Humor a Gift from God
Having a rather perverse sense of humor myself, I struggle with this in very personal ways. Theologically, I am convinced that much of what is dismissed as disrespectful about religion is in fact a healthy critique of idolatrous conceptions of eternal things. We true-believer types need to lighten up a bit, and take religious humor as a gift that enables us to take a critical look at our own formulations. At the same time, there is such a thing as stuff that is simply bad taste, and yes, even sacrilege. If we want religious people to take a healthy look at themselves we should not shock them so much that they can’t get the point of a well-intended joke.
By
Richard Mouw
|
June 23, 2008; 6:33 AM ET
| Category:
Personal Religion
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Posted by: MOUW TSE TONG | July 9, 2008 3:45 PM
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Oh, he's a true believer all right, a true Mormon believer. Glad you think humor's a gift from God. That explains your looks.
Posted by: MOUW TSE TUNG | July 9, 2008 2:51 PM
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Oh, he's a true believer all right, a true Mormon believer. Glad you think humor's a gift from God. That explains your looks.
Posted by: MOUW TSE TUNG | July 9, 2008 2:46 PM
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Political correctness - the ridiculous notion coming from idiots propagated by an idiotic media that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by it's clean end.
Winning definition from Oklahoma State U student. Not exact but you get the idea.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 23, 2008 12:59 PM
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Absolutely so. God must be some kind of clown what with the creation of hell, carelessly left out of the list of God's creations, Genesis. Not to worry none though. The creation of hell is documented in other sacred scriptures so we know it's for real.
Can anyone think of anything to do besides laugh with the realization that the being in the burning bush was actually Lucifer the one for whom hell was specifically created? What can one say? All this time we've been calling Lucifer God. If that ain't funny nothing is. What else is there besides laughing at it? And you know God is cracking ribs over it just like God did when Lucifer tried to take over heaven.
There is but one God and therefore all who claim to be God are just a pack of clowns. God certainly claims to be God so God must be a clown too.
Posted by: BGone | June 23, 2008 11:44 AM
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The king of insult humor was and is the great Don Rickles. He was able to take unbelievable shots at everyone. He somehow did not cross over the line by being gross or hateful. Or was it that the people of his age, like Dean Martin, did not take themselves too seriously. It was probably a little of both.
Today, just about everyone has a chip on their shoulder and Rickles may not have had a successful career. However, Rickles also never seemed to be outright gross or hateful like so many so called comedians today. You could tell that Rickles loved people and when he poked fun it was to keep them humble and honest.
Political correctness has gone crazy today and no one can be made fun of. Comedians use the "F" word to be funny and are downright gross in many ways. Late night hosts have political agendas and are down right hateful to the politicians they don't like. And finally we have a major religion that has arrived on the world stage with absolutlely zero tollerance for humour, Islam. At least the Hindu's have a sense of humor. Things will only get worse in the future since Islam will bring PC to new levels.
Putting aside today's politically correct world, if Hindu's say Mike Myers has offended them, then there is probably some credibility to their complaint. He can be pretty gross and inappropriate and it takes a lot for these people to complain. They are not thin skinned like our Muslim brothers and the insults hurled at them are an order of magnitude more than the tiniest things that cause Muslims to go out and murder people. So I won't go see this movie and thereby contribute to the excesses that have upset our smiling and generally good natured Hindu brothers and sisters.
Posted by: Tim | June 20, 2008 1:17 PM
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Oh, he's a true believer all right, a true Mormon believer. Glad you think humor's a gift from God. That explains your looks.