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Find Out What Makes God Laugh
(The 3-Minute Weekly Insight from Spirituality U.)
Spiritual folks sometimes take their religion a bit too seriously. A touch of humor can often help us relax and have a more enjoyable spiritual experience. There are many sources of religious humor. These include movies, books, and the jokes we tell each other.
Funny religious movies to explore include Monty Python's "Life of Bryan," the film, "Oh, God" featuring George Burns and John Denver, and the brand new movie, "Noah." (Just joking about "Noah"; it's pretty grim).
Among my favorite humorous books about religion are The Church of 80% Sincerity, by my friend, David Roach; and, Driving Your Own Karma, by Swami Beyondananda, aka Steve Bhaeman. By the way, "ananda" means "bliss."
David created The Church of 80% Sincerity to counter the hypocrisy he encountered in the religion he grew up in. Swami Steve created his character to echo and poke playful fun at spiritual gurus like Ram Dass and Pema Chodron.
In the 80% Church you only have to be 100% sincere 80% of the time, or 80% sincere 100% of the time. Either way, you have 20% of your life left to just be "you"! And how about this wise and funny observation from Driving Your Own Karma: "The bad news: There is no key to the universe. The good news: It was never locked."
And what about religious jokes? The best make us chuckle while also making us think. Also, good manners suggest we make jokes about our own religion rather than at the expense of someone else's.
A few jokes are so subtle they need explanation. Case in point, a Quaker joke. Quakers don't have a worship service like Protestants; they have a "meeting for worship." But Quakers are very service oriented. And when Quakers worship they simply sit in silence for an hour listening to God. So, here's the joke: a church member goes to Quaker meeting for worship expecting prayer, preaching, and singing. Nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens. After a while the church member turns to a Quaker and asks, "When does the service begin?" The Quaker responds, "As soon as the Meeting is over." You may have to think about that for a second before you get the joke.
Occasionally a spiritual joke pokes fun at a key concept in a religion: A woman walks into a pizza parlor and orders a Buddhist pizza. The clerk looks at her in puzzlement and asks, "How do I make a Buddhist pizza?" She replies, "Make me one with everything."
Sometimes our jokes can be funny and painful at the same time. Case in point, this philosophical joke: A minister, a rabbi, and an imam are gathered in the Middle East. They pray to God, "O Holy One, will peace EVER come to the Holy Land?" A voice from Heaven replies, "Yes, my children, peace will come to the Holy Land...but not in my lifetime!" [Chuckle followed a moment later by a groan]
So what makes God laugh? I've heard that if you want to hear gales of laughter coming from Heaven...just tell God your plans!
And tune in WNDA, 1570 AM, at 8:25 each Monday morning to hear Kristen Riddick
and Terry Taylor discuss the Weekly Insight on
"Real Life in Louisville"
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