Does God have humor?

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Dai3234

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2016
524
4
0
#41
You DO KNOW that the "Image" we are made in is our Triune Being, not our physical bodies right?
It can be read two ways. The other is, God made an image. Whether it be a penguin or you, they are His image. So either way, your laughing about his creation "look how ugly he made us", or "look how wierd and scary that creature is", is a failure of our thinking.

We shouldn't fear anything but God, or criticize his creations in a negative way.

That doesn't mean I don't look at myself and think yuck sometimes. I just try with godly help to not do so. Though I am flappy, with a short ish attention span, so emotional mental flapping has often occured.

Though that is not God being humourous.
 

1joseph

Senior Member
Dec 14, 2014
590
12
18
#42
It can be read two ways. The other is, God made an image. Whether it be a penguin or you, they are His image. So either way, your laughing about his creation "look how ugly he made us", or "look how wierd and scary that creature is", is a failure of our thinking.

We shouldn't fear anything but God, or criticize his creations in a negative way.

That doesn't mean I don't look at myself and think yuck sometimes. I just try with godly help to not do so. Though I am flappy, with a short ish attention span, so emotional mental flapping has often occured.

Though that is not God being humourous.
God created all things, but only 'mankind' in his image.

Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

...and, the creation in his image continues with our children.

Genesis 5:3
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#43
I think Christians often get too serious and over analyze jokes and funny statements. Jesus himself used humour when he compaired the rich man's chances to get to heaven with a camel through the eye of a needle. Can a Christian laugh at Monty Python altough their humour sometimes get close to blasphemy? I say yes. We live in the world, after all. And a good laugh make the day more bareable in a fallen world.

What are your view on this topic?

Do you have examples on Godly humour?
I'm hard pressed to think anyone can laugh at Monty Python. Just not that funny. (And then I see hubby laugh at them, and wonder about his sanity. I really shouldn't wonder. He married me, and he stuck with me, so the sanity issue was answered long ago. Not that sane.) lol

When I first began to realize my chronic pain wasn't going to be healed, I needed to learn how to live with it. It doesn't take long before figuring out the Bible doesn't give directions on how to live with it. Either the people lived with it or God healed them, and there was never a guarantee of being healed from it. (And that's what took me so long to realize God might not heal me. lol) So, I got books on how to deal with pain. And there are a lot of books about dealing with pain that cross all beliefs.

Most of them were garbage. But two pieces of information came through with almost everyone of them -- divert your mind from the pain and laugh.

I stumbled across my first laugh. It had already been 6 weeks of such severe pain that I could be found in bed or literally on the floor wreathing in pain. In those moments when I wasn't wreathing, I was researching how to kill myself and praying for God's help not to. And one morning I came downstairs to find a box sitting in the middle of our living room. It was a package from a Christian friend I knew online. She sent me everything that gave her comfort. When I opened it I burst out laughing. The first time I had laughed in months. A laugh so loud, hubby heard me in the basement and came up. (He had put the box there, so he already knew why I laughed.)

Inside the box was scented candles, a bracelet I wore until it broke, homemade cookies and fudge, a beautiful doll, a music box made from shells, a stuffed cocker spaniel, and my first teddy bear. (I've had many stuffed animals when I was a kid, just never a teddy bear.)

Somewhere in all that followed, that bear gave me much comfort. The cocker spaniel has become his wife. (I did mention my hubby must be somewhat insane for marrying me, right? So there is some question on my own sanity. Just know some of me knows the stuffed animals aren't alive. I merely chose to ignore that information, because that's not fun. lol) They both tell me the ride in the box was long, so there was no chocolate cake with them. Had it been a little longer, there would have been no cookies and fudge also. lol

Because of that laugh, hubby set to do funny things with the bear to make me laugh again. (The bear has a serious face, so often when I came back to bed the bear was standing on his head looking very serious indeed.)

I bought hubby a teddy bear of his own, not knowing he (hubby, not the bear), was about to face his own life-threatening illness and could use a laugh occasionally too. I do believe just one laugh makes even the worst day bearable. (Pun not intended, but liked anyway.)

It will be 18 years this December since that box landed on our living room floor. And we have spent those years grabbing one bear or the other (or another and another, since the family has grown lol) to make them say something funny enough to get us laughing.

We laugh easily now. I think God gives us laughter, and even Jesus laughed easily. Here are Jesus's first jokes to his motley crew even before there was a wedding in Cana.

John 1:[FONT=&quot]43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”[/FONT]

Two jokes. Nathanael had asked if anything good can come out of Nazareth even before meeting Jesus, but Jesus had a good comeback. "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit." And then when Nathanael was so impressed that Jesus knew he was under a fig tree that he called him Rabbi and Son of God. Jesus teased him for being so easily impressed.

Laughter -- definitely a good thing.
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#44
God does have a sense of humour - human beings are created in His image.
How could we appreciate humour if God does not?

A small thing, but the camel and the eye of the needle example is not actually humorous but an actual example of real life.
In those days every city of any consequence was walled.
The only way onto these cities was through gates.
These gates usually had gates in the gates called the 'eye of the needle'.
These smaller gates had very specific dimensions that were only just wide enough to let a camel or a horse through.
Considering that camels and horses were generally used as beasts of burden they would have to be completely stripped of that burden before they pass through the 'eye of the needle'.
The object of the exercise was security.
Every animal would be stripped of its burden in front of the city guards, pass through the gate and then be reloaded on the other side.

When Jesus said, Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matt 19:23-24), this is what he was referring to.
The implications of this were not lost on the disciples,
25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?(Matt 19:25).
Why were they so astonished?
Probably for the first time they realised that none of their own merit would save them - obedience to the law obviously mean't nothing as far as righteousness before God was concerned!
Jesus reply was a bit enigmatic, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matt 19:26).

However, now, as New Covenant believers, we know the answer to the question posed by the disciples:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph 2:8-9)
Actually, although I believed that for decades, it's an old wives tale. There was no such gate.
 
R

RamahDesjardin

Guest
#45
I'm just a lowly newbie here, so my opinion probably isn't worth much, but here goes.. There are two separate issues involved. One is the issue of laughter in general, and the other is laughing at disrespectful comedy.

Healthy, positive laughter is encouraged in Scripture (Psalm 126:2 and Luke 6:21). Good laughter is simply a bubbling over of extreme happiness, such as when women laugh while crying on their wedding day, or when friends laugh at everything each other says because they're having such a good time. Extreme joy always produces laughter.

But, there is a different kind of laughter that deals with mocking. CS Lewis wrote a great deal about it in Screwtape. To paraphrase his words, that sort of laughter never makes people feel better and never fosters affection. I've seen that to be true. I think this is what Paul had in mind when he warned us to avoid crude joking. It may be intellectually stimulating for a moment, but it doesn't feed the soul.

I don't know if Monty Python is necessarily a sin, but I personally don't enjoy laughing at negative things.
 

Zmouth

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2012
3,391
134
63
#46
I think Christians often get too serious and over analyze jokes and funny statements. Jesus himself used humour when he compaired the rich man's chances to get to heaven with a camel through the eye of a needle. Can a Christian laugh at Monty Python altough their humour sometimes get close to blasphemy? I say yes. We live in the world, after all. And a good laugh make the day more bareable in a fallen world.

What are your view on this topic?

Do you have examples on Godly humour?
When I think of scriptural humor, I can't help but think about Jesus and Martha at Lazarus's tomb.

So there you have Jesus and Martha standing outside the cave where Lazarus laid, and there is a large stone which had been rolled in front of the opening.

39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. John 11:39-41

And Martha looks at Jesus like he is crazy and responds, "Say What?" And Jesus again says with some frustration in his voice "Take ye away the stone." Marth who is still looking at him like he is crazy and begins mumbling saying under her breath "Your the LORD God almighty and your telling me to roll that stone away by myself?" And Jesus asks what she said and Martha says "Why don't you roll that stone away yourself, my Lord?" And Jesus looks at her funny.

Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.


Jesus thinks to himself, "Yeah I know, why does she think I am telling her to roll the stone back but let me show her why I am the anointed one and she ain't"

Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

So Martha thinking to herself, "Does he think because I am a woman that I am that stupid?" So Martha replies "My Lord, I walk by faith and not by sight" So Jesus begin praying about what he is going to have to do to get this crazy woman to obey his command cause he can't roll it back by himself. And the word of the LORD comes to him, 'helpmate'


41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

And the rest is history.
 

p_rehbein

Senior Member
Sep 4, 2013
30,179
6,529
113
#47
You must be confusing me with another Member posting on this Thread. Don't believe I mentioned I was laughing at anything. (just saying) I am also not sure you understand what Scripture means when speaking of fearing the Lord.

Either way, in your response to me, you appear to be addressing someone else. Mayhaps you got confused?



It can be read two ways. The other is, God made an image. Whether it be a penguin or you, they are His image. So either way, your laughing about his creation "look how ugly he made us", or "look how wierd and scary that creature is", is a failure of our thinking.

We shouldn't fear anything but God, or criticize his creations in a negative way.

That doesn't mean I don't look at myself and think yuck sometimes. I just try with godly help to not do so. Though I am flappy, with a short ish attention span, so emotional mental flapping has often occured.

Though that is not God being humourous.