Gods sense of humor

[Raiden no Kishi]

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?

Trust me, I'm not disagreeing with that. Balance is one of the highest principles to me.

.rai//

[Fish and Chips]

I will admit that just because we can laugh at anything does not mean we should, making UC's post more streamlined than my own, and in fact much better than my own, curse him (UC - 2, Fish - 0).

Complimentary to that, I believe another hallmark of a mature society is a strong vein of responsibility in its members. So while there is no "Official" taboo humor, per se, you should know better than to joke about some things.

[Sakaki Onsei]

And here I was hoping someone would take up my meme of prunes and start parading them around.

[Raiden no Kishi]

Complimentary to that, I believe another hallmark of a mature society is a strong vein of responsibility in its members. So while there is no "Official" taboo humor, per se, you should know better than to joke about some things.

Precisely. This is exactly what I have been getting at (or at least attempting to XD).

.rai//

[Shilohan ninja]

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.

Complimentary to that, I believe another hallmark of a mature society is a strong vein of responsibility in its members. So while there is no "Official" taboo humor, per se, you should know better than to joke about some things.

I couldn't have said it better myself. As a complimentary anecdote of my own, I'll just say that humor is good for the soul, like brownies. They're a delicious treat that pretty much no one can resist. But, what would happen, say, if you mix in even just a smidgen of doggie doo into the brownie mix? It's no longer desireable anymore, is it? It's the same way with humor; sprinkle in a little blasphemy or profanity and the medicine begins to lose its heeling effect as the poison inter mingles. Joking around is good and healthy, to a certain extent. It's the touchy subjects that you really gotta be careful with, some of shich should just be avoided altogether. In short, comedy is a thin line to tread. There are some who do it expertly well and others who just should've stuck with the crowd. At any rate, there's my rant on humor for you.

[GeneD]

I think everyone has mostly covered what I was thinking of concerning the use or subject of humour. BTW, for a thread on humour this one sure is serious.

Back on topic: I think God has a sense of humour. I think He thinks it's funny when I say the prayer before we eat dinner/food (also knows as "saying grace" apparently) almost the exact same way every time.

[Kat Walker]

I think it's safe to assume from the Bible that God runs the full gamut of emotions - happiness, sadness, anger, joy, love, disappointment, heartbreak, and everything else. That's what sets Christianity apart from other religions: our God is truly a personal God. We're made in His image, we were meant to relate to Him in every way.

While there are no explicit examples of God cracking jokes in the Bible, that certainly doesn't mean He can't appreciate humor in all its myriad forms. Nothing so central to the human spirit would be beyond Him. He wants us to have fun in life because He created us that way.

But of course like everything good, Satan has twisted it for his own purposes. I think it's safe to say that God isn't approving of humor about things that truly are NOT funny (death, sin, blasphemy) and anything used to hurt or degrade others.

[Nate]

I'll clarify a slight bit more, but I think I'm probably mostly in agreement with the people in this thread. When I said that every subject can be joked about, not every situation can be joked about. For example,

"My father always said laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis."

That would be funny. However, if I were to say,

"Several of my family members died of tuberculosis due to my neglectful father."

That would not be funny. Both statements are about the same thing, but one is meant to be humorous, while the other is not. Also as said before, context needs to be taken into consideration too. But I hope that clears this up. I wouldn't laugh at a woman whose son was mauled and eaten by a bear, but I'll laugh when Jack Handey talks about how Uncle Caveman (who was a bear) ate one of his brothers whenever they visited.

[AJV]

I think God has a sense of humor and like Momo-P said, I think it was said in the Bible that laughter is good for the soul or something like that.
Though I think that we as humans (born with sinfull nature) might find things funny that God does not.

[SailorDove]

A few thoughts...

Truth is best said in jest.

Humor is powerful, it can marginalize a victim or can inspire/encourage people.
I don't care for crude vulgar humor, but I am much more wary of subtle lies cloaked in jokes.

Does God have a sense of humor? In my opinion, He does. And a rather well developed one at that.

Is this the quote a few of you were referring too?
"A merry heart doth the body good like medicine"

Joke:
[color="Red"]Okay, Ask me "What the most important thing is in comedy?"[/color]
[color="Blue"]What the most important thi-[/color] [color="Red"]Timing.[/color]

[Raiden no Kishi]

Truth is best said in jest.

Not always, I think. However, a good communicator can use humor to make uncomfortable points, so I agree with you to a significant extent. There are exceptions, however.

.rai//

[Htom Sirveaux]

God definitely has a warped sense of humor.
I think the reason He created apes to bear such a striking resemblance to humans (or at least more than any other animal) was to make a sort of fun-house mirror version of ourselves. Next time you go to the zoo, check out the primate exhibit and watch all the people making faces at the monkeys and mimicking the faces and gestures that the monkeys make.
Witness also the giraffe. There is absolutely no logical reason why a giraffe's tongue should have to be purple. But I think if you asked God why it is, He'd just shrug and say, "'Cause I felt like it. Next time you create an animal, you can make its tongue whatever color you want."

[Peanut]

A couple things which should be noted...Jesus made use of Jewish Humor (that's humor by exageration) in many of his sermons and lessons. We tend to miss this because we come from a different cultural backround and in some cases even read to much into it. For instance, I'm sure almost everyone has heard an interpretation of Matthew 19:24 ("Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into the kingdom of God") that says something like this "The eye of a needle was a gate into the city of Jerusalem etc..." The truth is there is no archaeological evidence that such a gate exists, Jesus was actually saying what that passage literally means. To Jews in Jesus' day this would have been a funny joke, to us, we assume there is some ridiculously deep meaning to what he was saying and completely miss the humor of what he's saying. The truth is, a lot of Jesus' sermons had some sort of bit of humor in them usually used to prove an important point. The Old Testament also has some humor in it mostly in the form of irony. For instance, when the Philistines celebrate their capturing of the Arc of the Covenant and assumed defeat of God only to find that God wasn't defeated at all and instead responded by consistently knocking down their chief diety and cutting it's hands and feet off. I personally find the image of the Philistines uncovering those scenes each morning absolutely hillarious. So to answer the question...yes, I think it's safe to say that God has a sense of humor.

[Lady Kenshin]

Of course He does! If He didn't, we, being made in His image, wouldn't.

Well, that's my take on it.