Pickles by Brian Crane for June 29, 2010

Maybe she meant the undergarment kind Earl.

Flip flops were once called thongs….surely she meant those…

Not a nice thought if you consider the folks who generally do attend church.

ejcapulet, my question was, how does Opal know they’re wearing thongs?

And I don’t know about your church, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of ours do wear thongs and do them justice. Not that I’ve checked…….

Then there are those who wear sweats everywhere they go

Even though I don’t want to dress up, I do miss the days of people looking respectable.

I actually enjoy dressing up for church. It’s the only time I get to put on a dress and look what I hope is nice!

I do miss people looking like grownups instead of overage teenagers all the time.

And while I don’t think you have to wear a suit and tie to church, it is nice to show a little respect–and strapless dresses and belly shirts (which I have seen in church) are a little disrespectful IMO. But I guess at least those wearing them are IN church, so I shouldn’t complain.

When ever a woman’s wrong ( most of the time ) They all say “WHATEVER ”

I’m stunned by what parents allow their teenagers wear to church. We’ve had running shorts even. With A/C on, you’d think some of the girls would be cold with their skimpy tops.

How’s about called “slippahs!”? That is for flip-flops

I agree with Joe that there is no “dress code” for what you can wear to church. That being said, however, I also believe that what you wear reflects your attitude. I love Him, and I want to show respect, so I dress up.

Back when I was a kid, (more years ago than I care to admit), the only requirements were, whatever you wore had to be modest, neat and clean.

The key word is “modest.”

THE MODSTY BIT IS NOT ONLY FOR CHURCH BUT A LOT OF OTHER PUBLIC PLACES YOU DRIVE BY A HIGHSCHOOL AND QUITING TIME AND SOME OF THE GIRLS LOOK LIKE THEY ARE THERE SOLISITING ! AND MAY BE THEY ARE??

No thongs please, we’re Squeamish.

Our Church was founded by the Reverend Adam Squeams.

No butts about it.

Thing a joyful thong unto the Lord!

(Hey JAD, how well do you know your Leviticus?)

Why DID Laviti cuss?

Joe, about the only thing you’ve never tried to explain to us is why anyone SHOULD believe in God, Jesus, the Bible, or any of that stuff. Why don’t you give it a try?

Well, Jesus did raise from the dead. And those stories that say He did aren’t just legends invented years later. The apostles themselves claimed in their own words to have seen Jesus alive. Paul wrote in the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to Corinth, “Last of all He appeared to me.”

Everything written in the so called “New Testament” was written at least sixty years after the so called facts.

We have inherited a Greek and Roman manipulated mythology that has smothered our moral imaginations and left us unable to invent a better way of loving the world and living well within it.

pschearer:

Jesus, if he did actually exist as claimed, did one thing right. He challenged again and again the statues quo and those who profited unfairly by it.

He was a great example of someone who though “Outside the Box.”

He asked us to be better persons than mere rules could make us.

However, others have done the same and we would do well to study and emulate them too.

Constantinepaleologos: To which one might add that the letters of Paul, and at last three of the four gospels, were set to paper when the life and death of Jesus was within the living memory of their audience – Paul even made an indirect reference to that when he remarked that the risen Jesus appeared to more than 500 of the disciples on one occasion, “most of whom are still alive”.

Even the serious skeptic, if at all reasonable, would have to concede that something utterly extraordinary happened, which transformed the lives of everyone privileged to witness it. Draw your own conclusions.

As for “why anyone SHOULD believe in God, Jesus, the Bible, or any of that stuff”, pschearer, that would be a wonderful discussion – but this isn’t the place for it. I’ve seen too many comment boards devolve into religious wars, and it’s really, really off topic. Besides, others have already answered you better than anyone here could. Get a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, read it with an open mind, and see if you still have the same questions.

poohbear8192 said: “Everything written in the so called “New Testament” was written at least sixty years after the so called facts.”

(Someone once pointed out that the words “so called” are often used as a snarky insult, when in fact the words themselves are completely neutral. Are you the “so called poohbear8192”?)

In any case, my friend, you’re mistaken. The best scholarly conclusion is that Jesus was crucified around the year 33 CE; the letters of Paul date from 48 CE onwards; the Letter to the Hebrews probably predates the destruction of the Temple in 79 CE; and the gospels, possibly excepting that of John, were first set to paper in the last quarter of the first century, after a long history of oral transmission.

Luke, a second-generation apostle and traveling companion of Paul, even prefaces his gospel by stating his purpose:

“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

In other words, he and the other gospel writers weren’t trying to spring something new onto their readers long after the fact – they were setting to paper what their readers had already long and consistently been told by numerous witnesses of good character. (Which is, by the way, the only way that you or I know almost everything that we consider to be true.)

We wear our “Sunday-go-to Meeting” clothes to Sunday Mass.

Casual at the weekday Masses.

aerwalt: It’s everyone for themselves at our Sunday Mass. Some are in impeccable business attire; others are in ethnic dress that’s, well, colorful; still others look like they meant to go to the mall instead. It’s all good.

Well, except for the middle-aged guy in the wild “Dragonball Z” silk shirt. At his age? Really? :)

Oooh, some interesting posts today!

Joe-Allen “Joe” Doty- What’s with the lecture? Did any of us really need that? And as for the dressing up for church, churchgoers (well, most of them) dress up to show respect for the One that they worship. Simple as that.

Sorry, didn’t mean to deviate from the topic of the comic so much! But I had to say something. :)

I totally agree that one shouldn’t have to wear a suit and tie to church, but at the same time, one should attempt to dress with some modesty. It’s fine if many people have no embarrassment going around in public with their rolls of flabby fat covered bare skin flopping about, but they really need to consider the gag inducing revulsion it causes in the innocent people forced to see it!

poohbear8192, Jesus never claimed to be a nice guy who asked us to try to be “better people”. He claimed to be God incarnate, and the only way to the Father.

Either he was right, or he was wrong but thought he was right, or he knew he wasn’t God and was scamming all of his followers. You can worship him as lord (or reject him because he’s the lord, and you refuse to submit to him), you can dam-n him as one of the worst charlatans of history, or you can pity him for a misguided lunatic, but one thing you cannot do is reduce him to a wise man who just wants us all to try to be better.

He hasn’t left us that choice.

(Sadly, the word filter doesn’t recognize d a m n as a real word, not just an expletive.)

Earl knows the difference between thongs and flip flops? he’s ahead of Opal!

This is what Earl’s preferably thinking: And that surprises you because…

I see Pooh is at it over here too, strongarming his atheistic gloom. If not that, he’s insulting and harassing anyone he doesn’t want posting comments on what he thinks is his site. Who does he think he is? Obamarx, the dictator in his own mind? People give Joe Dotty a hard time, and not this guy?

It seems Earl KNOWS what a thong is these days, and doesn’t want Opal making a faux pas.

Earl (and Opal for that matter) know that the foot apparel that was at one time called a thong is now called a flip-flop because their daughter has corrected their use of the word “thong” in the past. Opal then expressed her disappointment and dismay over the “ruining [of] yet another perfectly good word.” I think that Opal is just utilizing her selective memory here.

I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus are real, and I know this because I can feel it with all that I am. Despite all that I have gone through and all of the mistakes that I have made, he sustains me. I know that the Holy Ghost is real, because through him, I have experienced the peace that Jesus spoke about it the Scripture. I don’t think that we should be discussing about what is right or wrong, this is not the forum for it. Rather, we should remember to love God and to love all our neighbors as we love ourselves. And about the dress code, I knew a priest who had a homily about the subject. Said that he wouldn’t go to the gym in his vestments, and he wouldn’t be preaching in his sweatsuit. Best part about that is when people started leaving, and they weren’t dressed appropriately…