My "Jack Chick Tract" initiation: 9/26/2012

SERIOUSLY??!! WHO FALLS FOR THIS STUFF?

I did. A long number of years ago.

They were my first exposure to comic books and when i read them as a kid, they scared the hell out of me.

Then as a teen I was into playing Dungeons And Dragons. Then came the Christian scare mongering of the game, then came the now infamous tract "Dark Dungeons" in which he demonizes the game. Because of this and a few other things I ended up throwing away a large collection of 1st Edition books and modules. I wouldn't touch them for a number of years.

But as time passed and I grew older, eventually I heard other opinions and eventually learned that they were basically bullchit and had no truth in them at all and were meant to scare people into being a Christian by demonizing everything and anyone who isn't a Christian. Then came college and I learned a few things about logic and reason. Then came the internet and I saw how logic and reason were really applied and I reject them now as much as I reject Christianity and things like Jack Chic. But that's a separate story.

But they were an early influence on me as a kid, and I did believe them, but that was mostly because at the time I didn't know any better and people were telling me that I have to believe in God and be a Christian, so I really didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

Now as an adult I've learned to basically just check things out and keep a skeptical mind because you never know who may be pulling a fast one on you.

reply to post by EvilSadamClone


Thank you!! That is precisely what concerned me about the thing.
Thanks for contributing.

Here is a page you might want to read on Chick Tracts:

tvtropes.org...

reply to post by EvilSadamClone


Bookmarked, thanks, but a page that in depth... on such a shallow subject as Jack Chick... seems a bit obsessive compulsive, no?

Heres a pretty cool blog that summarizes Chick tracts. Its good to go through if you don't have the patience to read through an entire tract.

jackchick.wordpress.com...

Originally posted by wildtimes
Thanks to FlyersFan for introducing me to the phrase.

You're welcome.

Now I see what you were talking about...

Yep .. pretty freak'n ignorant .. aren't they?

SERIOUSLY??!! WHO FALLS FOR THIS STUFF?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Basically ... the brainwashed and/or the uneducated and/or the naive.


Jack Chick tracts ... full of lies and full of hate and full of arrogance. They are full of the exact opposite of what Christianity is supposed to be about. And yet, the ones who use these pieces of trash the most are ... (drum roll) ... evangelical christians. :shk:

If they told the truth it would be another story all together.
But as it is, they are just full of garbage.

(and yet I've actually seen people quote Jack Chick tracts here as 'proof' to back up whatever absurdity they were trying to pump out. UNREAL!! )

Originally posted by wildtimes
It arrived unexpectedly. Unsolicited. In the mail. In a privacy envelope with no return address, with a first class stamp. Addressed in fancy girly-script to "Our Neighbors."

When we were stuck living in Alabama for 9 years, we would get people coming and knocking on the door, pushing their version of truth (usually baptist or church of christ), at least once a week. After a while we went and got our own tracts that said the exact opposite of theirs. When they came knocking on the door to push their religion and their tracts, we'd hand them ours instead. After a while, they would skip our house as they went through the neighborhood. I would sneek out to where they parked their car on the street and put our tracts under their windshield wipers.

If you ever figure out what YUTZ sent you the Jack Chick tracts, you could really have some fun with them. Get your own tracts (that say the opposite of the Jack Chick garbage) and send them the same way they sent the Jack Chick tracts to you. Or keep some in your pocket so if you 'run into them' on the sidewalk you can hand them the tracts. Or run off information on how wrong Jack Chick is and send it to them .. the same way they sent it to you.

I tend to 'get in people's faces' when they do stupid things pointed at me .. so you might not get into doing all that. But man .. I could have fun with it. (and we did ..when we lived amongst the 'CHICKIES' in Alabama )

Full of good info on Jack Chickism ...
The Nightmare World of Jack Chick

reply to post by FlyersFan


I like how Chick Tracts blame catholics for everything.

reply to post by adjensen


Maybe it's not obsessive compulsive considering the damage caused to him when he was a kid. I've always been into investigating the villain after I've been burned. And by "villain" I mean really awful people who take advantage of the naive and well-meaning.

@ ESC,
I'm VERY happy that you were able to break away from it. And I think it's just shameful that adults would do that to people who simply are gullible, for whatever reasons.

Anyway, yeah, your experience is exactly what I was concerned might happen.

@ FlyersFan,
Thanks for the further info! Unbelievable. I had no idea there were "rival" tracts, or that there are so many of these Chick Publications that one can pick and choose what "message" to send.

I thought the Solid Rock Baptist Church had sent it, but having read your posts, it seems it could be just a neighbor, who picked one up....Hmmmm!!!

Anyway, just another success story of me learning something from ATS!!!
Thanks, guys.

Holy Comics, batman!!

I'd NO IDEA about this guy...what a nutjob!! Thanks to all of you for your excellent links and information. It seems hard to believe that I'd actually never heard of this guy. I dunno, maybe I don't prowl the right venues or groups;

I mean, sure, I've had little hand-outs in airports, or at festivals, under my car wipers, etc...but nothing like this. Quite the phenomenon, this bloke.

Yikes. *facepalm while chuckling sadly*

Chick "Tracts" are not even tracts, they are comics, and bad ones at that. So, we start off with a lie.

Further, if you believe CT's then you must shoehorn yourself into a very, very narrow version of Christianity, with a lot of hate and intolerance, and very little love.

As a Christian Universalist, I find the usual ending of a CT, that is, someone ending up in hell, offensive.

CT's promote doctrines for which the Bible must be twisted and taken out of context to support [not trying to start an argument here], such as the rapture, hell, and prophecy about the middle east.

Chick lied once, in saying "Origen was not a Christian!" so what more do I need to say?

reply to post by Lazarus Short

Right on, Laz.
I agree with you wholeheartedly.

So far, no one has chimed in saying anything about the tracts being "right" and "true." To me, it was blatant twisting and fearmongering.

reply to post by adjensen


I don't think so. Because they are making some excellent points in pointing out his writing style and tendencies.

I do think they have to label everything though. That's really the only thing that bugs me about this site.

Still, this is a great site and is helpful to writers.

reply to post by wildtimes


Well, you may not find any of those people on this particular website, but you will find people out there who do believe him. I've personally known a few, and one of those had boxes of the things she'd collected over the years.

And who knows, a few decades down the road they may be worth something to collectors anyway, because they are a part of America pop culture history and will be for some time.

reply to post by EvilSadamClone

And who knows, a few decades down the road they may be worth something to collectors anyway, because they are a part of America pop culture history and will be for some time.

Which, of course, leads naturally to the question of Why the Bible has not already become simply a "pop-culture collectible". But that's off topic. Still..... *scratches head*

reply to post by wildtimes


People want to be part of something special, and the Bible is really good at making people feel special and legitimizing other people's beliefs while justifying their actions and behavior, while the Chick Tracts does none of that. They are all about scare mongering people into becoming Christians and forcing people o conform to Christianity.

Imho.