EN71 Light Pollution
14/09/09 07:47 Filed in: Philippians | Revelation
The background to this idea was something Peter Woodcock said during the Contagious 09 conference. I was standing with him and Jon Drane on a field looking at stars and he made a comment about the link between suburban light pollution and our inability to comprehend the glory of the vastness of space.
You can take this cartoon in a number of ways but my personal intention was to say that everyday life has immediate distractions that appear to be good while keeping us from comprehending the big thing of Jesus stepping into history and redeeming our broken dark planet.
EN65 Atheism Reasons
01/03/09 13:55 Filed in: John
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you will need to scroll down to find the exact part). Read More...
EN55 Doctor Luke's Documentary
01/05/08 13:54 Filed in: Luke
The Bible epilogue text can be found here.
This is an interview I recently put together with an ex-student who has become a really good mate. It is really exciting that he won the Best British Doc at the London Independent Film Festival at the NFT a few weeks ago. I did a skype call to explore some of the making ideas.
Anyway - it got me thinking about Luke's Gospel which has so much in common with a well-produced and researched documentary. Read More...
EN31 Planet Earth: did they plan it?
01/05/06 13:52 Filed in: Psalms
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
I really don't know if this point is that obvious, but I will try to explain it...
The Planet Earth series was hugely popular with lavish filming techniques and equipment being used to capture amazing things around the world. The ironic problem (as I saw it) was that while we were being expected to accept evolutionary assumptions about how the world is randomly gorgeous, the end 'making of' section undermines this idea. How can we accept hat the world is the way it is through chance, when that is the last thing that is being used to make the program. It is incredible how purposeful and creative the process is for the filmmakers - sometime spending weeks in a small room with a camera trying to capture a bird or some such creature. After watching the program you are amazed at how deliberate and personal every edit is, but are still expected to see nothing of the creator in the world at large.
I don't know if this is very clear, but at least I tried...
The parallel text and image layout is okay, but I think it actually confuses things. You have to really work hard at spotting the difference. Not happy.
Those are screengrabs from the episode where the elephants are swimming and some guy is chasing something in a helicopter.
EN30 Where Cartoonists Fear to Tread
01/03/06 13:52 Filed in: Acts
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
I really like this one. The Muslim cartoon protests were hitting the headlines big time. One of the things about doing this strip is that there are sometimes easy targets and then less obvious ones. The end example is something I am pleased with because it doesn't do the obvious thing of criticising Muslims - it goes one better (in my view) and asks the question what is sacred to the secularists?
Fundamental to the whole event is the attitude of the secular press toward sacred beliefs, and I wanted to turn the tables.
My favourite bit is the caps lock gag. Thanks to the editorial assistance from John Batchelor who was a good mate to us at the time. Man can he laugh.
EN29The 'Root of All Evil', so called.
01/01/06 13:52 Filed in: Luke | 2 Corinthians
The Bible epilogue text can be found here and here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Richard Dawkins is an intelligent man with plenty to say about christianity and religion that is fundamentally flawed. A TV program was shown where he basically did a rather stupid hatchet job. I wanted to point out that this hero cannot continue to be such a thing if he continues making straw-man arguments.
I wanted to dedicate this to the Christians in Science organisation, who do a great job of portraying a thoughtful response to so much incredulity.
EN28 March/Speech of the Penguins
22/12/05 13:51 Filed in: 1 Corinthians
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
March of the Penguins had come out and was doing very well with the christian cinema-going public. I have a number of friends who don't agree with the christian worldview and one thing I am quite keen on is trying to explain my perspective in the most effective way possible. This strip picks up on my unease with the so-called 'intelligent design' debate. Personally I think that it isn't the best way of 'selling' the christian faith because nothing gets there better than talking about Jesus. It has some value to reflect on good things in the world around us (and this is undoubtedly a strong point in the film) but to use it for some mildly political christian point is (to me) a bit of a shame.
I used the Balaam's Donkey idea of a talking animal here, and the pengui-logue reinforces it.
This is a good example of the EN editor's editorial insight. John Benton has occasionally stepped in to encourage me in one direction or another. On this strip he later commented on the need to avoid criticising christians, which is a good thing. My original 'pitch' for this strip was to do something jokey about church culture, but he came back to me with the better idea of taking a satirical view of the non-christian world - which has proven to be be a much more healthy exercise as I have been pushed to reflect on the world outside the church and how it does/does not relate to the perspective in the Bible. A good editor is a life-saver.
EN25 The 'Incitement to Religious Hatred' Law
01/10/05 13:51 Filed in: Hebrews
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
The Christian Institute had made some responses to the discussion on a proposed 'incitement to religious hatred' law. A worrying aspect of the issue was that a law that was intended to protect religious views could end up being used to legislate against faiths like christianity. I had listened to some testimonies of people from around the world where they had been hounded and eventually thrown out of their own countries due to this kind of law being passed. I wanted to reflect on the changes implicit in this law.
A couple of my friends’ boys are mentioned in the dedication. I think it speaks for itself.
EN16 Trusting in Fair-tales.
27/12/04 13:50 Filed in: Acts
Based on virtually all of my chats with non-christian people I can say that they find it amazing that christians have any intellectual rigour whatsoever. Most of the time there is incredulity and surprise at any suggestion that being a christian is something you can use your mind for. While evidence and argument will never 'prove' it in the way that you might work out my DNA using scientific analysis, there is a substantial and reassuring amount of evidence that accompanies the outrageous claims of Jesus Christ. The aim of this strip is to turn the tables and highlight the regular conclusion (in my experience) that prejudice and narrow mindedness often keep people from becoming convinced by christian truth.
The letter Y is a key player in this strip, and it follows a strong symmetry which I really enjoyed using. The afro character is loosely based on myself as my dad, who had a magnificent one in the 1970s.
