for 16 SEP 06: HA!-LELUJAH

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find this item humorous, serious, or a little of both - but we offer these thoughts from time to time, as we keep a seventh-day Sabbath.)

We return today to an e-mail from earlier in the week [12 Sep]. Here's part of what the reader said about our blog:

You talk a great deal about being a Christian and what not, yet some of the mean things you say seem very un-christian like. Of course, I am not a church-goer, so I might be a bit off on that, but for a man who is as seemingly religious as you are, some of your jabs come as a surprise.

Maybe I should write more uppercuts than jabs - because the swing of the uppercut might remind someone of a smile.

At the core of this comment is how to define "Christian humor." There's been a growing number of Christian comedians in recent years, including Christian stand-up comics. One of the best-known ones talked about going to a church, claiming to be a Christian comic, and being told in response: "Great! Where's your puppet?"

You may have heard preachers say words such as, "I believe God has a sense of humor." But you don't need to speculate about that. You can know - and before I started LaughLine for a national audience several years ago, I did a Bible study on the subject. You may be stunned to learn not once in the Bible does anyone get a pie in the face.

The Bible study on humor became a "witnessing statement" of sorts on the LaughLine web site, so I'm calling on that for a response to this e-mail. I was surprised by some of the verses I found, and you might be as well:

"The One enthroned in heaven laughs...." (Psm. 2:4) What's God laughing about? Believe it or not, rulers who try to take a stand AGAINST Him (2:2)! God also laughs at wicked people, who plot mean things against righteous people (37:12-13). He even finds it funny when people have DISASTERS in their lives, after rejecting Him (Prv. 1:24, 26)!

The point: if you're doing something against godly people or principles, God may be laughing at you - because at death, He'll have the last laugh.

So is God some sort of sicko? No, because there are other things that give Him joy, pleasure and delight - such as obedience to Him (I Sam. 15:22), mercy (Mic. 7:18) and upright living (Prv. 11:20).

And if that's not enough, God took pleasure in adopting believers as His children (Eph. 1:4-5). In fact, He did that before we were even here!

Even though the day's news may be grim, God promises to bring Jesus Christ back to earth in the nick of time -- to set up a kingdom that will last forever! It's something He's "pleased" to do (Lk. 12:32) - and no doubt we'll be pleased to be there.

Indeed as a Psalm says, "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy" (Psm. 126:3). And if your children happen to find a two-humped camel funny-looking, the Lord might not mind at all.

COMING SUNDAY: A place the Georgia Conference on Tourism hopefully was NOT shown....

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