About The Sheep Comics™

The Sheep Comics™ is a Christian comic strip. It is aimed at anyone who calls him or herself a Christian, but I hope that anyone who likes comics will at least find it interesting. (A bit strange perhaps, but interesting.)

The Sheep Comics™ are a series of comic strip episodes that tell the story of Lionel the Average Lamb and his experiences in the world of programmed, systematized, and professionally managed church systems. Each comic strip episode is accompanied by an editorial that, needless to say, I hope you will read.

A word about terminology. When I use the term "church system", I mean any system of ritual and event attendance combined with outward behavior, that when conformed to, is supposed to please God.

The great (or tragic, depending on your point of view) thing about church systems is that one can conform to most of them for an entire life without ever having to experience a genuine change of heart, and a corresponding change of actions, that would truly please God. And whether we as individuals really please God or not, the system can grind on and on and on.

How does one arrive at this point of view? I could fill a web site with nothing but long and complicated documents full of scripture references, but I prefer to let Lionel and his friends tell the story. It's more fun and interesting that way, and I have found that people tend to remember things that are fun and interesting. (Come to mention it, I don't remember much of the time I've sat in "church".)

So now you know what I'm really up to. I lure you in here to read the cool cartoons but what I really want you to do is read the editorials and think. If the Sheep Comics™ cause you to pause and think even for a moment (whether you agree or not), they have accomplished their mission.

What the Sheep Comics™ are Not

The Sheep Comics™ are not political cartoons. At least not in the sense of "current issues". The Sheep Comics™ will not be dealing with issues such as abortion, homosexuality, prayer in schools, or evolution vs. creationism. There is already enough material concerning these issues on the Web, and I don't think I could change anything by drawing cartoon sheep. Besides, I want to get us Christians thinking about the things and systems we take for granted, not what the media (Christian or secular) is continually telling us to think about. In other words, it's about what (in this sheep's opinion) should be an issue, not the issues we've already got.

The Sheep Comics™ are not "anti" any individual, church, or group of churches. Sheepalonia is an abstract world created for the purpose of expressing opinions on our church systems and traditions. None of these traditions or systems is unique to any individual, church, or group of churches.

The characters in this strip are personifications of attitudes and do not correspond to any particular people in the real world. Any similarity between characters, names of characters, churches, and events portrayed in Sheep Comics™ and actual events or churches or real persons or sheep living or dead is coincidental. Actual names are mentioned only in the case where a published work of an individual is being criticized, reviewed, or quoted.

Why Sheep Comics™?

The purpose of the Sheep Comics™ is to provide Christians with an alternative point of view concerning "church" and faith. One of the main themes running throughout the Sheep Comics™ is that there is a difference between pleasing God and pleasing a church system. It's one thing to "go to church" and quite another to take ownership of your faith and your eternal destiny. I created the sheep characters to illustrate this in an entertaining way.

Who am I, you ask? Years of attending "corporate worship" at large, professionally managed churches have taught me one thing: it doesn’t matter. You can think of me as Web Shepherd.