Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Jeremy Pallant · 09-24-2002, 08:55 PM

Let's face is, God in the Bible does not have a sense of humor. Neither, that I recall, does Jesus. Theists who say that either one of these deities does, is simply projecting.

VirusInTheSystem · 09-24-2002, 09:16 PM

perhaps Jesus was not represented as witty in the bible... but how would that show that he in fact *wasn't*?

the point of the gospels was to get the author's spiritual beliefs across. So it isn't likely that they would feel compelled to add humorous incidents that weren't relevant to their message.

But of course, four little books with religious agendas can hardly be considered a fair representation of some thirty years of a person's life. Just because the bible doesn't *show* that aspect doesn't mean it wasn't there.

In religious writing of Buddhism, Buddha is hardly portrayed as a jokester... but does that mean Buddha had no sense of humor? No, it means that it simply wasn't relevant for those who wrote about him.

peace,
-justin

luvluv · 09-25-2002, 10:25 AM

Jeremy Pallant:

Quote:

Let's face is, God in the Bible does not have a sense of humor. Neither, that I recall, does Jesus. Theists who say that either one of these deities does, is simply projecting.

God in the Bible may not display a sense of humor, but Christians do not believe that God has his primary existence in a book. God and Jesus might actually have senses of humour in their present form of existence. I could write a biography of your life and simply omit the humorous parts, and if I was trying to make a serious point about the nature of life and death, and if I was trying to portray you as the son of God, I probably would. Simply because Jesus is never recorded as telling jokes does not mean He never told any. There was a movie made a few years ago, called Jesus I think, which portrayed a very jovial Jesus who was always playing with kids and putting the disciples in headlocks and stuff like that. We really don't have any way of knowing that wasn't the case. We know, by the Bible's own admission, that we have only a very small percentage of the words Jesus spoke during his lifetime. So it would probably be a mistake to draw conclulsions about his personality in the documents.

That having been said, I've always thought the line about getting the beam out of your own eye was pretty funny.

Jeremy Pallant · 09-25-2002, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by luvluv:
<strong>God in the Bible may not display a sense of humor, but Christians do not believe that God has his primary existence in a book</strong>

So lacking any evidence, would it be correct to say that Christians have faith that god has a sense of humor?

ieyeasu · 09-25-2002, 11:11 AM

Actually, luvluv, I have to agree with you. Painfully. That is quite a humorous bible verse. Course, I'm easily amused...

I've trodden in monsiuer's bucket.

09-25-2002, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Pallant:
<strong>

So lacking any evidence, would it be correct to say that Christians have faith that god has a sense of humor?</strong>

God has no existence of being to humor you but
Divine comedies are humorous. You just don't understand them and probably think that wallowing in mire is funny.

luvluv · 09-25-2002, 12:35 PM

Jeremy Pallant:

Quote:

So lacking any evidence, would it be correct to say that Christians have faith that god has a sense of humor?

If it helps you sleep at night, why not.

Laurentius · 09-25-2002, 12:54 PM

AVE

Quote:

Originally posted by VirusInTheSystem:
Perhaps Jesus was not represented as witty in the bible... but how would that show that he in fact *wasn't*? The point of the gospels was to get the author's spiritual beliefs across. So it isn't likely that they would feel compelled to add humorous incidents that weren't relevant to their message. But of course, four little books with religious agendas can hardly be considered a fair representation of some thirty years of a person's life. Just because the bible doesn't *show* that aspect doesn't mean it wasn't there. In religious writing of Buddhism, Buddha is hardly portrayed as a jokester... but does that mean Buddha had no sense of humor? No, it means that it simply wasn't relevant for those who wrote about him.

Quote:

Originally posted by luvluv:
God in the Bible may not display a sense of humor, but Christians do not believe that God has his primary existence in a book. God and Jesus might actually have senses of humour in their present form of existence. I could write a biography of your life and simply omit the humorous parts, and if I was trying to make a serious point about the nature of life and death, and if I was trying to portray you as the son of God, I probably would. Simply because Jesus is never recorded as telling jokes does not mean He never told any. There was a movie made a few years ago, called Jesus I think, which portrayed a very jovial Jesus who was always playing with kids and putting the disciples in headlocks and stuff like that. We really don't have any way of knowing that wasn't the case. We know, by the Bible's own admission, that we have only a very small percentage of the words Jesus spoke during his lifetime. So it would probably be a mistake to draw conclulsions about his personality in the documents.

You are humanizing God.
Okay, Jesus may have been a human (of course he was, but let's assume for the sake of the demonstration that he was God as well), so Jesus may have had a human side too, but what we are concerned with here is his supernatural side, i.e. God.

The Bible is supposed to be the word of God, the purpose of which is to reveal God - there's no or little sign of wit in the Bible, therefore wit is not relevant about God. God is perfection itself, and if a certain feature fails to be depicted it is so only because it plays no part in building up God's perfection.

The same reasoning goes against the idea of the biography missing wit. Biographies are written with the purpose of capturing the essence of a person. If wit doesn't show then it is not significantly there.

AVE

luvluv · 09-25-2002, 01:44 PM

Quote:

there's no or little sign of wit in the Bible, therefore wit is not relevant about God.

It could just as easily mean that wit is not relevant to the specific message of the Bible.

If I wrote a letter to someone saying that they were in immediate danger of doing irrevocable harm to themselves, and that I could help them out of this situation, would it be necessary for me to display in this document that I had a sense of humour?

One could argue that the Bible was written for a purpose analagous the one I just described, and if so, it's very easy to see how humour could be discarded in the face of more immediately pressing concerns.

Laurentius · 09-25-2002, 02:57 PM

No. You just cut my words out of the paragraph that contains the answer to your objection:

The Bible is supposed to be the word of God, the purpose of which is to reveal God - there's no or little sign of wit in the Bible, therefore wit is not relevant about God. God is perfection itself, and if a certain feature fails to be depicted it is so only because it plays no part in building up God's perfection.

You'd better think of the reasons why and the manner in which God would write something -not you.

AVE

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09-24-2002, 08:55 PM	#31
Jeremy Pallant Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA Posts: 1,242	Let's face is, God in the Bible does not have a sense of humor. Neither, that I recall, does Jesus. Theists who say that either one of these deities does, is simply projecting.

09-24-2002, 09:16 PM	#32
VirusInTheSystem Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Maryville, TN; U.S.A Posts: 30	perhaps Jesus was not represented as witty in the bible... but how would that show that he in fact wasn't? the point of the gospels was to get the author's spiritual beliefs across. So it isn't likely that they would feel compelled to add humorous incidents that weren't relevant to their message. But of course, four little books with religious agendas can hardly be considered a fair representation of some thirty years of a person's life. Just because the bible doesn't show that aspect doesn't mean it wasn't there. In religious writing of Buddhism, Buddha is hardly portrayed as a jokester... but does that mean Buddha had no sense of humor? No, it means that it simply wasn't relevant for those who wrote about him. peace, -justin

09-25-2002, 11:11 AM	#35
ieyeasu Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Bellingham, WA Posts: 844	Actually, luvluv, I have to agree with you. Painfully. That is quite a humorous bible verse. Course, I'm easily amused... I've trodden in monsiuer's bucket.

09-25-2002, 02:57 PM	#40
Laurentius Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Lucky Bucky, Oz Posts: 5,645	No. You just cut my words out of the paragraph that contains the answer to your objection: The Bible is supposed to be the word of God, the purpose of which is to reveal God - there's no or little sign of wit in the Bible, therefore wit is not relevant about God. God is perfection itself, and if a certain feature fails to be depicted it is so only because it plays no part in building up God's perfection. You'd better think of the reasons why and the manner in which God would write something -not you. AVE

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