Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for May 19, 2010

Sometimes clinging to life is the harder of the two options to choose.

“Sometime living feels harder than dying … sometimes it feels like we’re trapped in between” - Randy Stonehill

Geez, where did she get her bedside manner?

Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel, Like I been tied to the whipping post Tied to the whipping post, Tied to the whipping post, Good lord, I feel like I’m dyin’.

I’m flying home in a few weeks to meet my creators; it’s been a couple of years since i last saw them.

“…but last rites are all about getting ready to meet your maker. Shouldn’t you rather just go home?”

When you’re about to meet your maker, you are “going home”.

Joe, there are a lot of things we do that are not prescribed by scripture – because the bible is not a rule book. That’s the mistake too many people make.

But just because it’s not in there doesn’t mean it’s not good to do. Sitting with a person in their last hours and minutes and assuring folks they are not alone has always been good even when not prescribed (and let’s face it, the sacramental part of “last rites” is only a framework for the human interaction to take place).

Josh, yes, going to heaven is going home, but I think the chaplain and Justin knew they were talking about his earthly home.

OK comedy and tragedy. Get ready for the bad news…how much of the farm did he actually get?

“Yes, I suppose I could exercise my ministerial role and convey to you such grace and comforts that your faith and/or mine believes this sacrament brings, but I’d rather start with some pop psychology.”

Meet his Creator? He’s going to meet Garry?!?! Cool!

Sheik, loved that old song…..Gene Autry was one of my favorites

And I continue To burn the midnight lamp Alone

Now the smiling portrait of you Is still hangin’ on my frowning wall It really doesn’t, really doesn’t bother me too much at all It’s just the ever falling dust That makes it so hard for me to see That forgotten earring layin’ on the floor Facing coldly towards the door

I continue To burn the midnight lamp Lord, alone

Loneliness is such a drag

ronebofh and packratjohn, great interpretations!

cdward: Speaking of POP interpretations. It is, among other things, a rule book for the way to live your life if you choose to follow Christ (or his father). 10 commandments aren’t suggestions. Paul referred to Christ’s Law as well. He lived it out so we can walk in him and live it, too.

Last rites are a comfort as long as people don’t think that’s all they need to do.

Joe: your good Bible upbringing is showing. It’ll get us both in trouble.

I believe my folks are my conceivers though, rone, if biology is correct.

Hopefully GT is ready to meet HIS creator, packrat. :-)

This web site might be of interest.

http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/

When Christ iterated the Commandments, he only mentioned five (Luke 18:20) . He then added one there and another in John 13:34.

@Joe Allen and freeholder:

If by “last rites” you mean specifically Christian preparation for death, then your rites will include assurances of resurrection (Christians believe in “Heaven,” a kind of club which promises to exclude one’s enemies).

If you widen your views, however, you’ll find that last rites have always centered on burial with some kind of memorial. See the last two chapters of Genesis, chs. 33-34 of Deuteronomy, etc.

Jesus also received Jewish last rites, but only after his death, when Joseph of Arimathaea got his body and prepared it for burial. Jesus’s resurrection is a Christian addition, tacked onto three of the Gospel accounts (but not Mark).

So goes our Bible lesson for today. GT would be amused to learn that his cartoon sanctimony is taken seriously. The comment by packratjohn is spot-on.

Ps. Thanks for the splendid URL, Super Griz.

@Joe-Allen:

I didn’t quote the Bible to upset you, and I sympathize with your conviction that “those who follow Jesus’s teachings don’t even have to know what is in the OT.” But surely anyone who takes the NT Gospels to heart ought to be interested in any details we have of his Jewish burial?

After all, those who saw to his BURIAL rites–Mary Magdalen, Joseph of Arimathaea, and “the other Mary”–were the last persons ever to handle Jesus’s corpse before it is supposed to have vanished and gone to “Heaven.”

Those of us who haven’t yet visited Heaven have nothing to go on but the historical record of Jesus’s deeds, promises, and sufferings–which imitate those of the OT prophets (sorry, but Jesus loved to talk about the OT even if some Christians don’t).

Greetings,

Joe-Allen “Joe” Doty wrote:

“…Where in the Bible are the scriptures for Last Rites? I have never seen any? …”

I am unsure of Lutherans, Eastern/Greek Orthodox, or other branches of Christians, but Roman Catholic Christians use the following two verses as a beginning of their support for what is now called “Sacrament of the Sick”. —- James 5:14-15 Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.

Mark 6:12-13 So they went off and preached repentance. 13 They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. —-

There are other verses that tie into this, but as I said this is considered an simple starting point.

Roman Catholics used to call this activity “Last Rites“ because it was usually only given on a death bed. It is given more often now because of the other spiritual and possible physical healing results that may come from it.

If you don’t have access to a Christian Bible at hand, you can use your favorite search engine to find a free online version if you are interested in the greater context of those two verses I quoted. :-)

James T. Savidge, Wednesday, May 19, 2010

@ poohbear8192,

Thanks for that link yesterday. I now understand better where you are coming from… and why you are so different from most of the atheists I have encountered.

I am also glad that you have found something that can provide what most of us get from belonging to a church.

@ Mr Doty,

Are you not yourself a “Bible Thumper?” You complain about others doing the very same things you do yourself.

You are often ranting about how this or that is “not in the Bible.” Just because something is not in the Bible does not mean that it is not good.

Here’s a scripture pertinent to your current diatribe: Matthew 5:17-19

Christ came to fulfill the law, not destroy it.

Do you realize that the last rites are now called the sacrament of the sick

No problem for orthodoxy there, memcgowan, since for a true Christian life itself is illness in comparison to the health expected in Heaven. Hopefully “this sickness is not unto death,” as Jesus said of Lazarus, who already lay stinking in his tomb (John 11:4).

The Last Rites are part of the Seven Sacraments, which are granted to any confirmed member of the Catholic Church, and others as well, such as The Anglican church, and is less formal terms, many Protestant sects. They also include: baptism, confirmation in the church, communion or taking of the Eucharist, confession, marriage in the church, and burial in consecrated ground.

When a member of the Catholic Church is for any reason excommunicated, they are no longer permitted any of the sacraments.

Not that long ago, a Catholic priest would never perform any of these rites for a non-catholic, but greater modern diversity in religious practice, and the role of religion in war, has made many churches more generous.

I never heard that burial was a sacrament, Eugeno. And what about ordination, traditionally one of the seven?

Considering how many of our comments have wandered from the subject of today’s strip, I have to echo the remark Shytimes made yesterday: GT and his Chaplain have generated a colossal “mash-up.”

The critical factor about burial is ‘where’, and if a priest presides. Part of adjustments after The Reformation led to changes in many things, the sacraments included. I can cite one example - when the 17th century French playwright, Moliere, died, he could not be buried in a formal cemetary, as anyone in the theatre at that time was automatically excommunicated, and France was a strongly Catholic country. Even the support of the king’s brother could not alter it. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that he was disinterred and given a ‘proper’ burial.

The seven I have listed are for the general congregation, I think - joining the priesthood involves other rites.

Since the time the C. church fastened on the sacraments as a means to keep the members in the church, and the general waning of the C. church’s power and influence, as I’m sure you are aware, many adjustments have been made by the church, some formal, others less so. It seems to be in a period of adjustment now, which may lead to marriage in the priesthood.

@Eugeno

I forgot that Moliere was excommunicated and had to be buried at night without pomp; probably because he died right after acting as “the Imaginary Invalid” (now THERE was a sickness unto death; this French Lazarus had to wait three centuries).

I know R.C. theologians disagree fiercely over the occasions on which Jesus instituted the traditional Seven Sacraments. The recent shifts that you note in the Church’s practices suggest fascinating possibilities, such as combining several of the sacraments when a priest marries. Good material for Trudeau!

Yerbouti sure has been into southern rock recently, what’s next, The Black Crows? Must have been that Civil War thing a couple of weeks ago.

I think what matters is that God loves you and GT’s chaplain is spot on the money. I think God cries when we start arguing theology. After all it is just man’s attempt to understand God and understand Him we never will Enjoy this beautiful day he has created for you

Jesus was found guilty of claiming to be God by the false Jewish council (Sanhedrin) of his time (No Levitical requirement and hence it was not truly Legal), the High Priest, (not a Levite) and the King (not of David) (meaning now rites would have had any real legality under their administration) and would have been given no Jewish rites due to his sin, Palin. Joesph and Nick are said to have taken the Body to the tomb, not the women. The ladies came on the morning of the third day, meaning to finish the job of anointment. They did not find the body ops the rites would not have been concluded. They did not then see the Body ascend (If you are going to insult and attack the one key item of Christianity, at least get the Biblical facts straight ) jJesus appeared to them, to James, his brother, then to the others, and finally Thomas. He met with several hundred others as witnesses. He ascended from the mount on which hw will return in the presence of witnesses also. The notion of the resurrection being lately added has been a myth of its own for quite a while and dated copies have long proven it was not “added” to the Gospels. Were you suggesting it existed originally in the fourth?

Joe: Christ did indeed keep the Law, “not striking one whit.”. . It exists as the measuring stick for all those who do not accept Him as Lord. He incorporates much of the Law (such as love your enemy from Lev.) in his teachings, He merely redirects the emphasis. It’s now on our relationship to God as opposed to obedience for obedience sake, which was the Jewish application at the time. (You have to realize they felt that being born a Jew WAS salvation and so keeping the Law was an insurance policy.

Christ did give us a the law of love. he revised the law to tell us to love our brothers since Christians had never existed before his sacrifice.

Religion is a joke.

Lots of good comments that could go on for ages. Did want to clarify the sacraments, however (for those who care).

They are Baptism and Holy Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation (previously known as confession), Unction, Matrimony and Ordination. Burial is not a sacrament.

Also, Unction – anointing – is appropriate for both the sick and the dying. It is not exclusively “last rites.”

PS, liked Rev Ron’s comment.

Also, some of the comments were just too long for me to devote time to reading – my time is pretty limited. Sorry.

(rolls his eyes) You probably don’t keep kosher either, Joe. Alright? You’re just arguing for the sake of arguing.

Why is it that some think you must die to meet your maker?

I believe I meet my maker everyday when I see the blue sky, the eagles that fly around my city and the love I feel from my family.

I’m in the Kingdom every day.