Comic Books and the Evangelical World

In Thomas Carmody’s chapter titled, “Converting Comic Books into Graphic Novels and Digital Cartoons,” Carmody raises the issue of whether or not comic books, graphic novels and digital cartoons can be used as an effective source of evangelism. He tells us both sides of the argument by taking a look into how evangelicals have used comic books, digital comics and graphic novels in the past. He also points out areas in which comics have been useful in evangelism and ministry. However, along with the issue comes critiques arguing Christian comics lack imagination and creativity; critics find many of them to be merely copies of secular comics, says Carmody. Further, according to some critics, Christian comics don’t reflect the “sacredness” required to communicate biblical truth. Carmody’s thoughts on this issue reveal he feels comics can be used as a communication medium to communicate faith and the love of God to others.

I believe Christian comics can be an effective way to start conversations and I believe it can be edifying to God to read and delight in them. Frankly, I’m not sure how much comics like Archie or Peanuts will be when it comes to conversion, but I believe it can be used as an evangelical tool nonetheless.

In an article found in the New York Times titled, “Religion and Comic Books: Where did Superman’s Theology Come From?” Samuel Freedman explores the religious history behind the creator of many popular comics like Spiderman, Rabbi Weinstein. In his article, he notes Weinstein’s ability to create successful comics because of his religion, emphasizing justice and morality.

I’ve been reading Archie comics since I was ten. Some of you haven’t experienced the joys of Archie, I’m sure, so please allow me explain the basics of the comic. The series is set in a small town where five best friends have adventures, some peculiar and interesting moments, arguments, plots and so much more. The main plot in many stories is the love triangle between Betty, Veronica and Archie. The two girls who happen to be best friends, are madly in love with one guy and in many of the comics, they “fight” over him. Of course, Archie can never choose between the two.

Creator of the Archie series, Bob Montana was a Christian, but that’s not what drew me to the light hearted, funny series. So I never really stopped to think about whether or not the author was a Christian; to me that doesn’t matter. What makes Archie comics unique and enjoyable for me, is the witty, simple and fun content along with the hopeful and moral message it portrays through each comic. It blesses me because the writing and the pictures make me smile and in a very subtle way, it reminds me of the Creator and how hopeful it is to know that God created us to enjoy in the little things and to find Him in them.

Torrey Conference 2008: Sex and the Soul

Sex and the City, I mean, the Soul. That was the topic of this year’s annual Torrey Conference which centered itself around the biblical understanding of sex and what that means for us as Christian students. It’s an issue that I feel isn’t talked about as much as it should be amongst Biolans. The last I’ve heard sex even mentioned at Biola was through a friend, in discussing the recent movie, Sex and the City. Even then, my friend was explaining the crude, sexual humor portrayed in the hit series and of course, didn’t shed any positive light about sex in that movie.
This year’s Torrey Conference seemed to focus not only on why sex is unhealthy and negative before marriage, but they highlighted the joy and goodness of sex in marriage and gave us insight into how God intended it to be and most importantly, they connected why sex mattered to the soul. At the start of the conference, Dallas Willard spoke in the first session titled, “Sexual Desire and Spiritual Formation, with Special Reference to Pornography.”

One thing that I really took from that session was Dallas Willard’s thoughts about the foundations and reasons for our sexual desires, not just the fact that we are dealing with them and how our sexual desires and actions deeply impact our souls. Willard, a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California and a keynote speaker at Torrey, says that it’s pointless to try to merely “fix” our sexual desires. He says it’s crucial to have a vision, intent and means when it comes to facing sexual desires and that these desires and actions can be harmful to the soul. He used pornography to further this point. He says that if one decides to stop an addiction like pornography, it would be pointless to have the, “I’ll just stop” mentality. He says the first thing to do is to change your vision. By this, he means to change how we look at sex, at people. He says our intentions must also change. “Self control simply doing what you intend to do,” says Dr. Willard. With a change of intentions, self control will indeed be tested when figuring out the means to follow your intentions. These are a few of the things that I took from Dallas Willard’s session, especially when it comes to this idea of addictions.

Diet Coke, make up and shopping. These are addictions of mine that might not necessarily be destroying my life, but they do seem to have a hold on some aspects of my life, like drugs or pornography might for others. In the New York Times, a respected print newspaper, an article says that a Yale study shows, “drug addictions should be thought of as a developmental disorder.” This raised questions in my mind regarding what the media even perceives issues like addiction as. But I know that for me, as a Christian, it’s an issue that not only impacts our physicality, mentality, emotions and psyche, it’s an issue that deeply impacts our soul.

A response to the NYT article, "State Budget in California Sets Record for Tardiness"

As of today, California's state budget was, "64 days late, and counting — so long overdue that it has eclipsed the record for tardiness set by the budget impasse of 2002," writes Jennifer Steinhauer. I’ve been hearing it constantly on the news. Strikes, unhappy people and shocking polls on our declining state budget are constantly on our TV screens. They tell us that workers at the DMV are standing up against the minimum wage decrease with a strike. They show our state controller John Chiang being questioned by a mass of reporters trying to get details on minimum wage. We hear that over 600,000 residents of California have suffered unemployment in this year alone. This doesn’t only effect the workers in our state, either. Students are losing Cal Grants and “art classes at one high school have moved to the lawn because the school district cannot afford new portable classrooms,” writes Steinhauer.

Since this is a story I’ve heard again and again from our LA stations, reading about our state budget from the perspective of the NY times was, of course, drastically different in style, the angle it took and the tone. The difference in style primarily came from the difference in broadcast news and print news. On TV, they tell me the stories like I’m in the 5th grade and I found the NY Times article to be slightly more articulated and opinionated. The news stations in LA centered the angle of this story on our own community and looked deeper into how this state budged affected our local economy. The NY times used their angle to emphasize the effects of this budget crisis to our nation. The tone is what I found most contrasting and different between this article in the NY Times and the LA news shows I’ve seen. The difference? In my opinion, Steinhauer portrayed a negative attitude on California’s budget crisis that was separate from the issue itself.

Although I find both local and national news to have equal but different insight into issues such as these, the perspective that this national news reporter gave is one that I found more questionable (and depressing) than informative. For example, the article mentioned more on California’s always irresponsible budget management than it did on how this has been affecting our residents. Discussing irresponsible budget management in an article that’s titled, “State Budget in California Sets Record for Tardiness” in my opinion, isn’t even a part of the story. Steinhauer also mentioned that, “the California Legislature reached a milestone that few would wish to turn into a bumper sticker.” Frankly, that isn’t the first sentence I want to read about concerning my economy.

A $15 billion gap in our state budget is something that not only affects our nation on a whole, but is something that individuals in California have to deal with. I found this article was articulated in a way that understated the "record for tardiness" and I found that it overemphasized the chaos this is causing in California.