Thanks for the Chick Tracts!
To the person(s) who anonymously mailed to my home address the two Chick tracts, “A Love Story,” and “This was Your Life,” I return my thanks. Chick tracks are classic. They were a big part of my childhood. We read them. We distributed them to friends and to strangers. I loved the one with the Grim Reaper on the front. I loved “Holy Joe.” We argued about “Big Daddy?” Recently, Glenda and I were enjoying dinner at Higgins, seated next to four single adults in their late twenties. (You may ask, “Nathan, how do you know those details about them?” I answer: “I’m nosy Nathan. I listen to other people’s dinner conversations.) These four were talking about Chick tracts. Glenda humored me and allowed me to listen once I heard “Chick tracts” in the floating conversation. Clearly, these young adults were from out of town, working at a convention in Portland. They were distinctively non-Christian, but they knew all about Chick tracts. They were discussing them as classic pieces of pop culture! They discussed the cool artwork. They discussed the black and white Christian presentation of life/death; right/wrong; material/spiritual; this earthly realm/the realm of heaven and hell. They were fascinated by Chick tracts but not moved to embracing the gospel. As soon as they switched topics, Glenda pulled me back into her sphere of influence and we dreamily looked into each other’s eyes, enjoying the ambience and memories.
I am interested to know what you think of Chick tracts? Do you use them? Any memories? Any stories? Do you know anyone who has converted to Christianity instrumentally moved to do so by a Chick tract? Is there still room for Chick tracks in this electronic age? Are they museum pieces?
Nathan showing off his Chick tracts at home
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I fondly remember them as well. In my indy-fundy past, they were a staple. We handed out A LOT of them. A few of us were buying bundles directly from Chick Publications. That was back in the days when you got in a shouting match with people, almost coming to blows, doing God’s will and being persecuted for it. I can’t remember if we saw any results from them.
I agree with the diners next to you. The artwork is really cool! Back in the day, we had no internet so I recently looked and there’s maybe 1 picture of Jack Chick. Quite a recluse. Jack had a lot of weird theories as well, mostly aimed at catholics and mormons. Take a look for yourself at chick.com
The real flap came when we handed out anti catholic Chick tracts at a jail. It caused such uproar(from what the officers said, almost a riot)that we were thrown out and asked to never come back again!
Awwww, good times….
Well, this one from This Was Your Life should certainly make one think twice about checking his watch during the sermon!
Nathan,
I was a brand new 20 year old believer at the University of Nebraska when I was introduced to a couple of Chick tracts on Roman Catholicism. They were given to me by the man who led me to Christ and who was a self-proclaimed evangelist to Roman Catholic young men. The tracts immediately reminded me of the Esoteric comic books I sometimes read as a kid, in both illustration and text. From the outset they appeared to be obvious caricatures of the Catholic Church, but I tried to take them with some degree of seriousness since they were given to me by the man who led me to Christ and who was now my spiritual mentor. Thankfully, I was soon afterward relieved of my ignorance by a dormatory resident and more mature believer who was likewise converted from Catholicism by the same man. I remember the day I went down the dormatory hall to get his opinion of the tracts; his reaction still fresh in my mind 26 years later. I remember the consternation etched in his face when he said, “Is Dean (our common evangelist and spiritual mentor) still bashing Catholicism?” His reaction was not a defense of Catholicism, but and expression of disappointment that a man we both loved was using propoganda to fire us up against Catholicism. The good that came out of this for me was that this “Chick Experience” became the catalyst for a now 26 year love affair with church history and theology.
Joe
the comic book art is fascinating and now it has a ‘blast from the past’ appeal as well. Thanks for adding to my blog some of your personal story of coming to Christ. God uses all sorts of people as his instruments of the gospel.
let’s get back into the jails with some good material. A chick tract may have the role of jolting some of us out of our apathy or blindness, but as some of you commenters have hinted, their content is a bit off mark when it comes to the gospel. “This was Your Life,” was one of the finer “guilt pieces” in my childhood. I would read it over and over again. However, there are points where Chick gets the gospel right and clear. Not everyone out there agrees that Chick’s other issues get in the way. Check out these 8 reasons at chick.com.
I’m sure that God has used Chick tracts to bring people to face their sins, but I worry that they are too often used for ‘bombing run’ evangelism. Paul didn’t go to Athens to leave little scrolls in public restrooms, he went out and talked to people. We know that the one who sows may not be the one who reaps, but I wonder how many of those convicted of their sins this way are like the seed that fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
Nathan, Many times at our coffee discussion you spoke of Christians not knowing their Bible. This recent article in the Economist Magazine definitely struck that cord when discussing the marketing of the Bible vs the koran. It centers around teh publishing of the two sacred documents and the cultural differences between the two. Some of the example cite how the Bible stories are geared for toddlers and such, whereas that is verboten with the Koran. Also how the Bible has many translations and the Koran does not. the article discusses the style of writing differences between the two. This has lead to a more oral tradition emphasis in the Muslim community with a focus on complete memorization that yield doctorare degrees.
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10311317
Chad