A Comic Eschatology

There is so much irony, comedy, paradox, and humor in the Bible but contemporary Christians are so far removed from the original audience and so serious in their faith that they miss the laughter of God in the Scriptures. Jesus is more of a Jokester than we realize and he is only following the prophetic tradition where often the joke was on God's people but the problem was they neither got the joke nor were they laughing after the prophets spoke. Here is the great paradox that runs likes a silver lining throughout the whole of scripture: When people make their plans trusting in human logic and power, God laughs. When God plans working through our human weaknesses and limitations, people laugh.

Psalm 2:2-4 says, "From His throne in heaven, the Lord laughs; He derides their feeble plans." We see this throughout the whole of scriptures from the feeble plans of the Israel to the feeble plans of the religious leaders to stop Jesus or his disciples from preaching the gospel.  Mary is presented as the new ark of God and she is filled with joy (and laughter).  John the Baptist was viewed by the religious leaders as a clown in the wilderness. They mocked him as observers from a far rather than repenting and coming down to the level of the ordinary people of the streets. Herod tried to make Jesus into a court jester and do some miracles or tricks for him but Jesus does not play the fool for the world's amusement.

The laughter of the resurrection, new creation and the redeemed are those followers of Jesus who are broken, humble and often found among the poor, despised, frightened and even depressed. God continually uses the weak and foolish things of the world to shame the wise and powerful. The world will wake up some day to a new world where the powerful are dethroned and the meek truly inherit the earth.

A Comedian Take on Religion and Jesus

I ran across John Fugelsang who gives a progressive Christian view of religion and Jesus.  I much prefer a comedian's take on issues than the more combative debate forms.

Who wouldn't want to vote for a guy who was a peaceful, radical, non-violent revolutionary; who hung around with lepers, hookers, and crooks; who never spoke English; was not an American citizen; anti-capitalism; totally anti-death penalty; anti-public prayer (Matthew 6:5); but never once anti-gay; didn't mention abortion; and was a long-haired, brown-skinned, homeless, middle-eastern, Jew?

Only in America can you be Pro-Death Penalty, Pro-War, Pro-Unmanned Drone Bombs, Pro-Nuclear Weapons, Pro-Guns, Pro-Torture, Pro-Land Mines, AND still call yourself 'Pro-Life.'

·         Loving the Second Amendment while opposing the NRA is every bit as natural as loving Jesus while opposing Westboro Baptist Church.

·    Jesus never called the poor 'lazy,' fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes or asked a leper for a copay.

·         People get God and religion confused. I think God is a bit too hip to join any of his unauthorized fan clubs.

·         My mother was an ex-nun, and my father was a Franciscan brother, so I grew up believing in Jesus the way anyone would believe in Mom's first husband.

·         Blaming Obama for Iraq violence is like blaming Daniel Craig because Octopussy sucked.

*     America doesn't have an abortion problem - it has an unwanted pregnancy problem, and an abortion symptom.

Killing Ants with a Baseball Bat

"IT'S A COMEDIAN'S JOB TO SAY WHAT EVERYONE
ELSE IS THINKING BUT IS AFRAID TO SAY"
- Thor Ramsey

Satire bites, cuts, and can convict and even wound. I remember several years ago I wrote a witty piece of called "Forrest Gump Meets Jesus." The satire and irony was the Christian wisdom of Forest Gump in contrast to the intellectual brilliance of not only athiests but even conventional church wisdom. But often satire can fall on deaf ears. It seems like satire can please no one. Some people said I was too hard on atheists in the piece. Others said I was too easy on them. What is often missed in satire is like the punch line-----sometimes people miss it or simply don't get it (especially if they don't laugh or understand how irony and satire are a part of humor that can shred idols and challenge precious preconceived ideas).

Douglas Wilson in his A Serrated Edge speaks about the problem of how Christians try to imitate one part of Jesus lifestyle or words but refuse to imitate another part of it. Here is what he says,

"Why do we say, 'Imitate Christ in his kindness to the tax gatherers, but never imitate Him in His treatment of the religous pompous?' Why not the reverse? 'Always make fun of religous wowsers, but never imitate Christ's kindness to the downtrodden" (p. 91).

He goes on, "Many who object to satire as a godly weapon of war have this prejudice against it because they grew up in a home where sarcasm was consistently used as an ungodly bludgeoning tool. The Bible is our standard, and not our personal histories (pp.94-95).

Satire is a weapon to be employed in the warfare of God's kingdom, not an opportunity for personal venting. It is also good to take counsel from others and only employ when deemed neccesary. "If this is not remembered, the satirist will find himself killing ants with a baseball bat" (p.105).