Conference lgp30::christian-perspective

I've just got to tell you this one.

Jesus says "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  A stone is
hurled from the crown, the prostitute dodges the missle.  Jesus looks into 
the crowd, searching for the culprit.  When found he says... "Ohh Ma"

:-)

    I can answer part of .0. The reason there are so many Challenger
    disaster jokes or Oklahoma City jokes or dead celebrity jokes or what
    have you is that we are human and not divine. Those who laugh at
    those jokes are dealing with the various tragedies in a human manner.
    We laugh because it helps us get through it. (There but for the Grace
    of God...) We don't intentionally cause hurt. If we know someone
    personally involved or affected by the situation then we usually make
    jokes about it. It helps us deal with the horror and allows us to get
    on with our lives without dwelling on the situation. (That way lies
    madness)
    
    I knew a person who was related to someone involved in a tragedy that
    made world news. I would never tell a joke about that situation where
    it might get back to that person. I wouldn't hurt that person. So I
    tell no jokes about it at all. I listened and laughed at some of them
    and moved on. It is a cartharsis. Of course prayer helps also, but as I
    said at the start of this we are human and deal with it in a human way.
    Humor is one of them.
    
    Did Jesus crack jokes? I wouldn't know. Does God have a sense of humor?
    I would say yes. I will tell you all a story and I do believe that
    prayer helped through this. It's a minor incident. A couple of years
    ago, my car's wipers stopped working. Now I decided to wait until July
    to register, inspect and fix the car. THis started in April. All Spring
    and early Summer, everytime it looked to rain, I prayed to please make
    it home before it started. I prayed very hard, knowing that what I was
    asking for was a miracle of course. Asking God to affect a natural
    condition that He had set up when He created the Earth. However for
    that time period it did not rain anywhere that I was driving, (mostly
    to and from work, 20 miles one way) it rained after I went through or
    before I got there. I would stop somewhere and the rain would come and
    I would leave and the rain would stop or let up enough to allow driving
    without wipers. So come July I got the car fixed. I went for a 60 mile
    ride (one way) to visit some friends that I hadn't seen in a while due
    to wipers. THis was a very very hot day. I knew we were in for some
    strong thunder storms. I looked at the sky and said "Go ahead, let it
    rain for all it's worth. I don't care. The wipers work." I hit one
    strong storm on the way down. Very strong. Strong enough to let me pull
    over. Did that tell me anything? NOoooooo. :-) I moved on. I HAD WIPERS
    YYEAAAAHH!!!!!! I got to my friends' store and one of them and I got
    into my car and went to McDonald's. I said I'll put the windows down to
    let the heat out and then put the ac on. I put down the power windows
    and crunch bang crash. They fell and wouldn't go back up. Both of the
    fron ones at the same time. I thought it was rough and would waste the
    ac, but it was hot anyway. I stayed the afternoon with my friends. Late
    in the afternoon one of the strongest storms to hit central Mass in 10
    years came rolling down from the West. We had driving winds of gut to
    70 MPH with sustained to 50 MPH. We got 3 inches of rain in an hour. We
    had flash floods. The storm lasted about 20 minutes at this intensity
    with my car right in the path and the rain being driven into the open
    windows. The storm cooled things off to the upper 40's after dark and I
    had to ride home with open windows and very wet seats and a promise to
    God to always thank Him for favors and never get cocky in His presence
    again. Sense of humor? Oh Yes. Very good sense of humor and I think He
    likes a practicle joke now and then. I sure was the butt of one. :-)
    That is a true story and I hope no one takes offense at my seeming lack
    of respect. Trust me, I got lots of respect now. :-)
    
    Bright Blessings,
    
    PJ

Note 1212.0

>Everyone likes a good laugh, right?  But who pays?

It's been said that the pun is the most civil form of humor, the reason
being that, generally speaking, puns poke fun at language, not people or
predicaments.  Puns, however, often provoke groans and wincing.  And while
I enjoy a good pun, like cayenne pepper, I appreciate puns only infrequently
and sparingly.

The Hebrew Bible is loaded with puns.  Of course, puns don't translate very
well into other languages.

Shalom,
Richard

Read chapter 9 of the Gospel of John and see if the exchange therein
doesn't bring you something of a chuckle or two.

Shalom,
Richard

    Also see topic 598, "The Jesus Christ Comedy Club."
    
    Shalom,
    Richard
    

Yes, we laugh at the Three Stooges.  At the same time, we realize (or hope,
at least) none of them really gets hurt.

But then there's what's called "gallows humor."  Do we use it to break the
tension?  Does it somehow take the edge off being mortal in the face of
the inevitable?

Shalom,
Richard