"Does God Have a sense of humor?"

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Tyrel

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(Letsgofishing;27475)
and with all due respect tyrel how in a rotten fishhead do you have an attitude towards anything without emotion.
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That was funny.(Letsgofishing;27475)
further more, If I was to post the verses around the verses I conveyed it would show that God doesn't change his mind. He will always be wrathful to sin, but always be loving towards us. He may hate the things we do but he will never hate us.
The challenge you bring is more than fair, and I do consider it. However, let me perhaps be more clear. First, I do not mean to say that God cannot have an attitude concerning certain things. Perhaps I do not even mean to suggest that he doesn't or can't feel. However, what I am arguing is that Humour isn't a "feeling" in that sense. Humour is a product of psychology. For God to, all of a sudden, feel happy, or sad, or angry, or ecstatic, simply would make him exist within Time. He can, however, 'be' pleased by one man, at one time, and displeased by another at the very same time. Is he practicing compartmentalization? No, I certainly don't think so. From his perspective, is he doing many things at once? No, there is no "at once", for him, if he exists outside of time. Therefore, he neither has infinite "time" to deliberate with each case, nor does he have a finite time in which to decide how he feels about a certain case, or any number of cases. His attitude is not resultant from our actions, but rather our actions, being what they are, dictates his reaction. His reaction is, in a sense, static. What God loves today, he loves tomorrow {this today and tomorrow being ours, not his}.I hope I'm making myself clear here. This seems to be the logically inescapable conclusion. Let's consider for instance that God can grow "wrathful". Wrathful, is not a feeling. We may feel like we should be violent, whether righteously or not, but feeling wrathful does not describe a feeling, but an attitude. I believe Humour describes a feeling. We can become a humorous person of course, but that is quite different from an attitude.
 

Tyrel

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(kriss;27480)
primitive ? Thats funny:) well then Ill take my more primitive view of Godanyday compared to your psychology babble uh modern day view last time I looked God never said we needed a psychiatrist to understand him he says we need to love him (thats an emotion)
Dear Kriss,heheh, yeah, I used the word primitive. I hoped it wouldn't be taken insultingly. In any case, I'd like to propose to you that what I'm presenting to you certainly isn't foreign to ancient Judaism.We certainly should love him. And I believe he takes an attitude of Love towards his creation. However, when we say that he loves, and that he Is love, we must not confuse ourselves into thinking he is "full of himself" when loving.He is Love. He is also Logos. Him taking a logical approach to a situation doesn't mean he is "being" logical. Him loving us doesn't mean he is undergoing an emotional change of state.
 

Letsgofishing

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Thanks for enhancing my vocabulary Tyrel. "compartmentalization" wow had to look that one up. Okay lets settle this. an official list of emotions Acceptance, Agitation, Alarm, Amusement, Anger, Angst, Annoyance, Anticipation, Apprehension, Apathy, Arrogance, Awe, Anxious Bitterness, Boredom Calmness, Cautiousness, Comfort, Contentment, Confidence, Courage Depression, Determination, Disappointment, Discontentment, Disgust, Desire, Delight Elation or Euphoria, Embarrassment, Ennui, Envy, Ecstasy Fear, Friendship, Frustration Glee, Gladness, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt Hate, Happiness, Homesickness, Honor, Hope, Horror, Humility Impatience, Inadequacy, Irritability Joy, Jealousy, Kindness Loneliness, Love, Lust, Limerence Melancholy, Modesty Nervousness, Negativity, Nostalgia Pain, Paranoia, Patience, Peace, Phobia, Pity, Pride Rage, Regret, Remorse, Resentment Sadness, Schadenfreude, Self-pity, Shame, Shyness, Sorrow, Shock, Suffering, Surprise, Suspense Thrill, Torment Unhappiness Vulnerability Worry Yearning Zest would not being wrathful be the same as anger or hate, which are both up here.( don't quite know what Schadenfreude is) In fact god expresses feeling every one of these, and if you can feel emotions, I'm sorry but you have emotion. your " the ability to feel emotions will make him exist within time" is quite an ingenous argument. But do you not agree that God can answer prayers( making him live within time) fulfill prophecy( making him live within time) accept peoples repentance( making him live with in time) ect...you have forgotten a very important thing about God he is omnipotent, He was, is and will be. He lives in the past, lives in the present time, and lives in the future. He doesn't exist outside the realm of time but throughout it. You said that "God loving us doesn't mean he is undergoing an emotional change of state."Ok lets try this, you love somebody without expressing emotion....or think logically but not be logical.and I know that is an unfair challenge but lets think of it this way. I hate to have a god with no logic, and I hate to have a god who can't feel love with emotion. how shallow would that love be.
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your brother in christ"Compartmentalization or compartmentalisation (UK) refers to an action or process of organising diverse populations into discrete groups, or "compartments" —each of which has the properties of boundary and isolation, but also has some limited or controlled relation with other parts. "the definition of compartmentalization aren't you impressed
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Ryan Fitz
 

For Life

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I'd rather see the definition for schadenfreude. Funny thing is it sounds German and I didn't think they had emotions... just kidding, I am part German.
 

Letsgofishing

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Schadenfreude is a German word meaning 'pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune.ouch no wonder it sounds germans ( wow that was low
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)your brother in christ ( even if you are german
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)Ryan Fitz
 

Tyrel

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(Letsgofishing;27489)
Thanks for enhancing my vocabulary Tyrel. "compartmentalization" wow had to look that one up. Okay lets settle this. an official list of emotions Acceptance, Agitation, Alarm, Amusement, Anger, Angst, Annoyance, Anticipation, Apprehension, Apathy, Arrogance, Awe, Anxious Bitterness, Boredom Calmness, Cautiousness, Comfort, Contentment, Confidence, Courage Depression, Determination, Disappointment, Discontentment, Disgust, Desire, Delight Elation or Euphoria, Embarrassment, Ennui, Envy, Ecstasy Fear, Friendship, Frustration Glee, Gladness, Gratitude, Grief, Guilt Hate, Happiness, Homesickness, Honor, Hope, Horror, Humility Impatience, Inadequacy, Irritability Joy, Jealousy, Kindness Loneliness, Love, Lust, Limerence Melancholy, Modesty Nervousness, Negativity, Nostalgia Pain, Paranoia, Patience, Peace, Phobia, Pity, Pride Rage, Regret, Remorse, Resentment Sadness, Schadenfreude, Self-pity, Shame, Shyness, Sorrow, Shock, Suffering, Surprise, Suspense Thrill, Torment Unhappiness Vulnerability Worry Yearning Zest would not being wrathful be the same as anger or hate, which are both up here.( don't quite know what Schadenfreude is) In fact god expresses feeling every one of these, and if you can feel emotions, I'm sorry but you have emotion. your " the ability to feel emotions will make him exist within time" is quite an ingenous argument. But do you not agree that God can answer prayers( making him live within time) fulfill prophecy( making him live within time) accept peoples repentance( making him live with in time) ect...you have forgotten a very important thing about God he is omnipotent, He was, is and will be. He lives in the past, lives in the present time, and lives in the future. He doesn't exist outside the realm of time but throughout it. You said that "God loving us doesn't mean he is undergoing an emotional change of state."Ok lets try this, you love somebody without expressing emotion....or think logically but not be logical.and I know that is an unfair challenge but lets think of it this way. I hate to have a god with no logic, and I hate to have a god who can't feel love with emotion. how shallow would that love be.your brother in christ"Compartmentalization or compartmentalisation (UK) refers to an action or process of organising diverse populations into discrete groups, or "compartments" —each of which has the properties of boundary and isolation, but also has some limited or controlled relation with other parts. "the definition of compartmentalization aren't you impressedRyan Fitz
Dear Ryan Fitz {shall I call you that then?}I must first and foremost thank you for your post. This discussion is now becoming a tad more involving. I admit as I take part in this, I am simultaneously pondering a great list of things which seem much more demanding on my part {I think I came up with a materialistic refutation of the transcendental argument today, so I'm trying to work it out and see what thought along those lines already exists, and where the discussion is 'at' today, I'm also studying the similarities between the Gospel of Thomas, and John, the synoptics, and the Didache. I'm also being taken to task of pondering a great deal of other things}. All this to say that I should apologize, for I have admittedly not given my attention over to this discussion properly, having only taken a few minutes to write each post. Very well then, building on what I have already said, I'm going to observe your post here.First, your list of emotions expressed within the parameters of expression of the English language, is nice, but doesn't properly address the theory here. In other words, it isn't quite properly applicable. Therefore;(Letsgofishing;27489)
would not being wrathful be the same as anger or hate, which are both up here.( don't quite know what Schadenfreude is) In fact god expresses feeling every one of these, and if you can feel emotions, I'm sorry but you have emotion.
I think I should perhaps try once again to clarify. I do believe that God has an attitude towards things, and he expresses it. I believe, however, that is it more accurate to say that he 'is' pleased, or 'is' displeased {or is happy, or is wrathful, or is anything} rather than to assert that he feels pleased, or feels displeased.I believe that he is loving, and thus loves us. I don't believe that Love is changeable. His hate, likewise, is static.He takes attitudes, and indeed feels certain ways, given certain circumstance, or given 'context'. His person never changes, and thus he can never 'come' to love, nor 'come' to hate. Perhaps it was unfair of me to say that God doesn't have emotion, as if to say he can't feel. I think if you scan my posts, you'll find at least some reservation on my part to that extent.In other words, I do agree he can 'feel'. I disagree that he can come to 'feel'.(Letsgofishing;27489)
your " the ability to feel emotions will make him exist within time" is quite an ingenous argument. But do you not agree that God can answer prayers( making him live within time) fulfill prophecy( making him live within time) accept peoples repentance( making him live with in time) ect...
I would like to point out that his person reacting within the context of time does not dictate his existence is confined to the parameters of time. In a sense, I am proposing that the prophecies we see as "once unfulfilled, and then later fulfilled" he simply see's as "what IS". He accepts people who repent. This doesn't mean that his attitude towards their state while they were unrepentent was accepting because they end up repenting, (and thus he is eternally accepting). In fact, his attitude didn't actively change AFTER they repented, but rather changes AS they repent. In a sense, again, his attitude doesn't change due to causality, but to reality. He "IS" pleased, or enraged, or whatever else, in light of the contextual reality which is. When our reality suffering from causality shifts or changes, he likewise irrevocably "IS" different in accordance with it.... I hope you understand.
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(Letsgofishing;27489)
you have forgotten a very important thing about God he is omnipotent, He was, is and will be. He lives in the past, lives in the present time, and lives in the future. He doesn't exist outside the realm of time but throughout it.
Well, the first part of your post doesn't seem to have any pertinence to the second part. However, it opens the discussion up for me to bring in a point. If God is able to do anything, is he able to do everything we might imagine? The original answer of the devout believer may instinctively be 'yes', but this isn't quite so simple as it appears. Let's consider, can God make you taste the sound of the colour 9? Once the question is asked, the ridiculousness of it becomes apparent, and we can say that he cannot, because such a thing can't properly be imagined. The same can be said of him creating square circles. However, many people miss that this same principle applies to the question "can God make a Rock so heavy that he himself could not lift it?". When we say he couldn't, we mean that he can't. Does this take away from his omnipotence? No, not in the least. What you've proposed for him to do is in fact something which is illogical. In the first two examples, I gave you obviously illogical propositions. The third, however, generally doesn't immediately show itself to be illogical. In other words it isn't as obvious. However, how do we know that it is indeed illogical?Well, we Know that God is Eternal. Eternal does not mean Infinite. Infinite is something which exists always, having no boundaries. Eternal, however, is something completely devoid of the context of calculation. When we say that the parameters of a mathematical function are from 0.3 to infinity, we are saying that there is no finite calculable parameter of values. In other words, it's not surmountable/quantifiable. However, an Eternal thing is devoid of calculable context at all. What is Eternal, simply "IS". That's it, no more complex, and no simpler.God "IS' upset with Hitler. God "IS" Pleased in his Son. God didn't become pleased with his Son, nor did he become upset with Hitler.God can't decide to Make a rock by his will, and by his will make himself unable by his will to do what he intended to do with the Rock. Why? Because his Will is Eternal. Therefore, what IS, is eternally ordained.Granted this may seem to present problems for anti-calvanistic stances, such Fathers as Thomas Aquinas already have suggested that two forms of existence could be understood as "what Must be" {or, here, what IS}, and "What may or may not be" {in other words, what could be, within a causal construct being variable itself}. Indeed, some Physicists have come to the very same conclusions more recently with Quantum theory, which flies in the face of Newtonian understandings. .. though this interests me, I feel I'm going off topic, so I'll, here, digress.Suffice it to say that if God exists Eternally, as we have always understood him to live, then he "IS". By extension he "IS" anything which he is that you might mention. However, he clearly never becomes.The understanding of him residing within time is not orthodox to be sure. If you propose it, however, then that means that there was a time when he thought of creating, then a time when he created, then a time when he had created. If this is true, then it is logically impossible that he created Time, and thus he is subject to the mechanism itself. Furthermore it is absolutely logically impossible that he is omniscient.As I understand it, he IS Eternal, and he acts in relation to us. His reaction can be observed within time and indeed understood as a consequence, and lead us into understanding his response {therefore in itself being a type of revelation of his person}. However, the reaction, for him, is not brought about by time, but rather is the response to state.(Letsgofishing;27489)
"God loving us doesn't mean he is undergoing an emotional change of state."Ok lets try this, you love somebody without expressing emotion....or think logically but not be logical.
I think I've already explained at length how reaction does not necessitate a change of state. Thus, God can both express love, and act Logically. He IS love, and IS logic. They are intricate parts of his very person. Just as C.S.Lewis might say that he can only "reason" because of the light of reason itself which IS God, so also can you say that you can Love because God himself is the Light and Freedom and beauty of Love. What I am arguing is that he cannot undergo such emotion. He isn't emotionless, he simply doesn't change his emotion in relation to things, but rather things, as they change, change his absolute attitude towards them.(Letsgofishing;27489)
and I know that is an unfair challenge but lets think of it this way. I hate to have a god with no logic, and I hate to have a god who can't feel love with emotion. how shallow would that love be.
Unfortunately Truth isn't a democracy. :eek: Fortunately for us, he is both. :cool:I'll finish by thanking you again. You've made me challenge my views and review them. I hope you continue to offer constructive criticism, as that is the goal of debate really; to make more clear the dictation of reason.
 

Tyrel

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(For Life;27492)
I'd rather see the definition for schadenfreude. Funny thing is it sounds German and I didn't think they had emotions... just kidding, I am part German.
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(Letsgofishing;27493)
Schadenfreude is a German word meaning 'pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune.ouch no wonder it sounds germans ( wow that was low )
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Letsgofishing

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Sorry I wan't quite sure what you were saying.So your saying that God has emotions but he he doesn't witness an event and then decide to be angry or happy but is always happy and angry with that event, before and after it happens.I can actually agree with that. I must say I am impressed, I have heard very few people who can explain God logically like you just did. Most priests will say the " he's God, we can't understand him completley" answer to these types of questions. This is true and maybe the best answer but I admire you for taking the challenge of explainign God logically.Most people get confused when trying to do this. To you it seems to be the opposite effect. God Bless You Tyreland unless you got a feeling of Schadenfreude
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from rushing your answers than it doesn't even matter to me. It would take me days to write an answer as complex as your rushed ones. So lets continue to debate tommorowat the very least your improving a 15 year old writers vocabularyyour brother in christ Ryan Fitz
 

Tyrel

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Dear letsgofishing,(Letsgofishing;27499)
Sorry I wan't quite sure what you were saying.
Yes, I apologize for that. Upon re-reading it once I posted it I realized that it might not be as clear as I had imagined. I am trying though.
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(Letsgofishing;27499)
So your saying that God has emotions but he he doesn't witness an event and then decide to be angry or happy but is always happy and angry with that event, before and after it happens.I can actually agree with that. I must say I am impressed, I have heard very few people who can explain God logically like you just did. Most priests will say the " he's God, we can't understand him completley" answer to these types of questions. This is true and maybe the best answer but I admire you for taking the challenge of explainign God logically.Most people get confused when trying to do this. To you it seems to be the opposite effect. God Bless You Tyreland unless you got a feeling of Schadenfreude
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from rushing your answers than it doesn't even matter to me. It would take me days to write an answer as complex as your rushed ones. So lets continue to debate tommorowat the very least your improving a 15 year old writers vocabularyyour brother in christ Ryan Fitz
pleasure, but may I simply add to this, for now, by pointing out that understanding something basically does not mean I can comprehend it. Just as I can understand why there must be a fourth dimension, and even understand how it works mathematically, I still cannot properly imagine a four dimensional thing. I cannot properly comprehend the fourth dimension just because I can understand it in part. Nobody can comprehend the complexity of God. It may well be infinitely complex {wow, now there's a thought}. At that, I'll leave the discussion and await your response. I'm much enjoying this. However, let's not get off track here. My basic point is to address God having Humour and or experiencing humour.
 

Thunder1

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(kriss;27480)
primitive ? Thats funny:) well then Ill take my more primitive view of Godanyday compared to your psychology babble uh modern day view last time I looked God never said we needed a psychiatrist to understand him he says we need to love him (thats an emotion)
I agree with you,kriss.
 

Thunder1

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(Letsgofishing;27469)
Basically, Humour is something our created minds {brains} can experienceoh comeon tyrel, I think I know what a mind is.
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I know God has emotions."For the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." Exodus 34:14"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Rom. 1:18Ps. 145:8, "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy." Judges 10:16, "And they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the Lord; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." Ps. 2:4, "He who sitteth in the heavens shall laugh Joh 11:35 and jesus weptand the most importantJohn 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him shall not die but have eternal life. its in the scriptures, GOD HAS TO HAVE EMOTION your brother in christRyan Fitz
I agree totally with you letsgofishing ! Jesus came to show us what kind of God we've got. Jesus got righteously angry, He cried, He showed love, forgiveness... meaning and showing what kind of God we have. GOD HAS EMOTION, it's true. We are created in His image, so He also has emotions. But they are righteous and pure. As ours are not so many times.
 

Thunder1

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(Tyrel;27405)
Well, thank you, that was quite flattering.. Let's see if I can put it simply.. It was sort of hard to find the words the first time.. Ok, I'll try again.Basically, Humour is something our created minds {brains} can experience, just like fear. God Created both of these, as he created the entire construct of the brain. Now, I think it's unfair to accord Humour as a characteristic of God, and certainly no more or less justified {or justifiable} than according fear as a characteristic of him. He is Eternal. He cannot be surprised or shocked, thus he cannot experience humour. Now, if one is to argue that he deviously sets up situations with no greater ulterior motive than Humour, that might perhaps be acceptable. However, that he himself has a "sense" of Humour, seems to me to be quite the unorthodox suggestion. I think Humour is reserved to the human experience {or the experience within the created at least}.I hope that basically helps. I'm not quite sure how else to put it.
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God must smile at us, while we try to impress others with our long stories and His ways are so simple. He Himself asked us to be like little children in our faith. Jesus was really to the point, not millions of words ,just... Get up, go and tell the others, be still, go away satan... When God created the world, He just said it and it was done. Simple.
 

Thunder1

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(Tyrel;27343)
If I may..I think that humour is a nuance of psychology, perhaps not foreign to God, but it is distinct to the human experience. In other words, I don't believe it's anything more than a natural psychological reaction to certain things. We react that way when pleasantly shocked. Notice how most jokes cease being funny over time after repetition.Humour is a psychological experience, and thus, I don't believe that God experiences it.Similarly, I don't believe God can be physically tickled. This isn't because the design of our bodies isn't "known to him", but rather because he himself does not get "tickled" physically, for he is not flesh.If we incorporate the logic presented in various posts above, that since we are made in God's image, and we experience Humour, he must also experience humour, then we might be lead to similarly conclude that since we can experience forgetfulness, and remembrance, he also must experience it.Joy, Love, Peace, these things emanate from God. Humour, however, is something we experience, and we've developed "comedy", the art of instigating such experiences. We also experience fear. I think this is psychological as well, and reserved to the psyche. I know this comes in the face of convention here {bwahaha, I don't even mind anymore
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} but I suggest that humour is not something which we can attribute to God any more or less than fear. It is a nuance of psychology, and doesn't exist for anticipating and calculated mind.In other words, the Lord is perfect, and exists not in creation. I have, for years, thought he did have a sense of humour, but proclaiming so always left me feeling like I was being a tad disingenuous to the testimony of scripture and tradition. I have come to believe, upon much reflection, that humour is a great thing which is included in the human experience, but is a thing of this world, which will fall away in the face of Glory when heaven and the Eternal is ours.
I believe God has sense of humour. He created it, look at us, yourself, all the different animals and some of their funny looks and behaviour and our looks and behaviour. What would world be like without humour. Psychology is people studying what God already knows and people trying to understand what and why God created "stuff" certain way. Many psychologists just want to make it their own, excluding God.Humour is a gift from God. Humour is a thing of this world, so are we as long we live here and food, we eat, but God provides... plants, herbs, meat.
 

Christina

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Agreed Thunder God has humor there examples of it in scripture some posted herethe first thing a new born baby learns is to smile and laugh we are told there is a time to laugh, God created all things for our enjoyment, enjoyment it self brings smiles which is laughterSo he gave us the ability to experience Joy,humor,laughter and like has been said before we are made in his image
 

Tyrel

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oy vey.. I would like to point out that I agree with Kriss on this one, and that my argument was slightly more complex than Thunder1 seems to acknowledge. Just the same, I would like to see somebody formulate the opinion presented that God in his Eternal Person has any sense of humour which we can Identify as such. Until somebody can articulate a position which addresses my own without ad hominem, and without the straw man flaw, which we've just seen, then I will be more than overjoyed to read it, and even accept correction and increase my knowledge. For those who want simple answers, go back to the first few pages of the thread, they are all archived there.In hope,~Tyrel
 

stlizzy

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Jesus told us that we are to be like the little children. So, I would suppose that like a little kid, if I fell flat on my face and got up laughing, God would laugh with me... If I baked a cake and used powdered sugar instead of flour- God, who already knew that this was going to happen, could probably join with me in the humor of the situation.Sometimes, I feel like it's hard to be a Christian because there are so many things that I used to think were funny and now it's like... man, none of that is funny. And I wonder if I am taking myself too seriously. But how serious can you get when you are considering a life devoted to Christ? Very serious. So, I ask the Holy Spirit for balance. Sometimes, we need to laugh- I wonder if God laughed with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden- do you think maybe that He delighted, He found humor, He laughed when His very own creation was introduced to His newly-made world and started to walk around and marvel at it?
 

DrBubbaLove

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We do not have a Saint Homer (Simpson makes God laugh) but makes one wonder why of all the human attributes attributed to God by the ancient writers we have no OT story of God laughing. The talking donkey story always got me, so yes He has a sense of humor.