selfish
Original: selfish on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Man in priest's collar: How can God have a son who is also him?
Panel 2:
Priest: Oh that's easy. Imagine every hour a single brain cell of yours dies. Are you still you?
Other man: Sure.
Panel 3:
Priest: Imagine instead of dying it's removed and kept elsewhere. Are you still you?
Other man: Same, yeah.
Panel 4:
Priest: Imagine you repeat this process over and over, each time replacing the old cell with a new cell, using the old cells to construct a copy of you. Now you are a you who made you.
Panel 5:
Other man: What about the unity of God?
Priest: Also easy.
Panel 6:
Priest: Suppose each day a random of the two yous loses a cell, which is destroyed, then replaced by a cell from the other you. This process can be iterated until you're back to just you.
Panel 7:
Priest: You-ness is transferable, expandable, contractable. It can be forked, merged, sped up, slowed down.
Panel 8:
Priest: Throw in a being who exists beyond time and ba-da-bing, "mystery of the Trinity" my ass.
Panel 9:
Priest: So no you... ever was... not you... or became you.
Priest: Really the only hard part is the grammar.
Votey:
Caption (the priest, off-panel/narrating): This is why God ends up saying "I AM WHO AM" or whatever.
(Image: a close-up of the priest's smiling face.)
Man in priest's collar: How can God have a son who is also him?
Panel 2:
Priest: Oh that's easy. Imagine every hour a single brain cell of yours dies. Are you still you?
Other man: Sure.
Panel 3:
Priest: Imagine instead of dying it's removed and kept elsewhere. Are you still you?
Other man: Same, yeah.
Panel 4:
Priest: Imagine you repeat this process over and over, each time replacing the old cell with a new cell, using the old cells to construct a copy of you. Now you are a you who made you.
Panel 5:
Other man: What about the unity of God?
Priest: Also easy.
Panel 6:
Priest: Suppose each day a random of the two yous loses a cell, which is destroyed, then replaced by a cell from the other you. This process can be iterated until you're back to just you.
Panel 7:
Priest: You-ness is transferable, expandable, contractable. It can be forked, merged, sped up, slowed down.
Panel 8:
Priest: Throw in a being who exists beyond time and ba-da-bing, "mystery of the Trinity" my ass.
Panel 9:
Priest: So no you... ever was... not you... or became you.
Priest: Really the only hard part is the grammar.
Votey:
Caption (the priest, off-panel/narrating): This is why God ends up saying "I AM WHO AM" or whatever.
(Image: a close-up of the priest's smiling face.)
Alt text
A nine-panel comic. A man in a black shirt and white priest's collar explains the Trinity to a shorter man. Panel 1, the shorter man asks, "How can God have a son who is also him?" The priest answers that it's easy and walks through a thought experiment: imagine a single brain cell of yours dies each hour—are you still you? ("Sure.") Imagine instead the cell is removed and kept elsewhere—still you? ("Same, yeah.") Repeat the process, each time replacing the old cell with a new one and using the removed cells to build a copy of you, so "now you are a you who made you." When the man asks about the unity of God, the priest says that's also easy: each day a random cell from one of the two yous is destroyed and replaced by a cell from the other, iterated until you're back to just one you. He concludes that you-ness is transferable, expandable, and contractable—it can be forked, merged, sped up, or slowed down. Adding a being who exists beyond time, "ba-da-bing, 'mystery of the Trinity' my ass." So no you ever was not you or became you—"really the only hard part is the grammar." Throughout, the priest is increasingly animated and wild-eyed. Votey: a close-up of the priest's grinning face with the caption, "This is why God ends up saying 'I AM WHO AM' or whatever."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.