History Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E3HomerTheHeretic

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: God, as seen by Homer in his dreams. He's willing to hear Homer out as to why he stopped going to church and admits that it sometimes bores even him.

-->'''Homer''': He appeared before me in a dream, and I knew that was special because I usually dream about naked... Marge.

* SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein: "When the fire starts to burn, there's a lesson you must learn: Something, something, then you'll see, you'll avoid catastrophe!..... D'OH!!!"

* ShaggyFrogStory: "Kids, let me tell you about another so-called wicked guy. He had long hair and some wild ideas. He didn't always do what other people thought was right. [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} And that man's name was]]... I forget. But the point is... I forget that, too. Marge, you know what I'm talking about. He used to drive that blue car."

* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Played with. Homer literally says something along this line. After staying home while others go to church he chuckles: "Everybody is stupid, but me." Keep in mind this is Homer speaking and the house fire that happens next.

* EpicFail: Flanders tries to rescue Homer from the burning house by tossing a mattress on the lawn and praying that Homer hits the mattress instead of the ground. Homer ends up bouncing off the mattress and back into the burning house.

* GodBeforeDogma: Homer's argument against going to church is that he's tired of being constantly told about how he's going to hell for minor indiscretions despite the amount of good he does for others. When he actually talks to God, God does actually concede with him by saying that he understands why the church isn't as engaging or meaningful since the lectures are more about fearing him and boring the audience.

* GodBeforeDogma: Homer's argument against going to church is that he's tired of being constantly told about how he's going to hell for minor indiscretions despite the amount of good he does for others. When he actually talks to God, God does actually concede with him by saying that he understands why the church isn't as engaging or meaningful since the lectures are more about fearing him than being a good person.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: When Homer tries to rebuke Reverend Lovejoy's attempt to bring Homer back to church, he tries to invoke a bible verse from the Book of Mathew (the same book Lovejoy quoted from). Not only was it a real verse, but it did also fit in with Homer's argument (albeit awkwardly since Homer was surprised by the passage's existence)

* TokenReligiousTeammate: Marge Simpson.

** The scene where Homer [[RiskyBusinessDance dances]] in his underwear to the song "Short Shorts" is a nod to ''Film/RiskyBusiness''.

* WillNotTellALie: At the end, Homer announced he'd be at church next Sunday. He was. [[ExactWords He simply didn't say he'd stay awake.]]

* RealityEnsues: Homer falls asleep with a lit cigar in his mouth. It ignites the magazines on the floor and eventually the whole house is engulfed in flames.
** Also: Homer coughing and passing out from smoke inhalation. In most cartoons, this wouldn't happen

** Animals are more revered in India so it would make sense for Apu to stop for some ducks.

** Wrath: Homer slams his hands on the wheel of his car in anger when he fails to lose Ned in the car chase. Also: Apu lashing out at the ducks who are holding him up in traffic and Marge yelling at Lisa while trying to start her car.

** Wrath: Homer slams his hands on the wheel of his car in anger when he fails to lose Ned in the car chase. Also: Apu lashing out at the ducks who are holding him up in traffic and Marge yelling at Lisa while trying to start the car.

'''Homer''': And ''you'' remember... [stops to think] Matthew... 21:17.\\
'''Lovejoy''': [confused] "And he left them and went out of the city, into Bethany, and he lodged there"?\\

* OverTheShoulderCarry: How Ned rescues Homer from the fire.
* PetTheDog: The normally self-centered Krusty is shown trying to help the families of deceased Jewish clowns by raising money for them.
* QuoteToQuoteCombat: A delightful scene when the reverend is trying to recover a lost sheep and Homer attempts a random and [[LameComeback failed comeback]].

'''Homer''': Yeah. Think about it.
** Also a case of RuleOfFunny, given that Lovejoy has apparently memorized (at least large portions of) the Bible, complete with chapter and verse numbers, when he is generally portrayed as being quite lax and unenthusiastic about his faith and role as a minister.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Homer might be refusing to go to church for selfish reasons, but he explains to God that he isn't a bad man. He works hard and loves his family and what he questions is having to give up part of his day to be lectured about how he's going to hell unless he's a pious as Flanders. God seems somewhat convinced of Homer's reasoning, and the weather was, indeed, kind of bad, resulting in Marge, Lisa, and Bart having a ''horrible'' morning due to Marge's insistence, who was also mad he didn't go despite splitting his church pants.

* EpicFail: Flanders tries to rescue Homer from the burning house by tossing a mattress on the lawn and praying that Homer hits the mattress instead of the ground. Homer ends up bouncing off the mattress and back in the burning house.

* MassOhCrap: Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney when Jamshed[[note]]Apu's nephew and Sanjay's son. In the episodes before Apu was unhappily married to Manjula, there were times where Apu was seen with children who looked like him, such as Jamshed or Apu's niece who competed in the "Little Miss Springfield" pageant, but those were established to be Apu's brother's children[[/note]] pulls a shotgun on them.

* NutritionalNightmare: Homer's "moon waffle", made with waffle batter, liquid smoke, and heaping handfuls of caramel and wrapped around a stick of butter after burning the waffle iron (which would explain why, in the Treehouse of Horror story where Lisa creates a mini-universe, Lisa grumbles "That waffle iron's been in the shop forever")[[note]]the Website/YouTube series, "Binging With Babish" had an episode where this dish was recreated. You can imagine how well it went[[/note]]. Currently provides the page image.

* BadassAdorable: Apu's nephew Jamshed makes his first appearance in this episode, and he manages to be this. Within seconds of Apu leaving, Jamshed draws a shotgun and aims it at the bullies, who were already in mid-theft.

* ReligionIsWrong: Subverted. Homer doesn't question religion itself, he merely muses on which religion is correct: "What if we picked the wrong religion? Every week we're just making God madder and madder."

** Sloth: Homer misses church in order to sleep in and lounge around the house, and is shown to be very reluctant to get out of bed.

** Greed: Homer finds a penny and declares it to be the best day of his life, dwarfing his wedding day and the day a beer truck overturned and he got to dance in the ensuing shower. To be fair, he did have a pretty good day compared to his wife and kids complete with a football game that was nothing but "razzle-dazzle."
** Wrath: Homer slams his hands on the wheel of his car in anger when he fails to lose Ned in the car chase. Also: Apu lashing out at the ducks who are holding him up in traffic.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Even God seems somewhat convinced of Homer's reasons for not liking church, and the weather was, indeed, kind of bad, resulting in Marge, Lisa, and Bart having a ''horrible'' morning due to Marge's insistence.

* PetTheDog: The normally self-centered Krusty is shown trying to help the families of deceased Jewish clowns by raising money for them.