Friday, November 14, 2008

God has a sense of humor

I just found a website called "Share Your Story Now.org"
One article there is called “Is There Humor in the Bible?”

I thought this person's comment there was quite humorous:

jennranwez says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 am
"My favorite–the one that cracks me up every time–is John 20:3-9. This is the most amazing moment in history for the disciples: they’re at Jesus’ tomb, and he’s *gone!* He has risen!
But notice the funny thing about this passage. The author, John (who was the youngest disciple and doesn’t ever refer to himself in the 1st person) points out that he got to the tomb first. Check it out:
vs. 3-4: So Peter and the other disciple [John] started for the tomb. Both were running, **but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.**
vs. 6: Then Simon Peter, **who was behind him,** arrived and went into the tomb.
vs. 8: Finally the other disciple, **who had reached the tomb first,** also went inside.
So John points out that he was faster than Peter. Not once, but THREE times!
Ha Ha! Who cares who got to the tomb first? That just cracks me up. It’s such a guy thing; even in the gospels, they’re competitive. :)"

So I decided I would add a couple examples of humor in the Bible myself:

The most hilarious verse in the Bible to me is in Proverbs, which was written by Solomon, who had a thousand wives. Just imagine a guy having all those wives around, and now listen to this verse:
“It is better to live in the corner of an attic than with a crabby woman in a lovely home.”
(Proverbs 21:9)

I also think God had a sense of humor when He sent the plagues against Egypt. Yahweh God (Jehovah) humiliated each of the Egyptian gods, one by one.

The Egyptians worshiped Hapi, the Egyptian god of the Nile. This Egyptian god was a water bearer: so Yahweh God turned the water to blood.

The Egyptians worshiped Heket, the Egyptian god of Fertility, Water and Renewal. Heket the Egyptian god had the head of a frog: so God had a plague of frogs come from the Nile River.

The Egyptians worshiped Geb, the Egyptian god of the Earth. The Egyptian god Geb was over the dust of the earth: so God caused a plague of lice to come from the dust of the earth.

The Egyptians worshiped Khepri, the Egyptian god of creation, movement of the Sun, and rebirth. Khepri the Egyptian god had the head of a fly:
so God sent swarms of flies.

The Egyptians worshiped Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of Love and Protection. Usually this Egyptian goddess was depicted with the head of a cow: so God caused the death of the cattle and livestock.

The Egyptians worshiped Isis, the Egyptian goddess of Medicine and Peace: so the ashes that Moses took from the furnace of affliction and threw into the air caused boils and sores on the Egyptians and their animals.

The Egyptians worshiped Nut, the Egyptian goddess of the Sky: so God caused fiery rain to hail down from the sky.

The Egyptians worshiped Seth, the Egyptian god of Storms and Disorder: so God sent locusts from the sky.

The Egyptians worshiped Ra, the Sun god: so God caused 3 days of complete darkness.

The Egyptians considered Pharaoh to be the Ultimate Power of Egypt. The king of Egypt was worshiped by the Egyptians because he was considered to be the greatest Egyptian god of all. It was believed that he was actually the son of Ra himself, manifest in the flesh: therefore, Yahweh God caused the death of the firstborn, including the death of Pharaoh’s firstborn.

One by one, Yahweh God showed Himself to be greater than each and every one of the Egyptian gods. It’s the kind of thing that makes me want to shout, “WOO-HOO!”

11 comments:

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

When I remember my German Shepherd Husky and now observe some of the neighbourhood dogs, I reason God has a sense of humour.

Not to mention us bloggers and how silly we can be...

Greg said...

Hi, Jeff. I don't usually read my Bible to find humor in it, although the mention of Huz and Buz, as well as a mention in the NT that a group of people was "astonished with a great astonishment" make me chuckle.

The info on the plagues and the Egyptian Gods was very enlightening, though. And the death of Pharaoh's son further solidifies the parallels between the Passover account and the Gospel.

Jeff said...

When I remember my German Shepherd Husky and now observe some of the neighbourhood dogs, I reason God has a sense of humour.

I remember you saying that your former dog acted crazy or did some crazy stuff, but I forget what it was.

One dog we had years ago would catch and eat pebbles that one of my brothers would toss to him. We would also put a rock at the bottom of a bucket filled with water, and he would dunk his entire head in the water to pick up the rock. I taught him to catch butterflies, but I never thought he would actually catch them; to my dismay, he got good at it, and began catching all the butterflies that would fly into the yard. We tied his leash to a cement block one time, but he just dragged it around. When my brother and his friend went to the beach one time, they brought that dog (Jock) and tied his chain to a railroad tie, but he just dragged that around. I taught him to pull branches off trees, and he ended up uprooting my mom's entire hedge of bushes around her entire back yard (she got SO mad!). When we had two dogs, I would let Jock pull me on the skateboard, and he would hold the other dog's (Jasper's) leash in his mouth while he ran. When Jasper got too old and slow, Jock would still hold Jasper's leash and drag him around. When both dogs were younger, there was a rat walking across the telephone line. I threw a rock and amazingly knocked the rat off the wire, but before the rat hit the ground, one of the dogs caught him in mid-air. The two dogs played tug-of-war and keep-away with the rat.

Not to mention us bloggers and how silly we can be...

Oh, yeah, I can be quite silly when I want to be.

Jeff said...

Greg,

although the mention of Huz and Buz

Yeah, I remember reading about them not too many months ago. At the time, I thought they would make great names for cartoon characters.

as well as a mention in the NT that a group of people was "astonished with a great astonishment" make me chuckle.

That is funny.

The info on the plagues and the Egyptian Gods was very enlightening, though.

Yeah, I first learned about that when I was in BSF Intl. (Bible Study Fellowship), which I was in for over 3 years, and which was the most intensive Bible Study I have ever participated in. I just think the fact that God addressed the plagues to humiliate the gods of the Egyptians is so cool.

Oh, you reminded me of another one! Elijah and the prophets of Baal! I think that is hilarious how Elijah trash-talks the false god Baal! He says things like, "Maybe he's busy! Or perhaps he's meditating! Or maybe he went on a long journey! Or maybe he's sleeping and you need to yell a little louder to wake him up! Or maybe he's sitting on the toilet!

And then, when Baal never answers, it's Elijah's turn. And he really rubs it in their face and humiliates them! First, he has water poured over his altar. But that's not enough for him, so he has more water poured over it; so much, in fact, that the altar is basically flooded with water! I mean, he doesn't want to make it easy for God! And he doesn't want there to be any mistake that this will be the true and LIVING GOD that is going to do this! Then, suddenly, "WHOOOOMMM!" God sends down fire to light the burnt offering. But He doesn't just light it. Oh, no. He sends such an incredibly powerful blast of flame that it not only burns up the entire offering, but it burns up the wood, the bull, the WATER, and EVEN THE STONES! I mean, it's like when Tim Allen on Home Improvement would say, "More power!" When God does something, He does it BIG time! It's like God is saying, "Try to explain THIS away by natural causes!"

And the death of Pharaoh's son further solidifies the parallels between the Passover account and the Gospel.

Yes.

Jeff said...

Another thing I find really great is the way Jesus talked to the Pharisees. Imagine those great and mighty and holy religious leaders of that day. They must have been very respected, and people must have thought them to be very smart and very holy. They held high respect in society. Then Jesus comes along and says, “You guys are a bunch of whitewashed graves! You look clean on the outside, but on the inside, you’re a bunch of filthy hypocrites! You bunch of snakes!” I could just imagine the looks on their faces when they heard that. They must have turned red as a beet.

Greg said...

Oh, who can forget Elijah and the 400 prophets of Baal? That one is probably my son's favorite story! Every once in a while, he asks me to read it to him, as I put him to bed.

Farrah said...

I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! About the Egyptian gods! That is SOOOOOO
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing! :-)

Jeff said...

I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! About the Egyptian gods! That is SOOOOOO
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing! :-)


Thanks very much, Farrah! I agree, and I very much appreciate your comment. Thank you for dropping by! Sorry for my late response; besides spending a lot of time on Facebook these past few days, as well as playing this online Tennis game with my brother, I've been defragmenting my computer, running spyware checks, anti-virus scans and Registry fixes and stuff on it.

Jeff said...

Greg,

Oh, who can forget Elijah and the 400 prophets of Baal? That one is probably my son's favorite story! Every once in a while, he asks me to read it to him, as I put him to bed.

I can see why that story is probably your son's favorite. It's almost like an Old Western gunfight (like the gunfight at the O.K. Corral): the ultimate showdown: Yahweh/Jehovah God vs. all the Egyptian gods.

Lori Laws said...

Elijah and the prophets of Baal is one that I think is humorous. Can you imagine Elijah's sarcasm?

...maybe Baal is sleeping, or on vacation, or perhaps he's relieving himself!

Jeff said...

Lori,

Yeah, I suspect Elijah must have had some enjoyment at taunting the prophets of Baal. I've heard of righteous anger, but I suppose you might call what Elijah did, righteous sarcasm!

Thanks for your comment, Lori!