Archive for ‘Comics’
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Jun13
The prince of Egypt was a great movie. Much better than The Ten Commandments. But I don’t recall this scene from either movie. I don’t even remember Moses’ wife and kids coming with him to Egypt. It’s funny how a lot of old testament stories omit things from the retelling. That’s because they sound crazy. If you don’t believe me go read this passage. It sounds crazy.
Now what seems to be going on is this. Moses failed to live up to the covenant God set up with Abraham, which includes circumcising your kids. So, he’s going to kill Moses as punishment. It will impede with God’s plans, and it seems harsh, but hey, it’s God, who are we to question. Moses’ wife does the circumcision right there, thus deflecting God’s wrath. (Or whatever.)
Maybe there are other ways to look at it. I’m not going to get too deep into it. I will say this. Some people claim they have great faith in God because of the Bible, I often seem to maintain faith despite the bible. When I say the Bible, I mean the whole thing. The New Testament mostly makes sense. This could be because I’m a relatively new christian struggling with answers. Or because the Old Testament is weird and no one admits it. I’m not saying throw it out mind, it is very interesting and reveals some of God’s character. It’s just the easiest thing in the whole world to take out of context or misunderstand. It requires a lot of thinking.
I took some creative liberties with how I drew God. God takes on different forms all throughout the Bible. So I figured it was ok to give him a deathy look, given the circumstances.
Thanks for reading.
Jared
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Jun06
We see in the early parts of Acts that the Apostles are the church leaders, no surprise there. They had the ability to perform miracles like Jesus did, which certainly helped. I get the impression they didn’t do it often though. Especially from this chapter. People from the temple go nuts when they see this guy walking, this guy they carried to the temple every day.
I remember hearing how being disabled like this man was enough to prevent him to enter the temple. It is a very holy place, I guess you have to be perfect. So this wasn’t just about healing the man, it gave him the ability to enter into the temple with everyone else. This might explain why people would go so far as to carry him to the temple, then dump him at the door.
I will be posting the video of me drawing this comic on the We Like Sheep Youtube channel. My latest comic video was late, it took a while to get it uploaded… don’t ask. But this one should be up sooner. I update info like that on my Facebook page, so joining that would be cool. You can also just click on the the WeLikeSheepTV tab in the menu at the top of my page for the latest videos I post.
Thanks for reading,
Jared
This is called being passive aggressive. It’s Jesus’ recommendation for dealing with confrontation. The idea is that instead of fighting with a bully or thief, you just give them what they want, except you go one further and give them even more. It shows your generous nature. And if anyone is watching, they won’t see a strong guy picking on a weak guy, they’ll see a suddenly awkward situation where the bully looks bad and you look great. And Jesus wants you to look great to others, cause then it makes him look great. And he is great. Great. (My writing skills are in tip top shape apparently… great…)
If you check out the other translations of the Bible (which you can do on the site I link to for my bible verses), they say something about someone forcing you to walk a mile with them. But that makes no sense out of context, so I like this translation. (It’s also the one I was reading at the time.) If you’re ever wondering about some part of the Bible that sounds weird, or you’re not sure what it’s about, this is a good lesson. Check out some other translations on it. Or look up some commentary. Figure it out for yourself. Chances are there’s something interesting going on there that just isn’t clear when you read the Bible on its own. I actually first heard the interpretation of this passage from “The Meeting House” podcast. And it suddenly made waaay more sense than just being forced to walk a mile for no reason.
I should have the video of me drawing this weeks comic up on my youtube channel soon. It’s at 800% speed, so it’s not long. You might notice the roughs I draw from are in red. That’s because I finally got a scanner, so I can draw on paper again. whoo hoo! This may only matter to me, but drawing on paper is fun, so that’s how I’ll be drawing the comic from now on. It doesn’t effect anything, except now I have a physical copy I can look back on and say, “wow, that sucks.” It’s gonna be great. (There’s that word again…)
Thanks for reading,
Jared
May25
Jesus was a smart guy. This was clear as he trained under Jewish teachers as a boy. So when he was a man, with brilliant new revolutionary ideas, I imagine a lot of Jews would have wanted to tutor under him. Maybe not so much after he went fully Messiah and started bashing the religious leaders and preaching about a whole new message, one of love and peace. But at this time, when he was looking for his disciples, it would have been pretty crazy that he picked out a bunch of country louts who flunked out of Jew school.
This is actually the second We Like Sheep comic I ever drew, oh so long ago. I drew it on paper with pencil and ink. Crazy I know. I recently got a scanner (finally!) so I thought I would post this comic. I might scan the first one and post it on my Facebook page.
Also. No Apocalypse. Thank God!! Seriously, you should thank him. Because he clearly said the day of Jesus’ return is unknowable, because he knew crazy people like this would crop up and do crazy stuff. I would also argue what the return of Jesus even means. I’m pretty sure it’s not raining fire and four horsemen. Although that stuff does make for an awesome video game.
Thanks for reading!
Jared
May15
The Joseph story is one of those stories that everyone knows from the Old Testament. You may know it as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. My suspicion is that any story that seems to have narrative with continuous characters and clear plot are popular in the Old Testament. Because it seems like it’s mostly just following people around as they do stuff. So this is the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, now known as Israel. Because God renamed him that when he broke his hip.
I won’t go into details. I suggest you go read the story for yourself. It starts here. It’s actually like a story, so it’s entertaining. Partway through, Joseph is tempted by his master’s wife. Well, not tempted, so much as ordered to have sex with her. But he says no. I’ve heard a few different motivations on this. He doesn’t want to betray his master who has been kind to him. He doesn’t want to commit sexual immorality. I think those apply. But I also think he just didn’t want to do it with her.
She probably wanted Joseph because he was apparently hot, but also because he said no. And she, being used to power, found this an attractive challenge. But I think Joseph was an upstanding guy. He wants a woman who loves him, so they can share something together. So maybe he doesn’t want to have casual sex with someone. Maybe sex means more to him.
If Joseph was telling this story to his buddies over a drink after work, most of them would probably ridicule him for passing up such a sweet deal. But I would pat Joseph on the back for having some integrity. Some moral standards. Some character. Good Joseph, you run from that vicious cougar.
I’ve started a We Like Sheep YouTube channel. You can find it HERE. I will be uploading videos of me drawing, creating the comic, and maybe some more special stuff in the future.
Thanks for reading,
Jared
May07
Events before this comic are as follows. John the Baptist, the guy who sort of ushered in Jesus as the Messiah (Jesus’ forerunner if you would), has been a big pain in the side of King Herod. So Herod currently had him in jail with no idea of what to do with him. Then this happens.
“On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
So a pretty young girl kills John the Baptist. There are some political motivations behind it all I’m sure. Anyway. Immediately after this, Jesus tries to get some solitude. Time alone to collect himself and maybe pray and what not. This is pretty important I think. Jesus, the son of God (kind of God himself), is distressed enough at John’s death that he just wants some time alone. If you ever think God doesn’t care about someone who’s died, here’s a pretty good passage that says otherwise.
Unfortunately for Jesus, his celebrity status doesn’t allow him time alone. Entire villages follow him to where he’s going. But instead of bitching and moaning, he just sets about healing the crowd, and teaching them. And eventually feeding them. You see, in the eagerness to get some free healing from the Messiah, most people were too dumb to bring food. But instead of criticizing them, Jesus feeds them all. Jesus. The most patient man ever to have lived.
So I’ve dipped my toes into the streaming pool. If you want to see a really boring video of me drawing this weeks comic. You can go here. I might do this again next week. We’ll see. I couldn’t figure out how to get sound from my computer playing, so there’s no music or anything. Maybe some other time. I don’t blame you if you have no interest in this though. There is a crap tonne of stuff to do on the internet. Watching me slowly draw and color a comic is one the least interesting things you could be doing. =)
Update: You can watch the video of me drawing my comic in hyper speed here. It’s only 7 minutes, so preferable to the actual hour long version. =) And it makes me looks like I can draw super fast. haha.
Thanks for reading,
Jared
May01
This is a little section from Jesus’ sermon on the mount. If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically a chunk of the gospel where Jesus speaks to an extremely large crowd, and drops bombs of teaching upon them. It’s where a lot of Jesus’ more popular teachings come from, such as “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That’s actually Jesus number one rule really. So I tried to portray this part in a comic. I may have succeeded, or not. The only thing that maybe isn’t clear, is that Jesus helps us serve one master. Him. Without him it’s supposed to be pretty hard to ignore the other master. (Sin?) That’s why he’s flicking the little devil off the shoulder. He’s helping us choose what we know is right, but may be reluctant to choose.
I admit, I fell for some stupid stereotypes this comic. I’m not a fan of the generic christian images. Like old man God. But I have to admit, the little shoulder devil angel idea is a pretty apt portrayal of what we deal with. If you’ve ever heard someone talk about sin, and figure he’s just talking about doing bad stuff, maybe this idea will help. I think sin is more like the little devil. Having him on your shoulder doesn’t make you evil. And doing things he suggests doesn’t make you evil. It’s more because things he suggests are usually in opposition of the little angel on the other shoulder. That’s sin. It’s the voice that says don’t do the thing you think is right, do the thing you think is awesome.
That’s actually a pretty terrible analogy. haha. But I dislike how sin is spoken of without an explanation of what it is. Then when you call someone a sinner without context, it’s pretty insulting. If you’ve found a better explanation of sin, please post it in the comments, then people won’t have to really upon my terrible attempt to describe it.
Thanks for reading!
Jared
Apr24
Jesus will some day return to the earth, so we believe. The debate seems to be whether it’s a mission of love, where he leads humanity to a new age of peace and restoration. Or judgment day, when fire rains from heaven, and hell breaks free to devour the non-believers. I won’t give my opinion, except that one of these options seems to reflect the heart of Jesus, the other makes a great video game…
I do find it interesting that this passage includes mysterious men in white. It doesn’t say angels, although that’s what we assume. If you’re a nerd like me you’ve heard of the Men in Black. Not the Will Smith version. The actual rumours that terrible movie was based on. Men in Black, who visit people who’ve seen things they can’t explain, and telling them to shut it. Government spooks? Or eternal enemy of the men in white! As if there’s some kind of covert war between heaven and hell beyond the war for our souls.
Warning, the last paragraph contained nothing but ridiculous speculation which is not based on any fact.
For those of you who are unaware, we have all avoided a different kind of judgment day. The one foretold in the Terminator Chronicles. So my comic tips its hat to that little bit of lore today. Hope everyone had a happy Easter! Sorry the comic is sort of late. I was busy visiting family, and partaking in the sin of gluttony. That sin gets so much business it’s almost unfair to the rest of them.
Thanks for reading,
Jared
There are lots of things that are different between the culture in Jesus’ time and in ours. One being that demons possessing people was apparently an accepted fact back then. I’m sure it was still a terrifying idea, but no one in the Jewish culture seemed shocked when it came up. I do follow a couple paranormal-type sites, and possession, or experiences that sound very similar, seem to still take place. If you believe in that kind of stuff. One place where possession is certainly healthy is Hollywood. If you’re like me, your mind immediately goes to The Exorcist. Maybe one of the creepiest movies I’ve ever seen. Dealing with possession would be one of the most horrifying experiences ever.
Yet Jesus tells demons to “get lost” quite often, as if it’s no big deal. And they do it. Can you imagine re-making The Exorcist with Jesus, or even one of the disciples (as they also seemed to have this ability)? Or that guy that was in my comic a while ago? It would be a pretty anti-climactic movie.
Open on the bedroom scene. The girl is writhing and screaming, vomit flying. Enter Jesus. The demon screams and spits. Jesus says, “Get out.” And it does. The end.
Suddenly it doesn’t seem so spooky anymore, does it? That’s God, and Jesus for you. Showing us yet again that it’s not some kind of war between heaven and hell. Hell backs down pretty fast when it comes up against heaven; it doesn’t even try to fight. Maybe that’s why I’m a fan of stories where good triumphs over evil. ‘Cause I believe that’s how reality works.
Thanks for reading,
Jared
Apr10
Yet another “heaven is like this” parable. I like the idea that it’s not so much the willingness to give up everything that’s heaven-like, it’s how weird you’ll look doing it. When you commit to following Jesus as Lord, you become a member of the kingdom of heaven. Those of us in the kingdom are supposed to look weird to those who aren’t living as part of the kingdom. So if people aren’t pointing and laughing at you for following Christ, you’re not doing it right.
Thanks for reading!
Jared