Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for July 27, 2022

Evolution has hard-wired children to believe their parents. Little kids who didn’t heed parental warnings — everything from “Don’t wander into the jungle alone” to “Don’t stick that fork into the electrical socket” — seldom had descendants of their own. So human default behavior is to accept what the older folks say, in the absence of any reason to think otherwise. That’s especially true when there’s no way to check up on what they’ve been told.

That’s why there’s such a thing as a map of world religions. For any random person on Earth, chances are about 90% that they still believe whatever religion they were raised in.

On the other hand, you will not find an American astronomy, a Baptist biology, a capitalist chemistry, a mammalian math, or a feminist physics. There’s only one worldwide version of each, because they’re all based on demonstrable, testable, reproducible facts, not accidents of birth or matters of opinion. Conversely, religion is nothing BUT opinions, no facts involved, which is why anybody’s word on religion is just as good as anyone else’s (to wit, no good at all).

Maybe she will remove the part where misbehaving children should be stoned to death.

Uh Sephora where exactly is your husband supposed to stop for directions in the freaking wilderness?

I would go with ‘extremely’ rather than ‘very’. Any religion ruling anything is a disaster.

Religion is such a powerful disease that it kills even those without it.

You are doing a fine job Danae, carry on.

After much discussion and failed attempts to obey, The “Ten Commandments” very quickly became The Ten Suggestions. And Danae is just joining the l-o-o-o-n-g line of re-interpreters of a set of behavioural guides. Very likely she might find a publisher somewhere. After all, there is tabloid rack by the supermarket cash register that offers all the truths that exist and some that don’t.

Moses had a wife?

I agree with her, the first one or should I say the 50th one? Who knows! The Bible had so many people involved wrighting it over the past 2000 or more years and finally settle on what we have today, like all religions bibles on any religion will always be the opinion of thousands of people over thousands of years and which one builds the most monumental structures to attract the most money. I pray anywhere I feel like it and follow my conscience.

I see god (note the small “g”) not as a being, but rather as a result. God does not create good, nor the devil evil, those are acts of man. When I do good I create, support, perpetuate “god”, for lack of a better term. Gods are merely manmade constructs to further the ambitions of man. BTW, is the old “man won’t ask for directions” trope even valid in todays world of our phones knowing where we are, down to the inch?

in a 100 years ( or less) we will all know who was and wasn’t right.

Ironically, my mother told me to live by the Ten Commandments, and for the record, anyone willing to give me directions is usually trying to get a chuckle by getting me lost. Been there, done that. The getting stupid directions part, not the chuckle bit.

Pop should tell her that it’s already been modernized by L. Ron.

And it’s just as wacky!

I’d be surprised if she won’t find a publisher for that. And I expect it to become a huge success.

A publisher won’t help because no one reads anymore. What they need is a new Martin Luther, or an antichrist

Looks like she found a publisher AND a syndicator

Although women had little power in 33 CE Middle East, they did have an exceptionally important role in society. They were the homemakers, the raisers of children and the providers of hospitality. All of which were valued in the culture even if the providers of such values were not themselves valued.

Women had little role in agriculture and fishing which were, apparently the main occupations of the general peasantry. But they did go to market where they had to haggle and bargain for goods for the family and I imagine many were shopkeepers themselves. So women might have had better business sense than some of the men.

Some women did have status. Mary of Magdala for example. She was known by the town from which she was from rather than by the name of the man (her father, husband, brother) who “owned” her.

The Bible makes mention of Jesus having a sizable female following, but it rarely mentions names. Yeah, it was written mostly by men.

Yeah…I like that. “Listen to your mother.” Sounds great for most people. Do you hear that, my children?

If we had only “listened” to our mothers, we would never have learned speech.

I often wondered about the “Honor thy father and mother” commandment. I have a hard time believing that the Devine was so concerned that small children obey their parents without question that he lumped it together with murdering, stealing, and lying.

Either that, or it was deliberately misinterpreted by the teachers back in Sunday school.

I find it sad that people who haven’t actually read or tried to understand the Bible tell others how obsolete it is or how made up it all is. The Bible is mostly a collection of historical accounts. I submit to you that you reject it not because it is not true/relevant, but because you do not wish to be told that you should live a different way.

Today’s sensibilities. Hmm………

Male arrogance being replaced by female arrogance is…a good thing?

Never get out of the boat !!!

Love this toon. And the comments are phunnier that the toon itself

It would be easy to make biblical stories more credible. All you have to do is remove one of the following three:

—God is omnipotent

—God is omniscient

—God is benevolent

Of course, most Christians would sooner take poison than do that.

Furthering the point of your first paragraph, we visited Rotorua in New Zealand. It is a volcanically active area with many boiling hot springs, bubbling mud holes, etc. The Maori parents carefully instructed their children where never to go, Many of those who disobeyed . . . simply disappeared.

Where’s Danae’s mother?

The third panel seems to be slightly wrong – if she’s talking about Moses (holding the tablets of the law) as an example of “Mister I-won’t-stop-to-ask-for-directions”, she’s wrong. Wandering 40 years in the wilderness might seem pointless, but there was a destination. Regrettably, God told him that he could look at it, but couldn’t touch. At my age, that’s what I’m reduced to, as well.

If ElRon could sucker people into believing in his “Scientology” Bull, Danae’s rewrite of the bible is going to be an “Easy Peasy” sell.

Noah brings two termites onto the ark.It does not end well