Chick Tract #003 - This Was Your Life! (1964)

This tract follows a narrative in efforts to provide insight about how a person's actions are logged and reviewed when they die in order to determine their placement in either Heaven or Hell. While the narrative is applicable to all people, the namless protagonist is shown to be a Christian, ableit one who does not enjoy attending church and has spent his life performing sinful activities. Thus, his name is not recorded in the Book of Life and he is cast into Hell for eternal punishment. The tract then shows that a person can avoid Hell by having faith in Jesus Christ, praying daily and following the teachings of the Bible, ending with a brief set of instructions that will help a person get to Heaven.

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The modifications made to this tract seem to have been enacted primarily due to the initial recognition and subsequent spread of the human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) and their resulting condition, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the early 1980's. This condition initially struck the homosexual male population in disproportionate amounts, resulting in its original moniker, gay related immunodeficiency (GRID) Whereas prior to this, the common arguments put forward by religious critics against the so-called "gay lifestyle" were focused more extensively on the revulsion heterosexual individuals felt towards the specific acts homosexual individuals sometimes used to make love to one another (both real and imagined) and on the potential spread of less serious sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhea and syphilis, the AIDS epidemic allowed them a powerful new tool in which to exercise their bigotry against a minority population they saw as inherently degenerate (see the works of Dick Hafer for examples). Changes made to the text and artwork from the 1972 to the 2000 Edition of this particular tract capitalize both on this, as well as the changes in fashion sense since the '70. Notably, the more recent Edition abandoned the hand-lettered text of the original publication as well as the following...

• On Page 2, the footnote mentioning Reference A (from which the art for few of the following pages were derived) is removed.


• On Page 3, there are slight font and color changes to the section discussing "gay militants".


• On Page 5, the second instance of the word gay now contains scare quotes.


• In Panel 6A, a specific reference to The David Susskind Show is removed in favor of more generically mentioning "TV sitcoms and talk shows" (Reference H). Likewise, Reference B is removed from the footer. In Panel 6B, homosexuals go from being "now invited to speak at clubs and religious meetings" to being "regularly invited to speak at clubs, churches and even school classrooms". Reference A is once again removed from below the panel.


• In Panel 7A, the general text describing the homosexual "power structure", their proclivity for hiding their identities and the implication that they infiltrate "women's lib organizations" and government positions of power has been substituted for an image of two men holding hands and descending a staircase beneath a very prominent American flag which occupies much of the foreground; an image repurposed from Panel 3B of the tract Sin Busters (110.1991.03B). The remaining text has been modified to indicate that "[t]hey no longer try to hide their identity". Reference A has also been removed from the bottom of the page. In Panel 7B, an estimate of the homosexual population of "2 to 20 million" has been replaced with the statement that gays "claim that they include 10% of the population, but reliable studies indicate under 2 percent." No such studies are mentioned and yet another instance of Reference A is lost. An arrow pointing to the next page has also been removed from the caption.


• On Page 8, the Bible reference to Deuteronomy 7:2 is moved from within the caption to a footnote in the illustration.


• On Page 10, the Bible reference to Genesis 19:1 is moved from a footnote to inside the caption.


• In Panel 12A, the footnote Bible reference to Genesis 19:3 is increased in size and moved from the bottom of the page to inside the illustration. In Panel 12B, Genesis 19:4 is moved inside the caption and the spelling of the word "practised" is adjusted to the American style spelling "practiced". This is unusual as Chick's spelling of "Saviour" in the British English style was adopted for future tracts after his deep investment in the tenets of the King James Only movement around the late 1970's. The overall brightness of the scene in the illustration is also increased, allowing the viewer to now see three trees growing behind Lot's house.


• In Panel 13A, the footnote to Genesis 19:5 is once again made more prominent and moved to inside the illustration and the angry man's speech bubble is moved from the bottom of the frame towards the top. In Panel 13B, the repeated Bible reference to the same verse is removed entirely. The sentence which mentions knowing the angels "(sexually)" finally receives a period at the end.
  


• In Panels 14A and B, the Bible references to Genesis 19:6-8 and Genesis 19:9 are again relocated respectively.


• In Panels 15A and B, the Bible references to Genesis 19:10 and Genesis 19:11 are once again relocated. In Panel 15B specifically, the awkward and redundant phrasing "The angels blinded the men with blindness" is reworded to the more sensible "The angels struck the men with blindness".


• The footnote to Genesis 19:11 is once again relocated on Page 16.
  


• On Page 17, the text detailing Dr. Kyle's findings regarding Sodom from Reference G are combined into a single paragraph and the book's title is moved inside the frame.


• Panel 18A has multiple changes to both the art and text. The top caption is changed from "Some experts say homosexuality is a disease, others blame family problems or hormone levels" to "New laws are encouraging the Sodomites (homosexuals) to take the offensive". The bottom caption is changed from "It's like a demonic power that controls them -- only Christ can overcome it; if they'll receive him as personal savior" to "Only Christ can overcome this demonic power that controls them". Likewise, the homosexual's dialog is changed from "You must understand that I'm sick - and you should have compassion on me!" to "You're offended by gays? Are you some kind of bigot?" and his target's dialog changes from "I think I'd better go!" to "Let go!". Simultaneously, the homosexual's hair is changed to a buzz cut and his mustache is changed from a horseshoe style to more of a Tom Selleck type of handlebar mustache instead. In Panel 18B, the same two Bible verses are referenced (Leviticus 18:22 and 1 Corinthians 6:9&10) but the Bible version has been updated to quote the King James Version instead of the Amplified Version instead.


• In Panel 19A, both the reference and quote of Matthew 10:26 are omitted. In Panel 19B, Romans 1:26 is still quoted but from the King James Bible instead of the Scofield Reference Bible, the text of which is almost exactly the same.


• Panel 20A quotes Romans 1:27, but the version and quote are changed from the Amplified Version to the King James Version again, and there is also additional text added which states: "Average life expectancy for the male homosexual before AIDS was only 42 years because of venereal disease and violence. AIDS only reduced it to 39 years". In Panel 20B, the reference and quote of Romans 1:32 is once again switched from the Amplified Bible to the KJV.


• In Panel 21B, the Bible references for John 1:1-3 and Hebrews 1:2 are moved from below the frame to within the top caption. The illustration of the Suffering Christ is also slightly more vertically cropped in the newer Edition.


• In Panel 22A, the top caption is changed from "Jesus loves you and will clean up your life for you..." to "Jesus loves you and will transform your life completely...". In Panel 22B, the top caption is changed from "On the **Day of Judgment, all of the lost will stand before God -- all of those who died in their sins" to "But on the Day of Judgment, all who rejected Him will stand before God -- those who died in their sins". The Bible references to Matthew 25:41 and Revelation 20 are moved from below the frame to inside of the illustration.

• Boolean Union - https://boolean-union.com/dissections/boolunion/BU.CHICK.GAYB.DISCT.html


• Enter the Jabberwock - http://web.archive.org/web/20070623044044/http://www.enterthejabberwock.com/?p=137


• User Slick146 (Space Battles Forum) (via Boolean Union) - https://boolean-union.com/dissections/spacebattles/SLK146.CHICK.GAYB.DISCT.html


• The Bible Reloaded (YouTube Video) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oorbcq_soFo

• Trope Index

• #[A]⇑ Life Magazine (31 December 1971). Time Inc. via Google Books.
  (https://books.google.com/books?id=8z8EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false)


• #[B]⇑ The Saturday Review (12 February 1972). Saturday Review, Inc. via the Unz Review.
  (https://www.unz.com/print/SaturdayRev-1972feb12/)


• #[C]⇑ Bible Side-Lights From the Mound of Gezer : A Record of Excavation and Discovery in Palestine by Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister (19o6). Hodder and Stoughton Publishers, London via the Internet Archive.
  (https://archive.org/details/biblesidelights00maca/page/n7/mode/2up)


• #[D]⇑ Excavation of Gezer - Volume 1 by Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister (1912). John Murray Albemarle Street, London via the Internet Archive.
  (https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.33822)


• #[E]⇑ Excavation of Gezer - Volume 2 by Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister (1912). John Murray Albemarle Street, London via the Internet Archive.
  (https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.33823)


• #[F]⇑ Excavation of Gezer - Volume 3 by Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister (1912). John Murray Albemarle Street, London via the Internet Archive.
  (https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.33824)


• #[G]⇑ Explorations at Sodom by Melvin Grove Kyle (19oo). The Religious Tract Society, London via the Internet Archive.
  (https://archive.org/details/explorationsatso00kyle/page/n7/mode/2up)


• #[H]⇑ Women Who Love Women. Directed by Arthur Forrest.The David Susskind Show (1971, October 10). Metromedia Television and Pamandia Productions, Inc. via the GLBT Historical Society Film and Video Collection, The GLBT Historical Society Archives.
  (https://glbt.i8.dgicloud.com/davidsusskindshowwomenwholovewomentape1)
  (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)


• #[I]⇑ Sin, Sex, and Democracy: Antigay Rhetoric and the Christian Right by Cynthia Burack (2008). The State University of New York (SUNY) Press, Albany.
  (https://sunypress.edu/Books/S/Sin-Sex-and-Democracy)