Found on page 533:
"I still believe in God; the teachings of Jesus even, but the rest of Christianity....it's Bible, it's churches, it's dogma only sets up boundaries between people and cultures. It denies the beauty of being Human, and it ignores all these Gaps that need to be filled in by the individual."
How would you as a Christian counter this argument?
For those who don't know, Blankets is by Craig Thompson which is a coming of age graphic novel about the author's life growing up as a Christian and his relationship to a girl he met in church camp. Blankets is one of the most popular and highly praised graphic novels for it's story telling and beautiful artwork and probably because many readers can relate to it.
I think it's a great graphic novel, one of the best, but I worry about Craig Thompson himself because I feel he's been around the wrong kind's of Christians growing up and possibly judging Christianity based on that. I feel he's missing out.
Replies
Brent Donoho said:
True. And False. Yup. Christianity sets up boundaries between people and cultures. I choose to believe it - someone else chooses not to. That is a boundary/division. It has also been known tear down divisions, unite people who have hated each other, and has given the freedoms the Western world knows and cherishes today - and a majority of the West has NO CLUE as to why they have those freedoms.
Patently false. Unless in the first part of the quote he is indicating specifically "Churches and Church specific dogma" where any umbrage of bologna might possibly be followed should there be unthinking people in that "specific church". I say thee nay!
The faith of Christianity lets YOU, the individual PLUG IN THE GAPS and lets you find them for yourself, telling you to go out and LIVE life abundantly, fully and joyfully. It also tells you to go find those things that are missing from you so that you can find the "beauty of being human".
It allows for mistakes and forgiveness. It allows for wrongs and redemption.
It also doesn't tell you everything fits into a neat little box. It tells you that people are a little bit nuts and rough around the edges, and that not every one is perfect. It tells you to look out for certain things, and it implies that you the individual may not be above reproach on some of those things that make us patently human (that's what makes life beautiful and interesting no?). And it also tells you that you need to seek and find. The Bible does spell certain things out yes - BUT it doesn't in the end actually fill in every gap. No, work your salvation out with fear and trembling. If that doesn't say, guess what, all the answers aren't here, I don't know what does.
Possibly, "Specific Church's Dogma" may be stifling, trite and limiting because of their so called translation of scripture and the people who guide that group (and the people who follow blindly). But as a whole, the Faith of Christianity is not limiting - it's expansive - it doesn't deny the beauty of being human, it allows one to truly find it.
"What's the point in believing in God or the teachings of Jesus if you can't believe in the Bible or Christ's church. And if you dont' hold the Bible, then what teachings of Jesus do you actually believe in? And if you do, why?"
or
"How do you know what teachings of Jesus to believe in if you don't value the Bible? Whatdoes it profit to believe those at all if you don't beleive the whole of His story?"
I would especially like to know what he does believe in regrads to Christ- maybe "be nice" but not "I'll die for you and save you, if you'll let me..."
it is actually quite a similar story to many people- with that quote, i would say that if churches or dogma separtate people, then those churches are wrong and contrary to the Bible. if the Bible is said to be doing such, then i think it is not being properly understood. i have for almost a decade now, begged my non0Christian friends to give me reasons to not follow the Bible and none have provided anything substantial- and have only seemed to have any credibility when taken out of context and twisted.
there were "bad" christians in his youth group- maybe worse than those in mine- but we did have some "bad" kids, too. i would say that they were no worse than those of any average church. if Thompson chooses not to see people for who they are and the Bible for what it is, then i guess he has made his own choice regarding his faith.