2009-03-08

A single-panel SMBC comic set at the gates of heaven. A bald man in a blue shirt argues with a winged angel floating before a huge golden sun. The man insists, "I deserve to get in! I was good in life!" The angel challenges him: "What about all those children you killed?" The man replies, "They were all firstborn sons of Egyptians" — invoking the biblical plague of Egypt as a defense. The angel, raising a finger in mock triumph, says, "Oh! He totally got you!", as if the man has cleverly won the argument by citing scripture. Caption beneath: "If you want into heaven, read your bible every day." The joke skewers using the Bible's own violent stories as moral justification. Votey aftercomic: the golden sun/angel figure, now beside a coffee mug, sheepishly admits, "I made a lot of teenage mistakes" — implying God himself is rationalizing past wrongdoing.