CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

SO, I watched Dogma last night for the first time since it came out. I'm definetely a huge fan of Kevin Smith films, and Dogma was definetly the most thought out.
But it got me thinking, cos we all know Kevin Smith is centered around humor, and since he portrayed God as a being with a great sense of humor, I was wondering... I don't know, does He?
I know we're supposed to live out of fear and passion for him (or her =P), but do you think its always serious situations with God, always about passion and fear, or do you think God would like to joke around (of course not in our sense of the word, but you get the idea) and be funny?

Or is this blasphamy or something ridiculous?

I think God feels pleasure, so I would say it is very likely He has a sense of humor. (Of course, right now it seems to please Him to let me wander life without any sense of direction or guidance, but . . .)

I wouldn't try to get anything deep or philosophical from such a film, however.

.rai//

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it say somewhere that laughter is a gift from God? I'm pretty sure it does...which would fit. Only in recent years have they discovered how extremely healthy laughter is for you. Heck, look at Weird Al. He's getting fairly old, yet you wouldn't even notice it.

I see no reason why not. After all, God did get an *** to speak for him to the false prophet Balem, did he not? Or what about using David, a li'l sheperd boy of barely 13 to slay Goliath, the nine foor tall decapitation machine of the Philistine army? I'd say that'd take a good sense of humor to pull that off.
Now, the humor in Dogma IS blasphemous on so many levels, it's not even funny. I mean, seriously now, the angel's not just gonna drop his/her pants to prove they're really a heavenly being, incapable of reproducing, right? Where in the Bible does it give any kind of example that even remotely eludes to that kind of behavior? I, sure as heck, didn't find any, unless that happened to appear in the book of second opinions. That movie, for all its biblical references, was rather acutely perverted in my opinion. I mean, there is NO loophole to get back into Heaven, right? At least, not that I'm aware of. Tell me if my theology's way off, but I'd say that movie, for all intents and purposes, is outright blasphemy of the entire spirit world, God, angels and demons alike.

If the good lord gave us the platypus, I think it's safe to say he has a sense of humor.

Tell me if my theology's way off, but I'd say that movie, for all intents and purposes, is outright blasphemy of the entire spirit world, God, angels and demons alike.

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I dunno, I thought it was funny. I think in some ways, language wise and what not it was blasmphamy, but its not like they were out right making fun of God or anything. Which is why I find it humorous, because Kevin Smith IS a religious man, and he knows the limits. I don't think at all he was trying to prove that there is a loophole, or that angels and demons are the way they are like that, I think that was solely for comedic and movie value.
Regardless, it made me think at least =P

xblack_x_rosesx (post: 1258805) wrote:Tell me if my theology's way off, but I'd say that movie, for all intents and purposes, is outright blasphemy of the entire spirit world, God, angels and demons alike.

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I dunno, I thought it was funny. I think in some ways, language wise and what not it was blasmphamy, but its not like they were out right making fun of God or anything. Which is why I find it humorous, because Kevin Smith IS a religious man, and he knows the limits. I don't think at all he was trying to prove that there is a loophole, or that angels and demons are the way they are like that, I think that was solely for comedic and movie value.
Regardless, it made me think at least =P

Frankly, being a "religious man" is utterly irrelevant. Using such important beings such as God for comedic value, especially in a film with much profanity and crude humor, is over the limit by most people's estimations. Do you think that brings glory to God? Honestly, this obsession with irreverence that is plaguing American popular culture irritates and distresses me. Some things shouldn't be joked about.

.rai//

If God didn't have a sense of humor, there wouldn't be comedians and we wouldn't have the ability to laugh.

Raiden no Kishi wrote:Some things shouldn't be joked about.

I disagree with this statement.

Nate (post: 1258810) wrote:I disagree with this statement.

I'm not surprised at all. I'm sure you have reasoning why we should feel free to make fun of anything?

.rai//

I definitely think God has a sense of humor. And yes while we are supposed to fear and respect Him, He doesn't want use to be so terrified of Him that we can't go to Him. We need to have a healthy fear of Him.

Raiden no Kishi wrote:I'm sure you have reasoning why we should feel free to make fun of anything?

Because we should feel free to make fun of anything. Who draws the line at what we should and shouldn't make fun of? *WARNING: Godwin invoked* The Holocaust killed millions of people...does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to laugh at the Nazi Caramelldansen video, or that it shouldn't have been made? War is an atrocity and many people die in combat...does that mean Battlefield: Bad Company shouldn't have been made, or Tropic Thunder?

You could say religion should be off-limits, but then does that mean we can't have the video of Tom Cruise jumping on a couch to laugh at? Does that mean we can't enjoy Marvel's Thor comics? Should I not let out a hearty "HAW HAW!" whenever I read one of Jack Chick's ridiculously absurd tracts?

I'm not offended by Dogma, though I understand why people would be. The thing to remember is, it was supposed to be a comedy, not a well-researched documentary on religion. Kind of like Life of Brian (my favorite Monty Python movie) or even Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which parodied the Arthurian legends (on that note, I don't know why Christians aren't offended by the portrayal of God in THAT movie, they seem to decry Life of Brian, which doesn't even insult Christianity, but the movie where God says "Stop averting your eyes, it annoys me!" gets praised?).

The Onion already ran an article about Cheney being happy to go shopping for September 11 presents. I suppose people might be offended by that, but I think it's funny. That doesn't mean I think the loss people suffered is funny, but it means that the article is funny.

Let me close by saying this. My dad died when he was hit by a car while riding his bike. In the Strong Bad email "children's book" there's a scene where Strong Bad draws a truck about to run over a kid on a bike (Franky has about five seconds). I could get offended by this, but I don't. It's funny. And I wouldn't want to be a jerk by saying, "How dare you laugh at that, my dad was killed in the exact same way!"

That is all.

God created humor because he knew we'd be such a crazy species. It was the only way He knew to make sense of it all.

I believe humor is something that allows us to heal and grow stronger (though like anything humans have, it can be misused). Not just that we can enjoy the inherent ridiculousness of this world and ourselves, but that it's medicine for the soul, and generally useful. I see no reason God cannot laugh, for if anyone, he has an awful lot to laugh about.

In this recent thread on acceptable humor, I consider one of the signs of any mature society that they can discuss anything, but they can also laugh at anything. There is a lot to be revealed and reveled in humor. Hitler and the 3rd Reich was a dark time for the world, but humorists have reduced them to a joke. This does not make light of the travesties the Nazis committed, but makes Nazis themselves a subject of mockery, as they certainly deserve. All this hushing up about it and political correctness on television just makes them a thing to be feared again.

I'd rather laugh and face the future.

I mostly agree - joking about stuff like rape and sexual abuse (child or adult) is out of bounds in my opinion.
Wish more comedians realised that.

I bet God had a big laugh at the tower of Babel. "Haha, Ive confussed all of their languages. They'll never try to reach me ever again if they know what's good for them." No Im just kidding about that last statement, but I do believe He found the event hillarious.

And yeah I do belive God has a sense of humor.


Look at me! I am trying to make Steve look bad! Look at me go!

God has to have a sense of humor. I mean, it's evident every morning when I wake up and look in the mirror to see that my cat was sleeping on my face again.

Does God have a sense of humor? Of course He does! Even Jesus has a sense of humor.

Er... mate, God is Jesus.

Yep! The Trinity, don't forget it. God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit.

animedude90 wrote:Yep! The Trinity, don't forget it. God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The trouble I see with cracking jokes about serious things is this. Sure you can joke about something, but when you think about it next, what comes to mind? The joke, especially if you find it very funny. That's what bothers me about our modern culture's propensity to mock and poke fun at everything. Pretty soon, you can think of as many jokes about any given thing as you can serious thoughts. By my observation, laughing about something implies that it's not that big of a deal (thus the expression "laugh it off".) Humor is powerful. I worry when people want to make a joke out of everything.

.rai//

XD Thanks nate, I proudly accept this rock. Although, I think I more of an Admiral Obvious.

Raiden no Kishi (post: 1258877) wrote: I worry when people want to make a joke out of everything.

Big time ditto on that....Especially when movies that mock just about everything in our culture (Meet the Spartans, Disaster Movie, etc) seem to be what everyone's talking about and laughing about nowadays....

I mean, I love to laugh at ridiculous stuff, especially if it's a commercial....But a commercial only lasts for 30 secs.....a movie can last more then an hour, and there is only so much of "that sort of" (joke-out-of-everything) humor that I think we can take before we become completly numb to being serious about what needs to be taken seriously.....

It might already be too late for a most of us.....I already feel like I'm slipping more towards that.....but that's not who I want to be....and I know that's not who I was made to be.....

The belief that God has a sense of humor is essential to my existence. There are things that happen in my life for which the only justification could be that God watches my life like a television show or movie. He often laughs His omnipresent butt off.

I know there must be times when things happen where God is like "I did it for the lulz." For example, the time when I went to China and my luggage got lost. I thought that was hilarious and I'm sure God did, too.

After some thought, I think I would be willing to accept that there might be a place for humor about all subjects, but not in all settings. There may also be subjects for which so few settings are appropriate that the difference is negligible.

As an example of the former, consider sexism. I have a Gender in American History class where we're all a bunch of feminists, so it can be pretty funny if someone demands "Get in the kitchen, woman" (when in a funny context, naturally). But there are a lot of people who would be offended by even touching this subject, perhaps because it's too close to reality for them, or perhaps because they have been hurt too badly for the subject ever to be funny to them.

Ya know what, I think UC nailed it perfectly. =)

uc pseudonym (post: 1259014) wrote:After some thought, I think I would be willing to accept that there might be a place for humor about all subjects, but not in all settings. There may also be subjects for which so few settings are appropriate that the difference is negligible.

As an example of the former, consider sexism. I have a Gender in American History class where we're all a bunch of feminists, so it can be pretty funny if someone demands "Get in the kitchen, woman" (when in a funny context, naturally). But there are a lot of people who would be offended by even touching this subject, perhaps because it's too close to reality for them, or perhaps because they have been hurt too badly for the subject ever to be funny to them.

That's certainly a possibility. I think what I really worry about is that we as a culture are forgetting that humor has certain contexts where it is inappropriate.

.rai//

But, on the same token, we shouldn't also be too over-sensitive, lest we end up as shriveled old prunes.

There's a fine balance that needs to be struck, and the PC crowd of the world has become too over-sensitive. Believers should remember Ecclesiastes, y'know...the everything has a place and a time section?