was fairly brutal but he just wasn’t the same God. It kind of felt like God had betrayed me again, loving his younger more reckless children more than the elder Jews.
Of course now I worship Odin and Thor so in the end I still love the big Omnipresent Jerk image.
ROFLamigo. I think I love you
lol I’m eating pierogies right now.
I was eatting them and thought I haven’t read happle tea in awhile.
I think Jesus is the “thing” you need to consider… I’m not a Christian, but according to the Bible, God seems to have anger issues (at least he look like he will stab you in the face with a lighting if yiou don’t behave), and I am okay with that, that’s not exactly the point.
The point is, every Christians seems to think that Jesus came, saved us, then die for us. When I read the Bible, I feel more like “Jesus came, try to make us understand how to leave in peace and harmony, WAS KILLED BY F*CKING PETTY HUMANS AND TOLD US ALL TO GO TO HELL”.
Maybe we didn’t hear from God lately because of the Jesus’killing.
That, or maybe he tend to find the capacity of some people to bend their religion in order to make their life easier (I think of things like “God hates fags”, not written anywhere on the Bible) despicable, and he just kind of, uuh, hate us.
I have a couple friends who get frustrated with God’s apparent inconsistent character in the Old Testament.
But have you actually read the whole Bible?
God is brutal in the Old Testament. He commands Israel to destroy whole people groups, and punishes those who disobey him. But He’s just as brutal in the New Testament. Jesus flips tables over and whips people when he sees that they’ve turned a temple, a holy place built for worshiping God, into a marketplace where people are taken advantage of (Matthew 21:12-13 ). God strikes a couple dead for lying about how much they tithed (Acts 5).
But, not only is God just as brutal, he’s also just as kind and merciful. When Adam and Eve sin in the Garden, he does punish them, but He also make them clothes (I bet God’s an incredible clothing designer) and provides for them (Gen 3:1-6). When Cain kills his brother Abel out of jealousy, God punishes him, but Cain begs for mercy, saying his punishment is too much for him to bare. God grants shows him mercy and offers him protection.
God rescues Israel, but time and time again, they rebel and forsake God. So, he punishes them. And each time he does, they cry out for mercy and God is merciful and good. The cycle of God’s brutality isn’t because he’s mean and inconsistent. It’s because people disobey over and over despite having seen the incredible things God does.
In Exodus, God performs miracles and saves the Israelites from Egypt. They’ve seen plagues, been fed with bread from heaven, saw the Red Sea separate to form dry land, and witnessed God’s presence manifested as a pillar of clouds during the day, and fire at night. Yet, when Moses climbs Mount Sinai to talk to God and get the 10 commandments, they build a cow made from gold and worship it.
They worship something they made with their own hands, despite everything they’d seen and experienced.
Things like that happen all the time. People are incredibly inconsistent, and get distracted from their relationship with God very, very easily. So, before you get mad at God, calling him a lying douche that likes to hurt people, (somewhat of a little kid with a magnifying glass) look at the whole picture.
Even in the story of Job, where a godly man is punished for apparently no reason, is evidence of God’s love and mercy. It shows us that sometimes, bad things happen to good people, and that life is bigger than your happiness and pleasure. God loved Job and thought he was an awesome guy, and that’s the reason he allowed Job to be tested and stripped of all his worldly possession, friends, family, and health. He couldn’t see it at the time, but Job was part of a much larger story, one about more than just his happiness on earth. Now anyone can read that story and understand that maybe the struggles they’re going through in life aren’t some kind of punishment. Maybe there’s something much bigger going on.
God loves you. If He didn’t, I don’t think you’d be hanging out on this little blue planet of ours.
I think your use of color has improved. I really like how Lil K’s face is aluminated… gah – illuminated, and all the other kid’s faces seem to be in the dark! It adds more depth to what Lil K is saying; it did for me at least!
Sunday school dropout. No graduation day for you…
Awesome comic though.
And very truthful. I never went to Sunday school, or church in general, really. Something about being in a church these days makes me feel closer to people – scary people! – and not God.
Look at all those rants… I like the little picture of god giving a thumbs up and the look on the kids faces. What is a pierogie?
I don’t know how your pierogi research is coming along but this might help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierogi
dude, i might actually say this on a random temple, im likely to get some of my friends to record me, and ill ask tehm to post a link to the video here, when they do, enjoy my stoning