The chap on the right bears a very striking resemblance to Marshall Applewhite circa the mid 70s (which merits a post in and of itself) but the central conceit of the skit- two angels weighing the virtue of the confessions of those seeking entrance into the Pearly Gates didn't sound anything like I was taught in Sunday School.
I know there are a couple metaphorical references to scales (judging the living, not the dead) in a couple of the later books of the Old Testament, but certainly nothing like this little skit.
This scenario is actually straight out of Egyptian theology, not Christian. Surely a coincidence, but there have been a lot of similar coincidences popping here and there (not the least of which is all of the Solar imagery popping up in church logos and icons.)
Some of you have probably seen quite a few depictions of the Weighing of the Ka in the Egyptian afterlife, where Anubis and Thoth weigh the heart of the dead to determine if they should join Osiris in the afterworld or be devoured by the demon Ammit. Here is a an excerpt from the writings of Setna (son of Rameses the Great) which dates to the 13th Century BC:
So each Ka passed through the doorway and in the Hall Thoth was waiting to receive him, saying: 'Come with me. Yet why hast thou come?' 'I have come here to be announced,' answered the Ka. 'What is thy condition?' 'I am pure of sin.'Sounds a bit like modern Masonic ritual, no? The liturgy read by the hopeful applicant is now known as "Negative Confessions" from the Papyrus of Ani, aka The Declaration of Innocence which is included in The Book of the Dead.
But before the Weighing of the Heart, each dead man's Ka spoke in his own defense, saying: 'I am pure! I am pure! I am pure! I am pure! My purity is as that of the Bennu bird, the bright Phoenix whose nest is upon the stone persea-tree, the obelisk at Heliopolis... ...with the good man the Feather of Truth sank down and his heart rose up, and Thoth cried aloud to Osiris and the gods, 'True and accurate are the words this man has spoken. He has not sinned; he has not done evil towards us. Let not the Eater-up of Souls have power over him.
Surely a coincidence, right? But there's one little detail towards the end that caught my attention- when "Jesus" takes the humble do-gooder (a white male, of course) by the hand and leads him to God's waiting room. It turns out that this too has a precedent in Setna's account:
Then Horus took the dead man by the hand and led him before Osiris, saying, 'I have come to thee, oh Unnefer Osiris, bringing with me this new Osiris. His heart was true at the coming forth from the Balance.
He has not sinned against any god or any goddess. Thoth has weighed his heart and found it true and righteous. Grant that there may be given to him the bread and beer of Osiris; may he be like the followers of Horus!'
