Humor in Faith: Intent, Appropriateness, and God’s Glory

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The question is this I was just wondering what a Christian's attitude should be towards joking in general joking you've been around serious people that never joke you've been around some people that you know they they joke enough and when they do it you think they're funny they're people who joke maybe it's sarcasm of some sort it's not really funny it's maybe more hurtful they make Jabs at people. [00:27:11]

I mean look we're supposed to be people of Truth and just everybody has an opinion but lots of opinions are wrong and so Christians need to have opinions based on something like Romans 14 we need to have opinions that are based on some some semblance of scripture I mean we need to have we need to have Bible verses backing up giving us a flavor at least some general principles. [00:126:24]

The thing about Elijah he wasn't trying to pull laughter out of anybody his sarcasm was a derogatory remark against a false god and those priests that represented that false god I mean it was it was a uh actually you hear God give the same kind of sarcasm and uh yeah God himself can be sarcastic with people but um what about what about and we're talking Christians here what about Christians who try to get a laugh. [00:277:62]

Ephesians chapter 5. says coarse jestine is not appropriate course now it doesn't just say jesting it says course jesting what do you do with the word course like jesting that involves something that's bad a lot of jesting has to do with sexual innuendo a lot of jesting has to do with foul language I mean if we're just talking about the world and the way they I mean you know even Ruby and I we were we're at this hotel in London. [00:470:30]

I personally despise those guys but do you do you know what happened years ago and you can find this online years ago John Piper went to a conference of Christian counselors I think in Memphis Tennessee Memphis or Nashville Tennessee and on the on the uh brochure for the conference they had him and a Christian comedian flip-flopped and a lot of these people didn't know Piper and so when he got up they thought he was the comedian. [00:1177:64]

I think if you know what the reaction is going to be if you know the you know they're gonna they're gonna enjoy it rather than have a heart attack yeah but I said you know they're gonna enjoy it rather than have a heart attack Ruby what were you saying being like in general in regards to uh pranks and you know that category of life like as Christians I think a lot has to do with the motivation. [00:1421:12]

I mean that would be the thing about something caustic or something that is just some kind of jesting that gets into the realm of inappropriate if it hurts Harms somebody else if it's crude if it's vulgar if it's impure if if you're dealing with profanity obviously if it's dealing with just sexual innuendo of some sort um you know whether it is something necessarily vulgar if it has to do with bodily functions and fluids. [00:1504:74]

James talks about bridling the tongue First Corinthians 10 talks about doing everything we do to God's glory Romans 13 put on the Lord Jesus Christ and so I think I think just contemplating these broad principles if I'm going to do everything whether I eat or drink everything how I speak whether I'm going to jest whether I'm going to tell a joke whether I'm going to whatever I'm going to do if I'm going to try to pull laughs out of somebody. [00:1620:38]

I mean just because the scriptures are silent with regards to his laughing I he was he was a man he was made in every respect like us that has to include laughter if he did if he never laughed and he wasn't made in every respect like us but I think that there is also a reason why God left that out because he was indeed a Man of Sorrows. [00:1672:14]

He looked at men and he knew you deny me and you're going to lose your soul and he was confronted by that his own he came to his own and his own received him not and he full well knew the extent of what that meant he wept over Jerusalem I mean and you know he didn't live in this world long just barely into his 30s so in his few years here he was indeed That Man of Sorrows. [00:1709:94]

He was moving towards Calvary I mean that Calvary Road was before him and he talked about the fact that he was under distress until that was accomplished and so just those last three years of his life which is basically 99 of what we get in the four Gospels he was under that constant I mean it is like culminated in the garden where it's just pressing blood out of him but he's he would say that he made comments along the way. [00:1773:17]

For further study on this topic you could watch Tim Conway's Bible study are you a Man of Sorrows or laughter which is part 10 of his battle with sin series. [00:1814:88]

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