I am unsure if I agree with you or not on the issue if the Flander’s can be considered ‘good Christian role models’. I understand that you are concerned with the Flander’s ambushing Homer when he decides not to go to church. I disagree with your judgment of the Flander’s motives in going after Homer. However I believe that they are not showing a lack of acceptance, but instead are concerned with his salvation and show that they genuinely care, rather than them trying to get church numbers up. In fact, there are a few Christian churches that actually in force missionary work and going into the community such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Seeing as Christianity owes it’s entire existence to missionary work (Paul’s missionary work to the Gentiles far surpassed anything the Judean church did), the argument of the Flander’s missionary measures must be considered a norm in the Christian faith. I was just wondering what you meant by ‘keeping their church’s numbers up’? Are you referring to more money in coffers or more souls saved? Or something else?
However, in support of your argument that Ned Flanders can be considered a bad Christian, one must look to the episode A Star is Born Again (Season 14, Episode 13). During the episode, Ned meets and has pre-marital sex with a movie star (after Maude dies). In the Bible, pre-marital sex is condemned throughout both the Old and New Testament. Hebrews Chapter 13 says: “Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery” and Matthew Chapter 5 notes Jesus preachings on adultery and lustful acts. Here, you could find an example of Flander’s acting against his usual ‘Okaly, Dokaly’ daily Christian routine.
Lastly, I would like to challenge your post-script message regarding Ned being home during the fire at the Simpson’s house… he may have attended another service on that Sunday.
Very stimulating post!
- Kathleen
A Star is Born Again (Season 14, Episode 13). Please begin around 17 minutes.
To answer your questions, I was indeed referring to "souls saved." I will admit that this idea came to me when watching the HBO show Oz. In season 4, a televangelist by the name of Jeremiah Cloutier (played by Luke Perry) is incarcerated at the Oswald State Correctional Facility. Upon his arrival he begins to preach to many of the prison's Protestant inmates, while also converting some of the prison's Catholic inmates. This act seemingly angers the prison's Chaplain, Father Ray Mukada (played by B.D. Wong). Father Mukada goes about trying to win over some of Cloutier's less devout followers. There is even a reference by Cloutier to Mukada about how the Father is "keeping score" of the amount of souls on either side. Anyway, that is a very long way of saying that I did in fact mean the amount of souls saved.
ReplyDeleteAbout my post script, in the canon of the show, one never sees anyone attend church outside of when they all attend together. While I agree that in real life Ned may have attended an earlier service, the show has never depicted such an event occurring (or at least had not by that point in the show's run), so the basis for my criticism, I believe, still stands. I'm sure it was simply a plot device, and not even an oversight by the creators of the show. It is, after all, a cartoon. While we may be dissecting it academically, I doubt that was ever the intent of the show's creators.