Who Is Or Was Your Favorite Comedian?

i didn't know that; thank you. George Carlin did, too, but he understood the purpose of comedy, and he used it well.

Yeah, Carlin is another on my list of "Comedians I wish I could listen to with a clean conscience." He can be hilarious.

Good to listen to, with or without depression. For Christians it can help us understand why we do what we do and live how we live.

Exactly.

In essence, what you seem to be saying is that comedy is a useless anti-depressant in that it never really cures one's depression. The only real cure for depression is found in Christ, and, specifically, in the "helmet of salvation" (Ephesians 6:17) which Paul elsewhere likened to "the hope of salvation," or to the hope of eternal life in the kingdom to come.

1 Thessalonians 5:8

"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."

In fact, it is this "helmet of salvation" which sustained Jesus during his incarnation.

Isaiah 59:16-18

"And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence."

That was prophesied in relation to Christ who, like us, needed a breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of salvation during his time here on earth. In other words, Jesus needed to cling to promises in scripture which pertained to his own hope of being raised from the dead in order to overcome.

Here is one example of what I am saying:

Psalm 16:8-11

"I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

Again, it was Christ's hope in the resurrection of the dead which sustained him during his incarnation, and this same hope is what needs to sustain us as well. Without such a hope, depression of some sort is inevitable.

At a previous job of mine, there were several people who would literally come to me every day while begging me to make them laugh. I obliged them with my humor, which they thought was hilarious, but did I actually help them? In retrospect, no, I did not. I mean, they came to me daily for a good laugh because they were unhappy or depressed, and even though I made them laugh daily, they had to come back to me the next day for another dose of laughter to sustain them. What I should have done was preach to them the hope of eternal life in Christ. Of course, that might have turned some or all of them away, but if I had done so, and if they had embraced what I might have told them, then they could have found true peace of mind or genuine hope for their souls.
I hope that you do not take this the wrong way, but I believe that some of your time could be better spent doing exactly what you have been doing here today. In other words, by trying to explain life to people, even if it is only over the internet, and how to overcome it through Christ. I mean, you seem to have a good knowledge of the word of God, and that could be used to truly help some people. In fact, I presently spend the bulk of my "free time" trying to minister to people online, and I definitely have seen some genuine and positive results.

Continue to plant seed.

Water it when you can.

And then sit back and watch as God brings the increase as only he can.

Again, please do not take this the wrong way. My intent is not to either criticize or judge you. Instead, my intent is always to gently push others towards doing that which is of eternal value. Hopefully, you understand.

Well I wasn't listening to a comedy track while I was typing that.

And you can't witness every waking minute of the day, because it does no good. People won't listen to it until they want to listen to it. Until then, it just pushes people away.

Awesome testimony. Thanks for sharing.

Since you mentioned the book of Ecclesiastes earlier, I will mention that I genuinely try to do what Solomon suggested there. I am referring to this:

Ecclesiastes 11:4-6

"He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."

It is always a good time to scatter some seed because we honestly do not know whether shall prosper, either this (in the morning) or that (in the evening).

I have been fortunate and blessed to make a new friend here, and she and I have been having Bible studies over the phone. In fact, our last one was close to 8 hours in duration (I am a bit of a windbag...in case you have not noticed). Anyhow, during our last conversation, I was sharing with her along these very lines, or I was telling her of some amazing incidents from my past where God gave immediate increase in the most unlikely of situations, and/or when I had seemingly sowed the most insignificant of seeds.

One time, I placed an ad about an item that I was selling, and a guy about 50 years old showed up to look at it (he did purchase it). During our very brief encounter, I casually mentioned a thing or two about God (I do not recall how I segued from the item I was selling to God), and then I sat there in shock as the man suddenly burst into tears. He told me that God was really convicting him by the simple words which I had spoken to him, and which I thought at that time were almost meaningless.

Anyhow, my point is that there is never going to be a harvest unless seeds are planted.

God isn't always striving with men. There is wisdom in knowing when He is, and when He isn't. There is a time for every season.

Right now on Youtube I'm a fan of Dry Bar Comedy. There are several on there I like. It's a comedy club in Utah where they use no dirty jokes or language, it's all clean. Some of them are really good.

I just started watching Burnett on Youtube. Conway was always making Harvey crack up. So fun watching them together.

Speaking of a time for every season, Solomon had something to say about that as well.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; "

The contrast which Solomon provided was a contrast between "a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted."

In other words, he spoke nothing of a time to bury ones talent in the earth.

There are seasons that nothing can grow. Planting during such times is a waste of seed. Plant all you want in such seasons...there will
never be a harvest.
It's not difficult to see a field that is white unto harvest.

Such fields are only white unto harvest because somebody had previously sown seeds there. As Jesus himself said:

John 4:35-38

"Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours."

Anyhow, I am not here to argue with you or anybody else. You can have the last word. I have already planted enough seeds of my own here, and I am satisfied with that.

I'm not trying to have the last word. I think it's admirable that you have a heart for evangelism. But it's Jesus who is building the church. We need to be sensitive to where He is working. The Apostle Paul was led by the Spirit. So ought we to be. It is poor stewardship of our time and resources to be working in a field that Jesus isn't working in.

I am sure a lot of people enjoy watching comedy because it will make you laugh. I don't enjoy profanity that ruins it for me. Keep it clean.

Okay, then I will respond.
In regard to the field Jesus is working in, he said:

Matthew 13:37-38

"He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;"

According to Jesus, "the field is the world", and he instructed his disciples to go into all the world, and to preach the gospel to every creature:

Mark 16:15

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

That sounds pretty all-inclusive to me.

As far as Paul is concerned, we read the following:

Acts 16:6-10

"Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them."

Although Paul was restricted, for only a season, btw, from preaching the word in Asia, Mysia, and Bithynia, he was instructed to go over to Macedonia to preach there. In other words, he was always scattering seed somewhere, and we ought to be doing the same.

Tying this back to the thread's title and purpose, what do you think God sees when he looks down and sees comedians travelling around to do comedy shows in different cities, states, or even countries? Imagine if these people were travelling to preach the gospel instead.

Anyway, my apologies, to an extent, to the member who started this thread. I say "to an extent" because I really cannot apologize for speaking about Christ on a Christian forum, but I will seek to just leave this thread unless somebody directly responds to me again.

George Carlin was extremely foul-mouthed, but he did have a pretty clear picture of how evil governments work, and that was the fuel for much of his material. Unfortunately, he also had a great disdain for God, but, even then, some of his criticisms were spot on. Not actual criticisms of God himself who is perfect, but criticisms of religions which totally misrepresent him. Sad to say, Carlin apparently could not distinguish between the two, and it probably cost him his soul.

It is a thing when a person is not saved because they will spend eternity in hell. Carlin was right about religions it is only a relationship with Jesus that saves a person to spend eternity in heaven. There are many religions, but the relationship with Jesus is the only way.