Why is there no humor in the Bible?

Argue for and against Christianity

Moderator: Moderators

2Dbunk
Site Supporter
Posts: 838
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:39 pm
Location: East of Eden

Why is there no humor in the Bible?

Post #1

Post by 2Dbunk »

There is little to no humor in the Bible. Why? Why couldn't "God" have made some of "His" parables along a more humorous line? Sure life is serious but much too often life is taken too seriously.

For centuries the Bible was the only reason to learn to read. it was the mark of an "educated" man (there was little emphasis on a woman learning to read).

So, I reckon humor was a late bloomer!

One would think that "God" would know that he might reach more people with threats of hellfire laced with light homilies from heaven. (Some kind of mixture like that.)

Is there room for humor in the serious tomes outlining the narrow path that Man must follow to be in accordance with his God?
Last edited by 2Dbunk on Sun Feb 19, 2017 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
JehovahsWitness
Savant
Posts: 21137
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:03 am
Has thanked: 794 times
Been thanked: 1123 times
Contact:

Re: Why is there no humor in the Bible?

Post #2

Post by JehovahsWitness »

[Replying to post 1 by 2Dbunk]

I think that depends on one's sense of humour, but basically because the bible is not a comic or a book of comedy but a manual for building faith in sincere lovers of truth. Not all books incorporate humor into their narratives indeed knock-knock jokes are surprisingly rare in medical papers dealing with brain surgery ...

Go figure.

JW


RELATED POSTS

Does God have a sense of humour?
viewtopic.php?p=883863#p883863

Do religious people have a sense of humour?
viewtopic.php?p=1040870#p1040870

Why is there no humor in the Bible?
viewtopic.php?p=849747#p849747
Last edited by JehovahsWitness on Wed Nov 03, 2021 12:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
INDEX: More bible based ANSWERS
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

User avatar
Tired of the Nonsense
Site Supporter
Posts: 5680
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:01 pm
Location: USA
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Why is there no humor in the Bible?

Post #3

Post by Tired of the Nonsense »

JehovahsWitness wrote: [Replying to post 1 by 2Dbunk]

I think that depends on one's sense of humour, but basically because the bible is not a comic or a book of comedy but a manual for building faith in sincere lovers of truth. Not all books incorporate humor into their narratives indeed knock-knock jokes are surprisingly rare in medical papers dealing with brain surgery ...

Go figure.

JW
Image "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this." -- Albert Einstein -- Written in 1954 to Jewish philosopher Erik Gutkind.

User avatar
Willum
Savant
Posts: 9017
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 2:14 pm
Location: Yahweh's Burial Place
Has thanked: 35 times
Been thanked: 82 times

Post #4

Post by Willum »

I don't know, someone once said "life is a bad joke played on everyone."

I am pretty sure the Emperor Tiberius instituted Jesus, as his spirit brother, and laced the NT with many jokes:

Did you hear the one about a few of Jesus' fav-or-rite things?
They were the same as Tiberius', gold and aphrodisiacs, or gold, frankincense and myrrh.

They were both the son of God, one the God Augustus, one the God of Israel.

Most of the references to God are identical to that of the word.
"I am the alpha and the omega."
"All things are possible through God."
Immortality is attainable if you are worthy.
Etc..

All of these refer to writing.
The Roman alphabet was the a-z, Greek a-u.
All things are possible in writing. Cold fire, glowing darkness, Alice in Wonderland, more Holy things, and so on.
Immortality is obtainable to the very few, those who are immortalized in writing.

The clincher: If you rearrange the letter of God's name in the right order you will discover the true name of God, and unlock his power:

Let's do it:
Jehovah is written Ieova. J being a Roman I and u being a stony "u." If we rearrange the letters of his name,to put alpha first, we get a (alpha) to u or the Greek "w," or omega. It is also how you pronounce "Jove." What is this, the new Latin alphabet!

Let's see, what other jokes are there? The Caesars re-wrote Isaiah prophesies to allow them to fulfill them.

The Saviour of all the world just happens to address the political problems that vexed Tiberius Caesar: Obeying Roman law, payment of taxes and leaving his tax collectors alone. What a coincidence.

I am sure there are many other jokes, lost in the sand of time, that Tiberius got a good chuckle over.
That's pretty good to start...
Last edited by Willum on Sun Feb 19, 2017 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I will never understand how someone who claims to know the ultimate truth, of God, believes they deserve respect, when they cannot distinguish it from a fairy-tale.

You know, science and logic are hard: Religion and fairy tales might be more your speed.

To continue to argue for the Hebrew invention of God is actually an insult to the very concept of a God. - Divine Insight

2Dbunk
Site Supporter
Posts: 838
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:39 pm
Location: East of Eden

Re: Why is there no humor in the Bible?

Post #5

Post by 2Dbunk »

[Replying to post 2 by JehovahsWitness]

Granted, texts on scientific and medical procedure are very sober, for good reason.
But the tales in the Bible are not such texts. Many of them are parables teaching a lesson. Lessons are better learned with a light-hearted delivery rather than dark and foreboding delivery, wouldn't you agree?

I suspect the authors of the Bible to be rather lacking in understanding human's capacity for learning. I think "God" missed a very good chance to develop the psyches of those "He" created (or did He)?
What good is truth if its value is not more than unproven, handed-down faith?

One believes things because one is conditioned to believe them. -Aldous Huxley

Fear within the Religious will always be with them ... as long as they are fearful of death.

benchwarmer
Guru
Posts: 2339
Joined: Mon Jun 06, 2016 8:40 am
Has thanked: 2005 times
Been thanked: 780 times

Re: Why is there no humor in the Bible?

Post #6

Post by benchwarmer »

[Replying to post 1 by 2Dbunk]

I dunno, if you look at the Bible now, knowing what we know, there is certainly some humor there.

Apparently the God character that created everything and everyone got mad one day and the only solution was to wipe everything out with a metric crap ton of water and force a few people to build themselves a wooden box, stuff it with 2 or 7 of everything that lived, bob around on the water for a year, and then repopulate the earth.

It's comedy gold to me. I hear the story now and think, that's a joke right?

Maybe god has a sense of humor after all :)

Youkilledkenny
Sage
Posts: 819
Joined: Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:51 am

Re: Why is there no humor in the Bible?

Post #7

Post by Youkilledkenny »

[Replying to post 1 by 2Dbunk]

Different people find different things funny. Some things are "HAHA" funny while other things are "ROLLING EYES" funny.
There are many, many "ROLLING EYES" funny scenarios in the bible for me at least.

Christians take things seriously and they tend to have different senses of humor. The bible, being 'their book' shouldn't be seen any different.

What I find exceptionally funny in all aspects are many Christians and their actions. That's where the real humor resides.

User avatar
bluethread
Savant
Posts: 9129
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:10 pm

Post #8

Post by bluethread »

Yet another thread asking why the Scriptures were not written as one would like them, i.e. lining up with one's particular sense of humor. Sorry, the Scriptures were not written to you. Those of us who read them on a regular basis and seek to understand the cultural basis see much humor in them. Many of the parables are quite humorous, pointing out the errors in how some people misunderstand HaTorah.

Humor is not a characteristic of the writing, but of the author's intent or the reader's subjective reaction to it. The Greek concepts of tragedy and comedy, the western literary standards, have nothing to do with how the audience reacts to them. Tragedy speaks to the inevitable and while comedy speaks of the exceptional. Depending on one's prospective, one can find things that are funny and things that are depressing in each.
Last edited by bluethread on Sun Feb 19, 2017 5:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

2Dbunk
Site Supporter
Posts: 838
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 1:39 pm
Location: East of Eden

Re: Why is there no humor in the Bible?

Post #9

Post by 2Dbunk »

[Replying to post 7 by Youkilledkenny]

A thought has re-occurred to me in line of what you say -- I have long thought that
religion inspires hilarity.

Most take life so seriously . . . like I did when I was a young whipper-snapper. It took many a jocular jab to lay me back to see the obverse of sacred dogma. Life's hard knocks were not lost on me as I soon recognized the sanctimonious prig that I was.
What good is truth if its value is not more than unproven, handed-down faith?

One believes things because one is conditioned to believe them. -Aldous Huxley

Fear within the Religious will always be with them ... as long as they are fearful of death.

User avatar
Willum
Savant
Posts: 9017
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 2:14 pm
Location: Yahweh's Burial Place
Has thanked: 35 times
Been thanked: 82 times

Post #10

Post by Willum »

[Replying to post 4 by Willum]
Let's do it:
Jehovah is written Ieova. J being a Roman I and u being a stony "u." If we rearrange the letters of his name,to put alpha first, we get a (alpha) to u or the Greek "w," or omega. It is also how you pronounce "Jove." What is this, the new Latin alphabet!
Good grief, I forgot to do it!
Iovae --> rearrange, rearrange --> Aeiou. The vowels of the new Latin alphabet.

The significance? YHVH is all consonants.

Post Reply