Standards

The Simpsons

124 Comments

There may no longer be kids wearing pegged pants or listening to hair bands but after 25 years youth leaders still don’t have to bother updating their rants against the Simpsons.

Of course those people still watching are now mostly in their 30’s but hey, who’s counting?

124 thoughts on “The Simpsons”

    1. Star Trek and Dr Who for sure…but I always make time for the Simpsons. Best commentary on middle America in forever!

        1. Meh. Nothing personal, but I have never found their brand of profane, low-brow humor to be funny.

        3. I don’t watch South Park. I tried but it was too hard to understand what they were saying.

          BTW, I’m not angry. LOL

        4. The funniest “domestic comedy” I’ve seen was King of the Hill.” I’m not sure if it can speak for middle America as a whole, but it’s dead-on about Garland, Texas, the real town that inspired the fictional Arlen.

  7. I find it amazing the Simpsons have actually remained relevant all these years. At least enough for them to still be the fundy whipping boy.

    1. Fundies dont let go of their whipping boys easily. They need *something* to rail against or they would have nothing to say

  8. I remember being about in 6th grade hearing a preacher rail on the Simpsons and that “God will never allow a show that mocks him to last long.” Good stuff.

    2. With all the irreverant cartoons out there, one about a nuclear, monogamous family who goes to church and believes in God wouldn’t seem like the most obvious Fundy target.
      But I guess they demand Fundy perfection in their cartoon characters.

      1. At least in what I recall, it was the fact that Bart was a “rebellious” child who didn’t respect his parents. You know, typical fundy stuff.

        1. Homer and Marge are traditionally married (one man, one woman; no previous spouses) and living with their own biological children, Marge is a stay-at-home Mom most of the time, Homer’s political views are pretty conservative– they’re more or less a model IFB family.

          Heh. Maybe the Fundies are afraid the Simpsons represent the Yellow Peril.

      3. Dear Big Gary:

        I’m guessing the issues involve ecclesial associations and church polity.

        The First Church of Springfield is belongs to the Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism. That organization also holds the clerical credentials of Reverend Timothy Lovejoy Jr., who is lead pastor of the First Church of Springfield. This puts Reverend Lovejoy in ecclesial fellowship with one Elijah Cooper and someone known as ‘the Parson.’ I ask you — how much do you actually know about those people?

        Moreover, we’ve learned that First Church of Springfield retains one Rachel Jorden as head singer in Kovenant, a Christian Rock band. And Reverend Lovejoy married a Hindu couple. Reverend Lovejoy visited La Mason Derriere, a burlesque house in Springfield.

        Then there was the radio program Reverend Timothy Lovejoy Jr. produced with now deceased infidel, Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky [ http://tinyurl.com/mmw79ax ]. Rabbi Hyman’s own son, ‘Herschel’ had no Bar Mitzvah at age thirteen as the lad was too mischievous and could not be trusted not to make mockery of the ritual. This Herschel became an entertainment industry whore and is better known in Springfield as Krusty the Clown.

        Of all possible co-producers, Reverend Lovejoy goes to this family to find this rabbi to make a religious show.

        Has the First Church of Springfield taken a stand against the local ministerial association? Why has it not rejected all churchly ties, called someone from Snob Clones Perversity, and sought to establish its God-given role as the one, true church of God in Springfield? James Berg may be coming available.

        Christian Socialist

    3. Fundies are so transparent about their jealousy of others’ success, it’s comical.

      (Or, you can take the WCBC approach and simply appropriate the latest cultural fads for your own purposes. Check out their YouTube channel sometime.)

    4. I knew a preacher who said publicly that God would never let a man on the moon………………oops.

  9. I know next to nothing about the Simpsons. I was raised in such a sheltered, IFB/ATI home that I hardly even knew that such a show existed.

    The Big Evil Bogey Man TV Show of my day was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which my mother explained to me in great detail was a show designed to turn the youth of America into mutants, which she defined as “rebellious teens.” (For many years after that, I thought that was what “mutant” meant.)

    3. I didn’t know anything about the Simpsons either, except that they were supposed to represent all that was wrong with America.
      I was also not allowed to watch The Cosby Show, because sometimes you saw Cliff and Claire in bed together, and since the actors weren’t married…
      Happy Days was banned because the Fonz taught kids to be rebellious.

      1. Yeah. TV was banned in our house, and radio because they “brought the world into your living room”, a bad thing. I used to lay under my covers with my head and a little radio under my pillow and listen to it. I never did get the words quite right, I am finding this out all the time.

        1. TV was banned in our household. We heard many sermons at church about how it was a giant sewage pipe, dumping filth into our living room.

      2. Cliff and Claire were married.

        …. Oh, you mean the actors had to be married to each other before they could play spouses?

        This bodes ill for almost every TV show, movie, or play … except for “I Love Lucy” and “Ozzie and Harriet.”

        1. But wait, in the play Victoria Regina put on by PCC one year, Victoria and Albert were played by two students who were not actually married to one another. And they acted out a kiss.
          So these rules apply only on TV? I’m confused.

  11. The pop culture reference. Always disjointed at best. Typically 10-15 years after anyone cares about it. Example – as a teenager, I remember week-long teen revivals where the primary target of the evangelist was the band KISS. We got the grad-level course in why KISS was terrible. The acronym, their “stated goals”, decibel levels, the whole 9. This is all happening while we’re listening to stuff like NWA, The Chronic (Snoop and Dre), U2, etc.

    2. I saw KISS in concert. In 197 something or other.

      What I don’t understand is why people my age will still go and see them. Dressed up like them. Now that I will preach against. Amen?

      1. I won our costume contest at work dressed as Gene Simons. Complete with platform boots. 😀

        2. Too bad I can’t post a picture here…maybe we could have a “letting your hair down” post in which we all submit pictures. Of course, for my costume it was “putting my hair up” (in a top-knot).

    3. Exactly. Our pastor made us listen to a Jack Hyles sermon on rock music in the 1980’s. The sermon made frequent references to such current groups as the Beatles. Most of the groups were groups we had never heard of.

      But then, there was always David Benoit, revealer of dark secrets…

      1. I so get the idea that some of these names were chosen to punk conservative and fundystan religionists. The rage of the pastors provided free publicity.

        1. According to Gene in “Kissology”, they came up with the name during a cab ride. They had a theory that a band name had to be short, sweet, and memorable – and a little sexy. Paul suggested “Lips”, and Gene responded “How about Kiss?”. Yeah. Apparently it was never an acronym.

  12. Tell me about it. It’s not just fundies, though.

    All sorts of conservative Christians are behind the times, usually by 10 – 15 years.

    Even several years after the Harry Potter book series (and movie series) popularity died down, I still sometimes hear certain TV preachers rants against Harry Potter for introducing witchcraft to kids.

    Lots of Christians still hyperventilate about “Dungeons and Dragons” as supposedly being a bad influence for kids, even though that died off in popularity after the 1980s. I mean, it’s been over 20 years, and they are still throwing fits about that.

    1. Ha! I remember in the 80’s our fundy preacher (who wouldn’t have recognized the Simpsons if Bart had knelt at the altar) preaching against the evils of “daynce halls.” That’s “dance halls” for those of you who don’t speak Southern. As a kid, I had no idea what he was talking about.

  13. Don’t make me give up the Simpsons. It’s all I have left since you made me throw away my Sandi Patti LP.

    2. If you were a legit fundy young’n then you were wisely sacrificing the Sandi Patti LP in order to appear penitent as a ruse to protect the rest of the music that was hidden under your bed or in the return air vent. Sometimes for the greater good…

  14. About a year ago I had a discussion with an acquaintance of mine (older gentleman that knows my father) who is intensely fundy. We told me about the rise and popularity of New Age and meditation with crystals. Yup. New Age.

    1. About three years ago an older gentleman at the IFB church was passing around a petition against the Federal Communications Commission because of a supposed plot by Madeline Murray O’Hair to ban all religious radio programming.

      2. About 8 years ago I returned from a missions trip to Africa and had the opportunity to share my experiences (including some pictures) at a missions conference at a fundy church in northern Michigan. Afterwards, an older gentleman came up to me and exclaimed something about all those little “colored” children. Bless their hearts, these older folks. (BTW, he was a honky–I mean white guy)
        Mark

      1. Whoops, that was supposed to go with the mention of the gentleman who is very concerned about New Age, meditation, and crystals.

    3. When we were in Sedona in April, we saw an array of crystal shops and 1960s hippies. We love Sedona.

        1. Sedona rivals Alaska at its best for beauty, but the weather in Sedona puts Alaska weather to shame.

  15. How could we possibly not love a show that brought us Grandpa Simpson? A couple of my favorite Grandpa quotes:

    “I’m gonna smooch her like a mule eating an apple.”

    “I’m in love. No….wait, it’s a stroke.”

    Selma: “Now, we are on our honeymoon.”
    Grandpa: “I thought we were at the circus, Lisa.”
    Selma: “Whoa, boy!”

    2. Bum: “Got any spare change, man?”
      Grampa: “Yes! And you ain’t getting it. Everybody wants something for nothing. [He walks into a social security building] I’m old, gimme gimme gimme!”

      “I’ll join! I’m filled with piss and vinegar. At first I was just filled with vinegar.”

      Grampa: “Oh, I lost another wife.”
      Lisa: “I’m so sorry, Grampa.”
      Grampa: “Well, it hurts now, but the senility will take care of that. There she goes.

  16. I was never allowed to watch The Simpsons growing up. As soon as I moved out I became addicted! Best show ever! (voice of comic-book guy)

  17. Going along with the ‘moon’ thing upthread I seem to vaguely remember a pamphlet that stated that there was an abundance of ‘vultures’ gathering together in the Holy Land. I have no idea if that was real or not but I do seem to remember preachers taking it as a ‘sign’ that that they were showing up in order to feast on the dead because Armegeddon was about to happen. This was sometime in the 60s or 70s. Long time ago. Haven’t heard a thing about the vultures since then.

    1. Ha, I remember hearing about the vultures in the Holy Land. It was probably a response to all those overfed Fundies going on tours. The vultures probably thought there was a good chance of a meal

      1. I haven’t heard about the vultures in the Holy Land. I did hear about a red cow or something. The church’s conspiracy-behind-everything-that-will-eventually-trace-itself-back-to-Catholicsim guy was always scouring the news for reports of the scarlet bovine.

        1. The vulture thing was about 40 years ago and as things were always about 30 years behind, I imagine all the vultures were dead by the time we heard about them. Catholic conspiracies…oh those scheming Catholics. Anybody else hear about Catholic churches built with “millennium towers” on them? I have absolutely zero idea what that was all about, by then I wasn’t listening any more.

    2. There are vultures in the Holy Land, as there are in most of the world. But I haven’t heard of any massive increase in their numbers.
      I’ve seen a large number of Turkey Vultures around here lately, but I don’t think it’s a sign of the end days. It has to do with their annual migration. It happens every fall and winter here.

      1. Actually, it would be more easy to accept grackles as a sign of the Apocalypse, since there are ninety kaskillion of them everywhere you look.

      2. I hate it when vultures keep circling over me but it reminds me when I need to take a bath 🙂

    3. Couldn’t have coincided with the publication of Silent Spring, and pesticides being used more carefully, therefore more vultures being around?

    4. My husband just told me it was Jack Van Impe who was spouting on about the ‘vulture’ thing.

  19. I showed up to my first day of fundy preschool with a Simpsons jacket and matching lunchbox.
    I had to get different gear. Whoops.

    1. Oh that was YOU! Lol, the shock waves are probably still rippling through the halls of Fundemia

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