God Has a Sense of Humour: The Artist & The Art

Humor differs among people and civilizations. You may shut off Funny Home Videos to watch a scary or blockbuster film. But should you picture God applauding you for your superior sense of humour?

As men and women, when we think of humour, we enter a broad mental space: jokes, laughter, pleasure, ridicule, irony, wit, mockery, jest, parody, satire, slapstick, buffoonery, farces, folly, the comic, and the ludicrous.

We think of laughter, jokes, farces, and irony as expressions of a sense of humour; we view parody and satire written or spoken as products of a person's sense of humour; and we accept the comic, the absurd, and folly as (often excellent) occasions for expressing one's sense of humour. All theologians agree that God is different from us.

Therefore, if God has a sense of humour, it will differ radically from ours. That is less sobering than it sounds because if God is serious, His seriousness will also differ entirely from ours.