Lisa the Confused?

[mr. broom]

In Lisa the Skeptic, li'l Lisa refuses to believe in heaven, angels, and possibly even God. In Homer Steals Cable, Lisa wants to keep her family out of hell. In the Easter episode, Lisa is the only one in the family who ascends to heaven in the Rapture (though Homer yanks her back down: "Where do you think you're going?"). In the upcoming episode, it seems that Lisa will now consider Buddhism (guest star Richard Gere is a Buddhist himself). In most cases of religious ideology, Lisa is always very gung-ho one way or another, even though she sometimes contradicts herself entirely. Any thoughts on why?

 

[Lisa Lionheart]

I think that Lisa is more spiritual than religous. She believes in a higher power, but she doesn't buy all the dogmas of individual churches (like angels coming to earth). As for her going to heaven during the rapture, many people belief that if you live a good life, you will go to heaven whether you are christian, jewish, hindu etc. I think Buddism will fit well with Lisa's philosopy of life. It concourages people to seek out an inner peace through mediation and not judge (or hate) others.

Lisa is by far the most complex character on the show. I just hope the episode next week is funny. My aunt converted to Buddism many years ago and one day while she was chanting, my dog joined in by howling along with her (it was hilarious), it would be cool if Santa Little Helper did something like that.

 

[BangBangBart]

Very well said Lisa Lionheart. As much as i like her character, i can't stand richard gere. I hope his part is short in this episode.

 

[mr. broom]

See, I've found Lisa to be very judgmental. She follows a lot of left-wing groups bent on changing corruption, overthrowing tyrannical systems, etc. In Homer Steals Cable, she's very accusatory, even yelling "Thou shall not steal!" at Marge in the grocery store when she samples the grapes. She really harps on everyone about their meat-eating in Lisa the Vegetarian, and thou she learns to back off, she's still adamant about it being wrong. The way I see it, she's the most judgmental character on the show, even more so than the more religious characters. It's ironic 'coz she's said in two eps, "Doesn't the Bible say, 'Judge not, lest ye be judged'?" The way I see it, she's torn between liberal views and conservative ones. She's passionate about both, too.

 

[James]

I think Lisa is just looking for the truth, as she always has been. She is, as Broom said, torn between different idealogies and dogmas in the makeup of her identity, going from one phase to another in her seek of the truth. Eventually she may find a true idealogy which fits her own unique personality, but until then her search for truth shall continue unarrested.

 

[Smilin'JoeFission]

Everyone has made very good points. Lisa is trying to grow up really fast, so her social, religious, even political beleifs are mixed up, when she's always trying to please somebody.

 

[leaderbean]

i think the charcter of lisa is used by the writers to get out certain points about religion. about what is right and wrong. so her believes and everything are basically what the writers feel and want depending on who wrote the episodes. she is mixed up in believes. the point has already been made in this discussion. one thing i have learned from the her charcter is to be open to other religios believes. also make your own, and don't follow the crowd when it comes personal beliefs.

 

[Helper Monkey]

How about this: she is 8. She is naturally not going to have a completely developed sense of religion, despite the fact that people on these boards treat her as if she is a fully realized adult.

The examples at the beginning of this thread are from different points in the show, and Lisa has just as much right to change as any other character. So she decides that Christianity wasn't for her-- that means she woudln't be able to go to heaven before her revelation? (Although this was out of the canon, I suspect, as the Rapture doesn't appear to have affected the Simpson family since)