The fisherman Eddie of Wiley Miller’s Non Sequitur apparently founded a religion when he appeared to walk on water, though it was really only a few inches deep due to low tide. Today, tired of the adulation of the faithful, he tries to show them the facts and his nondivinity, only to realize that religion is impervious to facts!
Click to enlarge:
Rationalization! I wonder how many of the readers are really seeing the satire here?
Yesterday’s strip:
And the day before:
h/t: Linda Grilli
“Only the true Messiah denies his divinity!”
“Follow the shoe!”
No, follow the gourd!”
…splitters….
b&
Which makes me a lumper?
Or even it makes me more cool. A Cooler Lumper.
I’ll get my coat . . . .
A koala lumper, perhaps…?
b&
The great ghod PhotoShop is invoked, to wedge a koala (bear) into the mouth of a grouper (big fish). Then again, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to find an un-‘Shopped photo of that scene somewhere.
Bonus points if it’s done in Malaysia, of course….
b&
Put the gourd in the shoe and follow both!
Surely this is a deal breaker?
Bill of the Reilly
I think most readers will see the real irony here… about somebody ELSE’S beliefs.
I’ll be the first to admit that I hold irrational beliefs.
I’d like to think that I would change my position on any belief if presented with sufficient evidence to the contrary.
Like most human beings I most likely fall short of that laudable goal.
Which I think is the point of the comic strips, poking fun at irrational beliefs that are not amenable to change.
Gee, and here I was thinking it was about making fun of people who believe in myths that are based on flimsy-to-zero evidence.
Like, you know, a religion that purports to have a “savior” who once walked on water.
Maybe, just maybe, that “savior” — like Eddie — waded to shore at low tide. Or maybe, just maybe, that “savior” — like Eddie — never really existed at all, but was the figment of someone’s imagination.
Hope the cat was OK, and water was shallow.
Hey, Dear,
This is funny stuff. I can walk under water too. Can you?
Love,
b
The walking is not a problem. It’s the breathing that’s tricky. 😉
And delivering sermons underwater — that can be a challenge, too.
lol.
As an exercise, I want to see how many people I can convert to Jesus.
With rampant gullibility going around, this should be a piece of cake! (I think!). lol.
Yep … Life Of Brian does it better but it is a point that has to be iterated many, many times.
By happy coincidence, I am reading Jack Vance’s “Showboat World,” and just came across this line (speaking of performers): “Zamp noticed several of his former employees, among them Wilver the Water-walker, who performed his miraculous feats with the aid of glass stilts.”
So, why mythologization and credulity are almost undoubtedly the best explanation, don’t overlook the possibility of out and out fraud.
So, *while*…
I think it was in the first Superman movie that one of the alien villains teleported himself down to the surface of Earth and landed in a lake. He looked down and saw he was up to his knees in water. Adjusted his elevation and walked across the water to the shore.
It was actually quite funny.
So there you are, you don’t need to be divine, just an alien with superpowers.
Or step onto the stepping stones.
I rather suspect it was done with CGI (though it was ages ago so my memory of the scene is a bit hazy)
James Bond, of course, just used the alligators ; )
According to a previous commenter, they immmobilised the alligators with ropes tied to rocks.
Bondage, James Bondage.
: )
Yes I saw that comment. However, they certainly didn’t immobilise the alligators’ jaws…
I’m [obviously!] a big fan of Vance, who often spares no effort in elaborating the outrageously bizarre beliefs and customs that the far-off people encountered in his stories cling to — with his tongue in his cheek the whole while, given the state of things closer to home.
Great to have all these brilliant new theories that explain Jesus walking on water:
(1) He was a space alien.
(2) He was the real fisherman, and knew where the rocks were; the disciples were actually the carpenters.
(2B) The disciples who were carpenters were, however, good enough sailors that they could maneuver between all those rocks — without noticing they were there.
(3) Jesus was walking on stilts. They were made of glass or aluminum, however, so they didn’t float when Jesus jumped into the boat. (Jesus was a bit ahead of his time, technologically — combine with (1) as needed.)
(4) The tide was out. This itself was a miracle, since the Sea of Galilee does not experience very large tides, but this happens when the wormhole that transported Jesus (see #1) nears the Earth. The discples, again, being dumb carpenters, did not notice.
The moral of this story seems to be: mock, and the world mocks with you. Think, and you think alone.