finding honesty.

You don’t know CRAP

(Photo by: Annie)

For as long as there has been humour, I’m sure there have been jokes that are in bad taste.

I know I’m probably guilty of it - It’s generally hard to be funny without becoming cheap. The easiest, and laziest, route for humour to take is one of insulting and belittling someone else. It makes us feel better in comparison. 

Several jokes float around my facebook page that I think are cheesy beyond tolerance - but usually, if tackiness is their only offense I let them be and allow those who are entertained to have their giggles. It’s only fair - I love my own brand of cheesy jokes when I’m ready and readily inflict them on others. We all have different tastes in humour. 

There are some jokes,however, that are more offensive than merely being ‘not funny’ according to my tastes. Sometimes what masquerades as a ‘joke’ is really a very serious statement. What we find ‘funny’ says something about us. And what ‘Christians’ find funny and share as ‘Christian’ jokes says something about the attitudes and perspectives that are deemed ok, or even worse - endorsed and embraced.

Having seen one particular joke posted and reposted, commented on and liked by several of my ‘friends’ and ‘friend of friends’ I eventually felt compelled to speak up. 

To quickly summarize the story goes like this: an atheist sitting next to a little girl on a plane trip starts up a conversation about why there is no God. The punch line of the story comes when the little girl sharply and ‘rightfully’ puts him in his place. The pride of every good evangelical should rise up as words ‘from the mouth of babes’ let this ‘fool’ know his place. A good-humored reflection on why people who don’t believe in God don’t know squat….. right?

Somehow, I just can’t see it that way. I don’t find this funny at all.

To bring some perspective to as to WHY I find this so offensive I tried a very simple experiment - I replaced the Atheist with a Christian, and any athiest sentiment with a pro-God sentiment.

When the tables are turned, this is what the joke feels like:

A Christian was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said,

“Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, “What would you want to talk about?”

” Oh, I don’t know,” said the Christian.

“How about why there is a God, and how you can go to Heaven and avoid Hell” as he smiled smugly.

“OK,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”

The Christian, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says,

“Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is a God, or how to go to Heaven or Hell, when you don’t know crap?”

And then she went back to reading her book.

In 1 Peter 3:15 it says “If someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.”

Jokes that aim to attack the intelligence of a group of people because they disagree with you - are not gentle or respectful. 

Jokes that generalize an entire group of people and cultivate a negative stereotype based on something that is usually very personal and important to individuals, in order to ridicule them - are not loving!

It is not respectful of the individual stories that lead people to where they are and who they are. 

What do jokes like this hope to achieve? Insult people into believing? Embarrass and harass them into belief? 

It’s not our job to convince anyone that God exists - that’s his job. It’s a job I’d like him to do more for me and many around me. All we can do is listen out for it. 

Our job is to love others. Love your neighbor as yourself. 

As a friend on mine puts it

Talk about others Faith or Lack of Faith as you would have them talk about Yours