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there are a good many people out there who enjoy comics. any argument you make about any one aspect can be vehemently argued by a member of the opposing camp.

given this, I would like to have a friendly and intelligent discussion on the merits of the character Gambit. by intelligent, I mean thought out and articulated rebuttals - i.e. no "Gambit is gay because he has boobs", but on the merits of references from canon and structured argument.

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I submit that gambit is a very deep character, but like all comic book characters, developed into a more complex and interesteing character as his story, amidst other stories, progressed. From my research [1] I have ascertained that people

1) love gambit
2) hate gambit
3) don't care either way

For those that are of the first group, much more support[2] can be found than that of the second group. For those of the third group, obviously if you don't care, you are going to say anything because why waste your time on something about which you have no interest. I have also found that those of the second group are not nearly as vocal as the first, or as anti-[character] fans can be (see: Jar-Jar Binks, Joel Schumaker's Batman movies) But again, people are less like to rant about characters they don't like.

character complexity: I believe that character complexity leads either to an attractive mysteriousness or to an annoying hassle. As far as character complexities go, gambit is not nearly as complex as wolverine - but this can be attributed to the fact that writers kept diversifying wolverine's past and eventually clean it up with the whole weapon x (or 10, however you want to see it) storyline. Gambit is adopted, he is a thief, he is a mutant...

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[1] three or four google searches
[2] number of sites dedicated to

incomplete thought...

Taken from http://ic.net/%7Eerasmus/RAZ278.HTM
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Mortal vs.Venial Sin
1 John 5:17 explicitly differentiates a mortal sin from a less serious one (RSV):

All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.
{KJV: "not unto death"}

Denying this would be tantamount to saying that a white lie or a momentary pang of jealousy or lust (especially if unrepented of) is the moral equivalent in God's eyes of a torture, rape, and murder? That's what the Protestant position -- starkly put -- reduces to.
Everyone agrees that all sin is barred from heaven, but again, that is future for us, not present, and this is precisely why purgatory is such a merciful, necessary doctrine. If God gets "serious" about actual, real sin in heaven, why in the world would He not start now? Catholics think that God -- in practical terms -- takes sin as seriously now as He will then, and that's one reason why we think mere imputation or forensic declaration of holiness is a falsehood.

1 John 5:16-17 expressly contradicts Protestant teaching on this. John says he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death, but Protestants say "all sin leads to spiritual death," and that all sins are equal in God's eyes. Who am I to believe? Again, the Apostle John says, there is a sin not unto death in 5:17. Thus he is clearly making the distinctions we make with regard to degrees of sin. Furthermore, it is not by any means certain from context that the "mortal sin" is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit alone. Some translations even have "there is sin," rather than "there is a sin."

Lastly, there are several lists of sins that are said to bar one from "the kingdom of heaven" (RSV):

1 Corinthians 6:9-10: "Unrighteous," immoral, idolaters, adulterers, sexual perverts, thieves, greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers "will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Galatians 5:19-21: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like . . . "those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Ephesians 5:5: ". . . no fornicator or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."
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bottom line...

I'm screwed.

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O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven, and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.