Dec. 26th, 2007
Stephen King, God and Garth Ennis
Dec. 26th, 2007 02:57 amI've been rereading The Stand over the holiday. And I'm now at the point where Mother Abigal speaking for God tells the surviving men of the Free Zone Committee that they need to go west to confront Flagg. And it suddenly struck me how much the God in this book is alike to the one in Ennis' Preacher. He won't FORCE you to his will, no. He wants you to CHOOSE him. No matter what evil happens, what horrors you witness and survive, what awful, PREVENTABLE, thing happens CHOOSE Him. LOVE Him. Not because He makes you. Nope. Because you WANT to. Of your own free will, CHOOSE to obey. And then once you've PROVEN yourself. Once you've SACRIFICED again and again in HIS name. THEN God will stop the forces of darkness. But not UNTIL your love for Him is proven...
And thats WAY too damn similar to the self-indulgent bastard Lord of the Hosts from Preacher. Ennis may ride that horse to death, undeath and double death whenenever he brings up religion. But there are times, when you look out at the fucked up shit in the world where you see where he's coming from. (Not that if you read Ennis enough you still won't get tired of it.) Because my reaction this time when I hit that point in The Stand? Fuck that God. Not out of fear (like Fran who doesn't want to risk losing Stu). But out of hate. FUCK HIM. You stood aside and let ALL THIS happen. The Super-Flu, Flagg rising to power, the death of Nick and Susan and the others? Fuck you. Maybe if I were in the position of Stu/Glen/Ralph/Larry I'd still go to stop Flagg (I'd like to think I would). But not for this selfish fucker in constant need of my love. No fuck that God. Trust that bastard? Hell no...
I'm a person who DOES feel the need for belief in a higher power. Who in the dark wants someone to pray to for help and strength. And I do Believe in a Creator of some kind. But I can't look around and see the evil in the world and think that their is a Creator who deserves my love and faith. Small wonder, I place them with a divine being I cobbled together for myself...
Ok, enough rambling...
And thats WAY too damn similar to the self-indulgent bastard Lord of the Hosts from Preacher. Ennis may ride that horse to death, undeath and double death whenenever he brings up religion. But there are times, when you look out at the fucked up shit in the world where you see where he's coming from. (Not that if you read Ennis enough you still won't get tired of it.) Because my reaction this time when I hit that point in The Stand? Fuck that God. Not out of fear (like Fran who doesn't want to risk losing Stu). But out of hate. FUCK HIM. You stood aside and let ALL THIS happen. The Super-Flu, Flagg rising to power, the death of Nick and Susan and the others? Fuck you. Maybe if I were in the position of Stu/Glen/Ralph/Larry I'd still go to stop Flagg (I'd like to think I would). But not for this selfish fucker in constant need of my love. No fuck that God. Trust that bastard? Hell no...
I'm a person who DOES feel the need for belief in a higher power. Who in the dark wants someone to pray to for help and strength. And I do Believe in a Creator of some kind. But I can't look around and see the evil in the world and think that their is a Creator who deserves my love and faith. Small wonder, I place them with a divine being I cobbled together for myself...
Ok, enough rambling...
I was planning to wait until I saw my roommate ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kafeixuesheng to open his gift. But since he seems to still be at his family's I figured I'd break it open. And sweet! The first twenty issues of what is possibly my favorite team super-hero comic, The New Warriors way back in the day with Fabian Nicieza writing it. I used to have a near complete run, but lost or gave them away at some point. I'm pretty sure I gave them away, expecting that Marvel would release a trade or Essential or SOMETHING. But nope. So this is pretty damn nice...
kafeixuesheng to open his gift. But since he seems to still be at his family's I figured I'd break it open. And sweet! The first twenty issues of what is possibly my favorite team super-hero comic, The New Warriors way back in the day with Fabian Nicieza writing it. I used to have a near complete run, but lost or gave them away at some point. I'm pretty sure I gave them away, expecting that Marvel would release a trade or Essential or SOMETHING. But nope. So this is pretty damn nice...