Christianity In Anime

[okendri]

Why does she have to give names to the people who were crucified? Its fact that crucifition was a known punishment for the romans of that time.

 

[Sketch]

I have a relationship with Jesus Christ and I'll admit some things in say... Evangelion disturbs me, but not ususally for religious reasons. It would get my sister in a second though and I can respect that. There have been moments in Inu Yasha, Cowboy Bebop, EVA, and even Yu Yu Hakusho that have made me feel dirty from watching them. Filth that completely rips my religion and I'm a hypocrit if I tell people not to watch when I do it on my own. So I try to "watch" what I watch. I don't let things in anime bother me much because I try to keep an open mind to what other people believe. Which will make what I'm going to say next seem very hypocritical. I know what I believe is the truth not by words but by what I have felt. God has done amazing things which I can't describe and won't try. Sometimes I forget that he's with me when I watch television, anime, movies, and everything else but he is and that is why I don't focus my interest on things that would hurt him. Because God does get hurt when we watch things that we shouldn't. I'm not saying you can't watch those things, but they do have an impact. It really depends on what you can take in. I know my limits (I think I do) and to some of you they probably seem pathetic, but I know that what I watch and listen to do affect me. "Garbage in, garbage out" as they say. So I try not to let in the garbage in the first place. I do stumble. I'll admit that I have seen nearly all of Evangelion and sometimes I feel like watching it again, but that doesn't mean I should or will. Just some food for thought...

Many anime/cartoon don't bother me at all, but anything that pulls me away from God should not become an obsession and I had that problem before (with Pokemon, Dragonball Z, etc.), but I'm working on it. I'm not perfect (and never will be), but there are some things I stay away from. If you don't, then it's fine. Just remember that you too have your limits. Believe what you want and follow the path you choose, but I want you to know that no matter how you live God still loves you and wants to be your friend and savior.

 

[EinBebop]

Originally posted by Vekou
[BAs for Escaflowne, how can someone be offended by Tarot cards? And if that's the only reason that you're not watching the series, you are missing out. [/B]

Now, don't go twisting my words. Uncomfortable and offended are two different things. When your raised in an environment that tells you that things like tarot and ouija are evil, that tends to stick with you, even though in my mind I consider it just part of another non-Christian religion now.

Edit: Actually, let me expand on what I just said. Anything vaguely witchcraft related makes me uncomfortable because it seems so easy. I have seen a couple of lives messed up by it. I was once intrigued by it myself, but was blessed to live in a community that provided me no access to such materials. I wonder what kind of trouble I might've gotten into if I'd been a teen now with Internet access and books easily acquired at B&N or Borders.

I still enjoy things like Harry Potter and such, but tarot just hits too close to home. My poor children are going to have to suffer endless lectures on occult.

 

[Jade_GL]

Mackenzie: Off the top of your head, how many people can you name (besides Jesus) who were crucified in real life?

Want to start with the two criminals that were crucified beside Christ in the Bible?

Anyway, it is a well known fact that the Romans used crucifixion in other cases. It certainly wasn't a special fate just for Christ. It was an awful form of torture where the person died after as much as 72 hours of suffering. In fact....

Apparently, the first known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians. Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world -- to Egypt and to Carthage. The Romans apparently learned the practice from the Carthaginians and (as with almost everything the Romans did) rapidly developed a very high degree of efficiency and skill at it. A number of Roman authors (Livy, Cicer, Tacitus) comment on crucifixion, and several innovations, modifications, and variations are described in the ancient literature.

From a religious article in fact. http://www.konnections.com/Kcundick/crucifix.html

Anyway, kind of off topic but I figured it might help some people out when talking about the symbolism found in anime to realize the historical background. Hope that helps.

BTW, I don't see anything wrong with Tarot cards. Of course, I don't believe in them having any power, they're just like baseball cards to me, only with prettier pictures.

 

[NovaSaber]

Edit: Actually, let me expand on what I just said. Anything vaguely witchcraft related makes me uncomfortable because it seems so easy. I have seen a couple of lives messed up by it.

I've seen lives messed up by Christianity. Does that mean Christianity should make me uncomfortable?

 

[EinBebop]

Originally posted by NovaSaber
I've seen lives messed up by Christianity. Does that mean Christianity should make me uncomfortable?

You wouldn't be the first. You could even go as far as to say offended.

 

[okendri]

Hyper Luigi what aspect of Inu-yasha and Yu Yu Hakusho offend you so much. When watching some from Japan, you have to realize that some of these stories will some ideas from their religion just as American cinema has some christian ideas. The writers created these stories with a japanese audiences in mind. All these stories are no different than Greek mythology that we were taught in school. Were you bothered by that? Those shows are just stories used to entertain and shouldn't be taken as an insult to any other religion. If you can't understand, I suggest you stop watching anime.


Einbebop if you have had all that you would have been a better person. I'm not disrepecting you or anything, but by looking up something you could gain an understanding of it and make a decision for yourself instead of going on something that may or may not be true.

 

[EinBebop]

Originally posted by okendri
Einbebop if you have had all that you would have been a better person. I'm not disrepecting you or anything, but by looking up something you could gain an understanding of it and make a decision for yourself instead of going on something that may or may not be true.

I disagree. If I were to go nosing in spellbooks and such now, it would be for the purpose to gain understanding, and I would be a better person for it. If I'd played with them then, it would have been to use the information within. I had a decent Christian background, but felt drawn to witchcraft because of the power.

Now I agree that children should be allowed to learn from their mistakes. But there's a limit. You don't let them get hit by a car so that they remember to look both ways.

I have no inclination to study it now. I've just started to study world religions, but I don't really hold occult in the same category. I consider it to be, for the most part, more of a phase that some teenagers go through and grow out of in their early twenties, more often than not relatively undamaged.

 

[okendri]

Don't compare putting someone in harm's way with looking at witchcraft books. I never believed that witchcraft had any powers. I put the occult with other things from the old world like magic, dragons, and demons. I think that some of the fears of the unknown give more credenance to the occult than there really is. As long as no one was sacrificing anything, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

 

[Majin Buu]

I am Agnostic, so I am, of course, not offended by religious symbolism in anime. In fact, I think religious symbolism is cool, since it sort of helps me gain a better understanding of different religions and cultures.

 

[EinBebop]

Originally posted by okendri
Don't compare putting someone in harm's way with looking at witchcraft books. I never believed that witchcraft had any powers.

I can and will, because I do believe that witchcraft has powers. And I'll bet there's a Wiccan or two floating around here ready to pounce on both of us.

 

[okendri]

I guess that's where we differ. I guess because I saw so many movies that overexaggerate the occult I think of it as being hokey.

 

[NovaSaber]

I think I should point out two things.

You would not have been able to find a "spellbook". You could have found books describing Wicca's history, practices, and beliefs, but you would not have found any spells you could just use without understanding what you were doing. Nor would you find anything powerful or dangerous.

The "occult" is just a bunch of unrelated things that people falsely associate together. (The fact that Satanism is one of those things gives all the rest a bad name.) For example, there's no reason tarot should remind you of witchcraft.

 

[EinBebop]

While I strongly disagree with you about spellbooks, I'll grant you that 'occult' has come to be a big mixture of things... but since we're starting to stray away from anime, I'll leave the last word to others, and perhaps someone can start an occult thread on the Cafe board if they feel so compelled.

Whether or not the feelings are justified or not, however, occult subjects are rather touchy with many Christians because of the Satanic relationship. While many other occultish elements probably occur in anime, some are so common, or whitewashed, that we don't even notice them anymore. Heck, how many demons and nature spirits have I seen in cartoons? But tarot is one of those things that still strikes a nerve, brings it all back. But I still watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer with relatively no problem? I never said it all makes sense.

As a Christian, what really tends to offend me is twisted depictions of Christians and Christianity. From what I've read of Ninja Resurrection, I probably would not be pleased. But Christian imagery is an ingrained part of western culture, and as they've assimilated our media, it's influenced eastern culture as well. It's only expected to see these elements pop up as people who don't understand Christianity interperet these symbols in their own ways.

 

[Duncanzits]

It seems a lot of people are talking about anime that makes them feel uncomfortable, which ones don't make you feel that way?

In my opinion, Cowboy Bebop doesn't really insult Christianity. All it has is gun play, but a lot of Christians like the Matrix as well.

 

[Amano Ginji]

Matrix + Cowboy Bebop = sw33tn3ss.

 

[ROBBOT]

Trigun is a good example. I'm not much into its characters ( I think Wolfwood is cool, though ), but I think the show does a good job in exposing its philosophy to the audience.
I haven't watched The Big O so I can't comment.

 

[Sketch]

Originally posted by okendri
Hyper Luigi what aspect of Inu-yasha and Yu Yu Hakusho offend you so much. When watching some from Japan, you have to realize that some of these stories will some ideas from their religion just as American cinema has some christian ideas. The writers created these stories with a japanese audiences in mind. All these stories are no different than Greek mythology that we were taught in school. Were you bothered by that? Those shows are just stories used to entertain and shouldn't be taken as an insult to any other religion. If you can't understand, I suggest you stop watching anime.

I completely understand that anime mainly touches on legends from Asia, and I am not offended by their beliefs. That doesn't mean I like to watch demon devour souls (or try to) and what not. Inu Yasha and Yu Yu Hakusho don't have much of that so I usually just ignore it when it does happen. Evangelion doesn't really have that either, but don't take Evangelion too seriously because it's basically saying God is punishing mankind again for some reason (if the angels are from God). Lilith is about the only thing that really bothers me as far as the religious aspects go on EVA, but the pure violence can be a bit much at times.

I respect other people's beliefs and won't shun them for what they believe. I just don't like to see certain things. There are things in TMNT I don't like to watch (never for religious issues... more so that they creep me out) and nearly every cartoon I've ever watched had something that disturbed me at some point. Some lesser than others, but when you're dealing with the world you are going to get both good and bad. The choice is wether or not you let yourself dwell on it.

YYH and Inu Yasha are fine. I like the Matrix too, but it's all just fiction with some elements of fact or mythology. As long as you don't let it affect what you believe and know what you can take in then it's no big deal.

I watch and/or study cartoons, and I've seen a lot of cartoons and quite a bit of anime. Religious reasons aren't usually why I don't like something in them. Usually it's just because they creep me out or make me feel queezy. So I try to avoid similar things, because I don't like returning to those feelings. Even Power Rangers (not a cartoon) disturbed me at one point or another. Maybe I just have a weak stomach (not that I've ever thrown up from watching a cartoon), but I know what I can watch and can't.

I'll continue to watch anime because I like the art form. The culture of Asia is a big part of it (Dragonball was based on a Chinese legend afterall) and I have no problem with that. Excorcisms, possesions, demon uprisings, and human mutations (to extremes... X-Men isn't usually a problem) are the kinds of things I don't like to watch. Thus the excorcism scene on Inu Yasha wasn't a pleasant site. That didn't make me hate the show though. I just know not to watch that episode again.

 

[Elven Moon]

Saint Tail also strongly uses the Christian faith. And while I am not very religious, it doesn't offend me one bit. I love it, in fact it's one of my favorite series!

Saint Tail has a nun-in-training for a best friend, and before she heads out to do her deeds she says a prayer with Seira for the big guy to watch over her. It's sweet, and I don't take it too seriously because I know it's not real. I'm sure it's for show anyway. Saint Tail also attends a Catholic private school.

 

[Zechs]

The only animes I don't watch are those that have too much piontless viloence or sex in in them or just to much of either peirod pointles or not. I get really annoyed when there's so much sex and viloence it over shadows the story. But as for the whole religon thing I just rember that the Japense were not raised on the Christian faith so I just take religon in anime with a grain of salt.