Mahaney: Don't Waste Your Humor
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Josh Harris:
In his message Don't Waste Your Humor C.J. shared a quote from Terry Lindvall's book, Surprised By Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis:
Laughter is a divine gift to the human who is humble. A proud man cannot laugh because he must watch his dignity; he cannot give himself over to the rocking and rolling of his belly. But a poor and happy man laughs heartily because he gives no serious attention to his ego. . . . Only the truly humble belong to this kingdom of divine laughter. . . Humor and humility should keep good company. Self deprecating humor can be a healthy reminder that we are not the center of the universe, that humility is our proper posture before our fellow humans as well as before almighty God. . . . "I suppose," wrote C.S. Lewis, "we should mind humiliation less if we were but humbler."You can hear C.J.'s message here. I also posted on my church blog a list of questions for application that Brian Chesemore did for the message.
posted by JT at Wednesday, July 16, 2008
5 Comments:
This is so true. If we are unable to make fun of ourselves or laugh at our many misgivings it is because we think too highly of ourselves and are proud. And when this happens, James tells us that God opposes us.
CJ models this teaching which makes him a wonderful instrument to bring this teaching.
Of course the insidious part of this (don't know if C.J. made the point) is that we can use self-deprecating humor as a way of lifting up ourselves. Difficult to discern motives here, but definitely a must. Self-deprecating humor: Good. Prideful self-deprecating humor: Bad.
Self deprecating humor can be a healthy reminder that we are not the center of the universe
If so, then Jesus Christ can never exhibit self-deprecating humor, because he IS the center of the universe.
Serendipitous! In listening to ESPN radio yesterday I heard part of the late Jim Valvano's speech just before his death from cancer, he has a tremendous line in it: "To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special." Indeed, that is a full, and good, day.
Can someone explain to me what the biblical justification for application point #2 is? The last question in particular seems to be a leading question. It's certainly good to be able to laugh at oneself, but how does that, or anything in the Bible or Christian tradition suggest that we have an obligation to "intentionally [cultivate] humility through the means of self-deprecating humor?"
And as John pointed out, self-deprecation isn't always humble. In my experience it's most often prideful or the product of insecurity, which isn't the same as humility. I'm not sure where this teaching on self-deprecating humor is coming from . . .
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