InSlaveryToChrist
Puritan Board Junior
It seems to me that there is a common misconception among Christians today that seriousness is the opposite of joyfulness. This is a serious error, to say the least. Let’s be honest, why do we joke around so much, why is joking so necessary in our everyday lives? Is it not because we simply cannot stand the tense atmosphere of the reality? We all acknowledge people around us are perishing in their sins, yet we must also acknowledge we are not warning them as we ought, and this just drives us crazy, doesn’t it? But behold the cure to this, developed by human wisdom: joking.
Brothers and Sisters, let us continue to be honest, what true benefit have we ever got from joking? Answer me! What TRUE BENEFIT proceeds from joking?! I cannot name one. In fact, what I see due to my own joking with people is only sorrow and broken relationships (that’s all I’m seeing!). And I just cannot take it anymore... My family is what it is (words are not enough to describe its miserable state) partly because there is no ardent desire of discussing the truth. But what I find most devastating is the desire to joke about the truth! And this is so common in Christian circles today. Just think about homosexuality, for example. Homosexuality is a SERIOUS matter, it KILLS people, it DRIVES them FARTHER FROM GOD! And we are joking about it?! Another great example is American church madness. Oh how blind we are, when we laugh at a video like this:
[video=youtube;C9QfwpZVI1M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9QfwpZVI1M[/video]
I've find out that joking only hurts people in the end. The apparent “joy” you get from joking is not true joy! It is man-produced joy! It’s not from God! It’s the same kind of pleasure you get from anyTHING in this world, and it is known to be temporal. Lying/joking is the world’s way of handling stress and sorrow. Simply put, it’s leaning to one’s own understanding. Many people think they can do a favor to others by means of lying, by telling them what we call “white lies”. What I find interesting is that relatively more Christians disallow “white lies” than they do joking (Oh the irony?). Yet those are the same thing -- leaning to one’s own understanding, attempting to solve problems by human wisdom, trying to fix what is infinite by what is finite.
While people may think they’re making everyone feel better by throwing jokes around, when the atmosphere has become too tense or serious, they are actually just making everyone feel worse in the end. But what is so bad about seriousness? What would possibly be at danger? Relationships. Why? Because if there is a problem, and all acknowledge it’s their responsibility to deal with it, and yet nobody is doing anything about it, the outcome should be obvious. No-one is ever going to open their mouth about the matter because of their own guilt of not dealing with it. However, there will be a constant war between the minds. Everyone is outwardly treating each other nice, but in their hearts they're just hating one another. So, while it may seem to an outsider that these people's relationships with each other are in a great condition, the sad [spiritual] reality is that they are in enmity with one another. And this is just what my own family looks like -- outwardly all are treating each other so nice, yet inwardly we are like archenemies of one another. Joking has done so much harm to relationships in my family that I cannot live with it anymore. I hate the way our words are totally in contradiction with our deeds (well, of course, God has graciously helped me and my little sister occasionally to keep our own words and to love with great passion, but the overall-situation just doesn’t look too good).
I hope you would pray for my family, but also that you would pray for the problem of joking in general. It’s so saddening to see this thing going on everywhere I go. Joking has become so common in our day that people don’t even recognize it is lying, that is, sin. If you are in distress, cast all your anxiety on God, for He cares about you! Why turn to your own wisdom, why seek help from yourself?!
I realize there has been some discussion on this topic before, and that many have already made up their minds in regards to it, but please, I plead with you, consider carefully what’s been said. Don’t just try to justify vanity.
In Christ,
Samuel
Brothers and Sisters, let us continue to be honest, what true benefit have we ever got from joking? Answer me! What TRUE BENEFIT proceeds from joking?! I cannot name one. In fact, what I see due to my own joking with people is only sorrow and broken relationships (that’s all I’m seeing!). And I just cannot take it anymore... My family is what it is (words are not enough to describe its miserable state) partly because there is no ardent desire of discussing the truth. But what I find most devastating is the desire to joke about the truth! And this is so common in Christian circles today. Just think about homosexuality, for example. Homosexuality is a SERIOUS matter, it KILLS people, it DRIVES them FARTHER FROM GOD! And we are joking about it?! Another great example is American church madness. Oh how blind we are, when we laugh at a video like this:
[video=youtube;C9QfwpZVI1M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9QfwpZVI1M[/video]
I've find out that joking only hurts people in the end. The apparent “joy” you get from joking is not true joy! It is man-produced joy! It’s not from God! It’s the same kind of pleasure you get from anyTHING in this world, and it is known to be temporal. Lying/joking is the world’s way of handling stress and sorrow. Simply put, it’s leaning to one’s own understanding. Many people think they can do a favor to others by means of lying, by telling them what we call “white lies”. What I find interesting is that relatively more Christians disallow “white lies” than they do joking (Oh the irony?). Yet those are the same thing -- leaning to one’s own understanding, attempting to solve problems by human wisdom, trying to fix what is infinite by what is finite.
While people may think they’re making everyone feel better by throwing jokes around, when the atmosphere has become too tense or serious, they are actually just making everyone feel worse in the end. But what is so bad about seriousness? What would possibly be at danger? Relationships. Why? Because if there is a problem, and all acknowledge it’s their responsibility to deal with it, and yet nobody is doing anything about it, the outcome should be obvious. No-one is ever going to open their mouth about the matter because of their own guilt of not dealing with it. However, there will be a constant war between the minds. Everyone is outwardly treating each other nice, but in their hearts they're just hating one another. So, while it may seem to an outsider that these people's relationships with each other are in a great condition, the sad [spiritual] reality is that they are in enmity with one another. And this is just what my own family looks like -- outwardly all are treating each other so nice, yet inwardly we are like archenemies of one another. Joking has done so much harm to relationships in my family that I cannot live with it anymore. I hate the way our words are totally in contradiction with our deeds (well, of course, God has graciously helped me and my little sister occasionally to keep our own words and to love with great passion, but the overall-situation just doesn’t look too good).
I hope you would pray for my family, but also that you would pray for the problem of joking in general. It’s so saddening to see this thing going on everywhere I go. Joking has become so common in our day that people don’t even recognize it is lying, that is, sin. If you are in distress, cast all your anxiety on God, for He cares about you! Why turn to your own wisdom, why seek help from yourself?!
I realize there has been some discussion on this topic before, and that many have already made up their minds in regards to it, but please, I plead with you, consider carefully what’s been said. Don’t just try to justify vanity.
In Christ,
Samuel
Last edited:
