2011-06-16
Explanation
This comic is titled "Tensions Mount at the Theology Conference" and shows two clergymen in a heated exchange. One says: "Could God create yo mama so fat, even He couldn'''t lift her?!" The other clergyman looks offended.
The joke is a mashup of two very different rhetorical traditions: the classical theological paradox of omnipotence ("Could God create a rock so heavy even He couldn'''t lift it?") and the lowbrow "yo mama" joke format. By combining a profound philosophical puzzle about the logical limits of omnipotence with a juvenile insult, the comic imagines what would happen if theologians resolved their intellectual disagreements using the combative style of playground trash talk.
The votey panel continues the gag with the other clergyman firing back: "If God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, how do you explain yo mama?!" This layers another classic theological puzzle -- the problem of evil (theodicy) -- into the yo-mama format, suggesting that the existence of "yo mama" is itself evidence against a benevolent God. The escalation makes the absurd premise even funnier.