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myfirstLove
Member



Joined: 2005/11/26
Posts: 496


 Christians and Humor


By Frederica Mathewes-Green

So one day this guy hears his doorbell ring and he goes to answer the door. He doesn't see anybody there, but looking down he sees a snail creeping along the welcome mat. He picks it up and tosses it far across the lawn. Two years pass. The doorbell rings. The guy goes to open the door. The snail looks up from the doormat and says, "What was that all about?"

Yes, I can hear you not laughing. Every time I tell this joke nobody laughs. My whole family has an oddball sense of humor, tending to the whimsical or surreal, typified by the old radio team of Bob & Ray (sample them at www.bobandray.com). No one else could dream up whip-wielding butterfly trainer "Ticcy" McGonigle, who never actually hits a butterfly "because then I'd have an enemy for life."

Why do we like to laugh, though it jostles us and makes us out of breath? Why do people vary so widely in what they consider funny? Is humor always a good thing, or should Christians avoid certain kinds? I've heard there are only seven joke formats in the world, but I can think of many more: absurdity, insult, slapstick, reversal, sick, satire, parody, shocker, sleepy-dog, character study, and—occupying the lowest circle of hell—puns. A few popular types are worth questioning: irony, insult, and black humor.

Irony, the prevailing tone of the 1990s, has been scrutinized recently. In For Common Things, Jedediah Purdy argues that habitual irony has eroded our ability to trust and has undermined community. Yet many Christians would defend its cousin, satire, as a useful tool of social surgery.

Political cartoons seem mean-spirited when we disagree with them, but fearlessly truthful when we agree. Irony slides into satire, and satire into parody, and before long we're at master parodist Weird Al Yankovic, whose work is unquestionably benign. Categories are hard.

Insult humor is more obviously unhealthy for people commanded to "love one another." Awhile back this form existed mostly as ethnic jokes, but now the sneering attitude is everywhere.

In a New Yorker profile the TV humor writer George Meyer locates one source for this advancing cold front: sitcoms. Characters constantly crack jokes "meant to injure other people. [A friend] once said that if anyone ever said to her even one of the things that the people on sitcoms routinely say to each other she would probably burst into tears and go running out of the room."

Meyer believes that live audiences "hate it when they have to figure out whether something is funny or not—[they] have an anxiety about laughing in the wrong place." So sitcom humor becomes increasingly obvious, broad, and mocking. Old sitcoms were framed around absurd premises—my friend the Martian, my mother the car. Now they showcase young, gorgeous stereotypes, each braying lines like a standup comic.

Meyer himself is head writer on The Simpsons, a show widely castigated among Christians. But the sourness of creator Matt Groening has waned over the years, and Springfield has become a village full of idiots whose cheerful incompetence drives the show. When gluttonous Homer wolfs down even the plastic bride and groom on a wedding cake and murmurs contentedly, "Mmmm … pointy," it's not a sitcom one-liner, but character-based affection. Meyer enjoys another kind of joke, sometimes called black humor. In Springfield the pet shop sign reads "All our pets are flushable," and a Krusty the Klown pregnancy test kit is labeled "May cause birth defects." Meyer cites a favorite non-Simpsons joke: "They can kill the Kennedys. Why can't they make a cup of coffee that tastes good?" I recoiled, but was intrigued by his analysis: the joke combines the horrifying with the banal, illuminating that in our culture everything "leads to something I can consume."

Such humor can be an honest attempt to make sense of a puzzling and tragic world; scratch a cynic and find a romantic. For people who don't have a coherent worldview with a loving God at the center, it may be the best they can do.

The online newspaper parody The Onion produces some of the best humor, such as "Clinton Deploys Vowels to Bosnia" (an airdrop of E's so "the people … can have some vowels in their incomprehensible words"). In an essay titled "I Wish I Was One of the Golden Girls" an aged woman naïvely wishes she had friends like those on TV. As she guilelessly contrasts her lonely life with Hollywood's phoniness our sympathy and affection grow, but there isn't a laugh on the page.

Is this humor? Is it wrong? Thoughtful black humor can be both repellent and a solemn teacher. Sometimes when you laugh it's only to keep from crying.


6 Kinds of Wrong Humor By Rick Grubb

1. Suggestive (sensual or inappropriate)

2. Sarcastic (hurts another)

3. Silly (foolish)

4. Sacrilegious

5. Illegal

6. Gross or Disgusting

Don't be afraid to confront wrong humor.

Avoid laughing at bad jokes.

People aren't usually won to Christ by people who aren't living like Christ.

Make sure you're joking with your friends and not joking at someone you don't like.

Ask foolish students how they want to be remembered.

There's nothing funny about Hell.

There's nothing funny about God being portrayed as a senile, old man.

Don't tease without permission or use humor in a distracting way.

Humor isn't good for correcting serious behavior problems.


_________________
Lisa

 2006/9/1 12:26Profile
enid
Member



Joined: 2006/5/22
Posts: 2680
Nottingham, England

 Re: Christians and Humor

Proverbs 17v22 says 'A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones'.

Whilst it is not wrong to laugh, that which we laugh at must not be wrong in God's eyes.

For me, personally, the best kind of humour is accidental. You know, when someone says something completely different to the way they actually meant .

God tells us to be sober, not sombre. Laughter is God given. Even God laughs it tells us in Psalm 2, but He is laughing at something no one here on earth would probably laugh at.

Yes, as you said, we are to be careful what we consider to be humour. Just because we find it funny, does not mean God does. God bless.

 2006/9/1 15:51Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re: Christians and Humor

Is this all Ms. Matthewes-Green wrote about humor? Somehow the article seems incomplete.

Ms. Mathewes-Green detailed humor that hurts but appears oblivious of the kind that relaxes the mind and emotion to inner jogging. Somehow I get the feeling that here is one person who has her head buried in academia and is not naturally subject to the vagaries of life that is governed by the weather and other unpredictibles: like people who are subject to other unknowns that are beyond their control.

Humor is the oil that allows people to cope with life that was not planned. Life is what happens when we were making other plans. How do we react? in anger? or can we look at the funny side and laugh? and sometimes that requires work!

Perhaps it may do Ms. Mathewes-Green well to come live in the rural south, milk a cow, feed some chickens, gather the eggs, meet some of the Flannery O'Conner's, or Lewis Grizzard's people and the ones Jerry Clower talked about. Or check out Mayberry with Sherrif Taylor and his deputy, Barney.

Good humor that is healthy, relaxing, look at life with a twinkle in the eye, a forgiving mentality at people's humaness - other people's and their own - and just laughs! Life in the rural south is conductive in developing this brand of humor which is not found in the more sophisticated north and the urban areas. Life there is fast, exacting and woe on the person who does not comply: hence the cutting humor.

Healthy humor also exaggerates. It will see an incident which provides fodder for an imagination. The speaker and the listeners are both aware of the machinations at work. Wit is often born at the spur of the moment and one has to know the person to appreciate it. Some sayings have found their way into the vernacular which is totally lost on anyone from elsewheres. But, we laugh! Oh! do we ever love to! and no one gets hurt either..

One time we hosted a reunion in which people from the north came. As usual, we talked with humor, using common colloquialisms. I soon sensed one guy was so befuddled I needed to watch my speech: he just did not get it!

Laugh at yourself and you will not hurt anyone else. I promise you the older you get you will find lots of things to laugh about, about yourself...if you have a sense of humor. Otherwise you will end up a sour puss which no one can tolorate!

The Bible says laugher is good like medicine: how does this work? It works because one has at heart a forgiving mentality that looks at life and knows not everything will always go right and that one will try again, hoping the next time he/she will succeed. And if it doesn't, try again..maybe you will achieve your goal and if not, try again! Then you may need help! Yes, humor keeps us from taking ourselves and others too seriously, yet it also know what is sacred and regards it with reverence.

My opinion....
ginnyrose


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Sandra Miller

 2006/9/2 0:20Profile
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re:

Quote:
So one day this guy hears his doorbell ring and he goes to answer the door. He doesn't see anybody there, but looking down he sees a snail creeping along the welcome mat. He picks it up and tosses it far across the lawn. Two years pass. The doorbell rings. The guy goes to open the door. The snail looks up from the doormat and says, "What was that all about?"

Yes, I can hear you not laughing. Every time I tell this joke nobody laughs.



Hold up a minute! I [i]love[/i] that joke!

Some good stuff there ginnyrose, would love to be in the midst of what you described. Glad to see something on this up here for a change, there is a thread on the [i]lighter side[/i] that has laid dormant for quite some time now that I think of it.

Some of the funniest stuff that ever happens is what we do to or through our own selves ... Will share an episode ...

This was probably a couple of years ago now but had awoken in the middle of the night and for whatever reason and with a real determination to go towards the kitchen from my comfortable bed. I was awake enough and wasn't sleep walking, but as mentioned, with a real sense of purpose and urgency, in the darkness of the night, proceeded to walk full speed into my closed bedroom door! Why it didn't knock me out cold I will never know, it was so unbelievably stupid I was laughing through the pain that was inflicted on my throbbing nose and forehead ... Stupid humans :-D


_________________
Mike Balog

 2006/9/2 0:48Profile
myfirstLove
Member



Joined: 2005/11/26
Posts: 496


 Re:

yes, the bible does speak of laughter and a merry heart, but your adding to the word by saying that humor is what makes a merry heart or brings laughter. there are many things that can bring such feelings about, not just one thing. the bible doesn't say anything about jokes. i'm not saying all humor is bad, just most are. Jesus never use humor to comfort or share the truth using humor. so does He have a problem? is He too seriouse because He doesn't crack jokes?

i don't think the problem is people being too seriouse that they need humor in their life. the problem today many christians are so superficial, always having a joking attitude that they don't know how to be seriouse and get so easily offended when someone does take life seriouse in Christ.

my post was agaist bad humor. i believe there is good innocent humor, but many do not use that kind of humor, and the world is clueless to clean humor that desires to fill the heart with joy and love. many christians are guilty of such bad humor. my grievance is that most christians do not see the wickedness of bad humor. they do not realize how such humor hurts people, takes the seriouseness out of the gospel and souls, and fills us with a bitter, loveless heart for others and for God's ways, also making us very superficial and prideful not wanting to face reality and fear of walking in honesty.

i hear so much bad humor about people, our leaders, politics, churches ect...it makes me sick! people crack so much jokes about other people because they are scared to look at their own heart so they have to make fun of someone else so their problems wouldn't look so big.

i find that many christians will rebuke wrong doctrine, but hardly anyone rebukes bad humor wich is very evil. bad humor is very deceptive because its hidden behind laughter. and because its so deceptive it can get away with things more easily causing more damaged to others and themselves.

maybe ms mathewes green was more focus on the bad humor because no one hardly talks about the evil of bad humor. a lot of people think any kind of humor is good. so,i think ms mathewes did a good job in sharing the different kinds of bad humor. we all hear so much about how good humor is. its time to hear about the darkside of humor. the world is filled with dark humor and if we're not watchful we will also get caught up with that kind of humor and will not realize how much it destroys and cuts down other people's hearts and also making us think bad about other people.

i hope this makes more sense.

God bless


_________________
Lisa

 2006/9/2 1:15Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

crsschk, well it looks like you can laugh at yourself! Bless you!

I will tell one story that is serious but the participants will laugh..the kind I referred to in my post.

A hog farmer in our community had a large hog barn that housed hundreds of pigs. But he had a bad rat problem. So he invited fellows to come one night and they were going to kill rats. Our son, Dean went, took his pistol planning to shoot any rat he sees.

Now these rats had burrowed tunnels underneath the floor which was a concrete slab. So the owner goes to one entrance and pours water down it and had fellows stationed at other holes to kill any rats that emerge. So many rats emerged the guys gave up shooting and got clubs to beat these critters. They were literally surrounded by rats!

Funny? No and yes! No - in the sense they were a pest eating the farmers feed, cutting in on his profits. Yes, because of the experience in battling rats, the numbers were totally unexpected. And the experience lended itself to hilarity which the men resort to when retelling this tale.

BTW, these men have no favorable opinions of PETA!

ginnyrose


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Sandra Miller

 2006/9/2 1:17Profile
myfirstLove
Member



Joined: 2005/11/26
Posts: 496


 Re:

well, i hope you all can see that my post was talking about bad hurtful humor.

i put this up with a seriouse heart, to discuss the darker side of humor and how it can strip others down and also to be watchfull and check our own heart to see if we are guilty of such.

God bless


_________________
Lisa

 2006/9/2 1:42Profile
MrBillPro
Member



Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 3422
Texas

 Re:

At the heart of Jesus' humor is paradox. Nowhere is paradox more explicit than in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5), which celebrate a happiness (blessedness) begot of poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, etc. Happiness in a sick society is enjoyed not by espousing the values of that society, but by countering those values and moving into a new, strange dimension. Our culture does not educate us to see the humor, even the laughter in paradox. A Zen master would understand. Perhaps the greatest laugh of all is the confident, joyful laugh in the face of adversity.

The resurrection presents sublimist laughter, laughter at death itself. As St. Paul interpreted it: "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? (I Corinthians 15:55). The Passion, as rich as it is, is not Jesus' final statement. Even the angel at the tomb is part of the conspiracy of surprise and joy: "Woman, why are you weeping?" (John 20:15). The angel knows the answer to the question but teases dramatically. Later Jesus withholds his identity from those who walked to Emmaus after the resurrection until "he was at table with them. And heir eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight" (Luke 24:30-31). Jesus humorously indulges Thomas the doubter: "Put your finger here and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side" (John 20:27). Thomas does not have to touch, but believes on the evidence of the familiar jesting Jesus.

The angels announced to the shepherds: "I bring you good news of great joy which will come to all the people" (Luke 2:10). Again and again the Gospels are punctuated with the crowds' amazement, with rejoicing. It is difficult to imagine a healing or a feeding of the multitude without good spirits and laughter. Such events are not dreary, but exciting. Jesus is not lugubrious, but joyful, and joy-making. He purges the world of grim sickness, poverty and wickedness. He makes all things new.


_________________
Bill

 2006/9/2 1:54Profile









 Re:

Don't know if it's already been said, but I suppose that it is not a question of whether laughter is good or bad, but rather what is it that you are laughing at?

For example, a man walks into a bar and he has got an orange for a head. The barman asks,
'How come you've got an orange for a head?' The bloke says,
'Well I was walking down the street one day and I saw this lamp lying on the floor. So I picked it up and rubbed it, and a genie popped out and said I could have one wish.'
The barman asks, 'So, what did you wish for?'
The bloke says, 'Derr. An orange for a head.'

Funny? Not funny? OK to laugh at? Not OK to laugh at?

 2006/9/2 5:20
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

quote:
well, i hope you all can see that my post was talking about bad hurtful humor.





Point well taken. I just believed the writer -Ms. Mathewes-Green did not finish her article! Yet, perhaps she did. I do know from my observation of life that people in certain areas of the USA do not have a healthy sense of humor. AND those that apostasize lack it as well- they resort to cutting, harmful humor which in my opinion is not humor.

We do need to lighten up...don't we all know that a junkyard is a ladies parking lot? or the reason males go bald is because their hair are growing underground and growing out of their nose and ears?!!! (Give an older man a haircut and you will see what I mean! ..like I do occasionally.) :-P

ginnyrose


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Sandra Miller

 2006/9/2 11:06Profile





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