2014-05-13
Explanation
The Joke
Two people are discussing theology. One says, "I don't think God is a divine clockmaker." The other asks why not. The first explains: "A clockmaker is an engineer. A geek. Can you imagine what Revelations would be like if a geek wrote it?" The final panel shows the title page of "The Revelation of St. John the Divine" with a large "SPOILER ALERT!" stamped across it.
The Humor
The joke hinges on the stereotype that geeks and engineers are obsessed with spoiler warnings. The Book of Revelation is, by its very nature, the ultimate spoiler — it reveals how the world ends. If God were truly a geek (as the "divine clockmaker" analogy implies), He would have felt compelled to put a spoiler warning on it, because no self-respecting geek would reveal major plot points without fair warning. The humor comes from applying modern internet culture norms (spoiler etiquette) to ancient sacred texts, and from the absurd image of a holy scripture prefaced with the kind of warning you would see on a Reddit post or fan forum.
References
The "divine clockmaker" or "divine watchmaker" is a metaphor associated with Deism, the philosophical position that God created the universe and its laws (like a clockmaker building a clock) but does not intervene in its operation. The concept is often traced to William Paley's watchmaker analogy. The Book of Revelation (sometimes called "Revelations") is the final book of the New Testament, describing the apocalypse and the end of the world.