Made in the Image of a Humourless GOD

by unclebruce 12 Replies latest jw friends

unclebruce

MADE IN THE IMAGE OF A HUMOURLESS GOD

There are a number of references in the Bible of man being made in the image of YHWH/Jehovah And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” Genesis 1:26 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.1 Corinthians 11:7

The only actual characteristics that can be attributed to the Christian god Jehovah can be found in the Bible. Mainstream Christianity has invented a few more using a wrong-premised quasi-intellectual assessment of what a god should be like.

An examination of vital common traits of humanity finds they are either missing or in direct conflict with those of the Biblical god and the imaginations of his dutiful adherents.

Of all the traits of this alleged god and the godly proclamations of its followers, the most important one is completely missing. Humour. Without humour, people would exist in a conscious state of total despair. Humour is the safety valve allowing both recognition of the pain, suffering and ridiculous components of life and a method of being able to deal effectively with them.

All societies possess a ‘funny-bone’, although they can be markedly different from eeach other. A post considered hilarious from an Australian perspective may not even raise a chuckle in the USA. Humour, as with religion, evolves over time depending on the psychological needs of any given culture. Still, it is undeniable that without the release of laughter, pent up emotions would render full human interaction impossible, with an ensuing total breakdown of decent social order. This is recognisable in societies where religion and state, as one, control depressed and suppressed populations. Oppresion of women, violence and community stagnation are the outcomes. Examples abound.

The Bible and its followers give scant regard to the importance of humour as a necessity for our survival in this life. Not only that, but rules, mores and laws have been instituted to prevent religious jocularity. They come under the heading of blasphemy.

Religions are oh such serious affairs, so much so, that the ‘faithful’ find it extremely difficult to even laugh at themselves. Of course, to do so, would expose the irrationality of their ‘beliefs’ to an intellectually unacceptable level, a threat, if you like, to ones own mental integrity.

Surely a comical Jehovah could have raised a wry smile in the telling of the fable of creation in six days. If Jehovah had done so and mentioned it to the writer of Genesis, a hell of a lot of future trouble with evolution-deniers could have been averted. A god with a touch of hilarity may have threatened Eve and Adam with suffering and death if they ate of the tree of knowledge but would have responded with “Only joking” when they did. A funny god would not drown every living creature, apart from some few sad examples of humanity, but rather, it would fall off Its cloud in fits of hysteria when the waters were not sent to the surprise of a frightened-witless human race. It is to be sure that Abraham would have seen the funny side, as well as feeling like a fool in even contemplating the murder of his son Isaac, when Jehovah reneged on its lethal request.

And so it could be said of the rest of the brutal, vindictive, revengeful, un-ethical and murderous Old Testament writings, that a god with humour was no where to be found.

As for the story of Jah sending his only boy Jesus, well, it’s humourless, morbid and self-loathing content is the antithesis of all that funniness demands. Jesus, miraculously jumping off the cross with tears of laughter streaming down his face, in front of a stunned and jaw-dropped audience, would have had far more effect in converting the unbeliever than allegedly only doing magic tricks in the secret darkness of a sealed tomb.

The omitted hilarity in religion is a most serious oversight of the writers, so much so that to suggest that humans are made in the image of such a sombre god is plainly untrue.

I leave it to the reader to work out the multitude of other personality traits that people possess and find attractive but their god does not mention or even rails against quite irrationally.

Here on JWD we often see humour used to a devastating effect in demolishing the tower of cards fundamentalists are determined to build. Being draped in humour, the seriousness and depth of the point usually goes right over the head of the ardent cranium challenged GOD botherer and he goes on building his delicate theorum.

So what can us good secular realists do when engulfed by the infantile but deathly serious biblenuts and jesus freaks that abound here? Forgive me if I kick back hard with my almighty triune Gods of sarcasm, satire and parode.

unclebruce (partly adapted and stolen from an article by Australian columist Phillip Adams)

“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” - Mark Twain

...mmm to post or nut to post?

scout575

Unclebruce: It always struck me as amazing ( almost impossible even ) that you could have a book as long as the Bible and yet for it to contain absolutely nothing to even raise a smile, never mind a laugh. The only verse that I could ever find that approaches humour is Zechariah 11:13 where 'god' ironically refers to the meagre value placed by the Israelites ( 30 pieces of silver ) on Zechariah ( and by extension on 'god' himself ) as a "goodly price." Here we have divine sarcasm. Are you smiling Unclebruce? Forgive me if I don't.
Btw I couldn't read alot of your posting because it was truncated by the right hand side of my screen.
slugga

It always struck me as amazing ( almost impossible even ) that you could have a book as long as the Bible and yet for it to contain absolutely nothing to even raise a smile, never mind a laugh

The thing with the bible is that it is so old and from such a different culture than any of us have encountered that we probably wouldn't recognise an ancient Israelite joke if it hit us in the face.
For example take the account of David collecting foreskins for his father in law. He goes over the top and instead of collecting 100 he collects 200. We read this and take it as factual but how do we know that ancient israelites weren't pissing themselves with laughter at this joke at Davids expense and that we're missing the point with what might be very dry Jewish humour?
The Chuckler

There is an episode in Genesis where Moses has the tablets with the 10 commandments and is driving an old British motor car.
It says :" ..........and he descended the mountain in his triumph............."
scout575

Slugga: Fair point. Whilst I don't expect the Bible to have jokes in it, I do find it ironic that a book that has so much to say about the human condition doesn't even ( inadvertantly ) manage to raise a smile. The human condition is in so many ways laughable, and yet the Bible ( even taking into consideration cultural differences between then and now ) doesn't raise even a SINGLE laugh.
Can you imagine if the Bible described Jesus as smiling or laughing, how Christians would latch onto that and say: "Look how lovely Jesus is." Of course, the Bible says no such thing.
unclebruce

sorry folks - see if this works:
MADE IN THE IMAGE OF A HUMOURLESS GOD
There are a number of references in the Bible of man being made in the image of YHWH/Jehovah
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” Genesis 1:26 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.1 Corinthians 11:7

The only actual characteristics that can be attributed to the Christian god Jehovah can be found in the Bible. Mainstream Christianity has invented a few more using a wrong-premised quasi-intellectual assessment of what a god should be like.
An examination of vital common traits of humanity finds they are either missing or in direct conflict with those of the Biblical god and the imaginations of his dutiful adherents.
Of all the traits of this alleged god and the godly proclamations of its followers, the most important one is completely missing. Humour. Without humour, people would exist in a conscious state of total despair. Humour is the safety valve allowing both recognition of the pain, suffering and ridiculous components of life and a method of being able to deal effectively with them.
All societies possess a ‘funny-bone’, although they can be markedly different from each other. A post considered hilarious from an Australian perspective may not even raise a chuckle in the USA. Humour, as with religion, evolves over time depending on the psychological needs of any given culture. Still, it is undeniable that without the release of laughter, pent up emotions would render full human interaction impossible, with an ensuing total breakdown of decent social order. This is recognisable in societies where religion and state, as one, control depressed and suppressed populations. Oppression of women, violence and community stagnation are the outcomes. Examples abound.
The Bible and its followers give scant regard to the importance of humour as a necessity for our survival in this life. Not only that, but rules, mores and laws have been instituted to prevent religious jocularity. They come under the heading of blasphemy.
Religions are oh such serious affairs, so much so, that the ‘faithful’ find it extremely difficult to even laugh at themselves. Of course, to do so, would expose the irrationality of their ‘beliefs’ to an intellectually unacceptable level, a threat, if you like, to ones own mental integrity.
Surely a comical Jehovah could have raised a wry smile in the telling of the fable of creation in six days. If Jehovah had done so and mentioned it to the writer of Genesis, a hell of a lot of future trouble with evolution-deniers could have been averted. A god with a touch of hilarity may have threatened Eve and Adam with suffering and death if they ate of the tree of knowledge but would have responded with “Only joking” when they did. A funny god would not drown every living creature, apart from some few sad examples of humanity, but rather, it would fall off Its cloud in fits of hysteria when the waters were not sent to the surprise of a frightened-witless human race. It is to be sure that Abraham
would have seen the funny side, as well as feeling like a fool in even contemplating the murder of his son Isaac, when Jehovah reneged on its lethal request.
And so it could be said of the rest of the brutal, vindictive, revengeful, un-ethical and murderous Old Testament writings, that a god with humour was no where to be found.
As for the story of Jah sending his only boy Jesus, well, it’s humourless, morbid and self-loathing content is the antithesis of all that funniness demands. Jesus, miraculously jumping off the cross with tears of laughter streaming down his face, in front of a stunned and jaw-dropped audience, would have had far more effect in converting the unbeliever than allegedly only doing magic tricks in the secret darkness of a sealed tomb.
The omitted hilarity in religion is a most serious oversight of the writers, so much so that to suggest that humans are made in the image of such a sombre god is plainly untrue.
I leave it to the reader to work out the multitude of other personality traits that people possess and find attractive but their god does not mention or even rails against quite irrationally.
Here on JWD we often see humour used to a devastating effect in demolishing the tower of cards fundamentalists are determined to build. Being draped in humour, the seriousness and depth of the point usually goes right over the head of the ardent cranium challenged GOD botherer and he goes on building his delicate theorem.
So what can us good secular realists do when engulfed by the infantile but deathly serious biblenuts and jesus freaks that abound here? Forgive me if I kick back hard with my almighty triune Gods of sarcasm, satire and parody.
unclebruce (partly adapted and stolen from an article by Australian columnist Phillip Adams)
“ Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.” - Mark Twain
~end~
. .mmm to post or nut to post?
Well, slugga the wise, I must admit I did think of a few possible bible jokes while I was writing this very articleI did think of a few things that may have been Jehovah just ~~jerking~~ joking about.
"ABRAHAM ABRAHAM COME PARLEY WITH ME WHILE MY BUSH BURNS!"
"NO JONAH - FOR I HAVE FORGIVEN THEM!"
ps: bet no ones seen a Jehovah smiley before.
bigmouth

Dubs have an innocent sense of humour that never quite goes past laughing at a good field service experience.

Humour is 'felt' and JWs don't trust their feelings. So many never seem to 'get it'. My 'raised-in-the-truth missus thinks Mr Bean is 'stupid'(=funny), but Blackadder is met with blankness! I guess it can't be taught.

Anyways.... Isn't there an obscure scripture in Proverbs where Jehovah does a spot of punning about something agricultural, seasons or grain or something?? Can anyone find this?

Personally, I don't think Jehovahs got anything to laugh about.
slugga

Maybe there's nothing funny and humorous mentioned in the bible because the bible was written by a bunch of stiffs like we used to go to the hall with.
Take the mags for instance when was the last time you saw a funny in there?
Matt
(Former Jehovah's Witless)
Narkissos

I feel that a lot of Bible texts, especially stories, are highly humorous.
Think of Eden, Babel, Abraham, Isaac ("laughter!"), Jacob, Samson, Jonah, to name but a few.
Much of Wisdom is pretty humorous too.
We miss most of the humour because of cultural difference (as the article correctly points out in general but fails to apply to the present case) and especially because it is overshadowed by the later moral dramatisation of monotheism. Sweep heaven and hell, salvation and damnation out of the perspective and you will find at least some of the original humour.
scout575

Narkissos: Really? Whilst there may be 'comedies' in the Bible along with its 'tragedies' as in the Shakespearean sense, but just like Shakespeare's 'comedies' the Bible's 'comedies' don't have anything to raise an actual smile or a laugh, unless you know of any specific funny examples, of course?

Made in the Image of a Humourless GOD

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