Old & New Submission
My site has been an absolute ghost town since Old & New launched in March. Sorry about that. For those of you who don’t know, Old & New is a collaborative design project based on passages in the Bible and was created and is curated by me and Troy DeShano. The first round of designs ended last Friday with my submission seen above (view a larger size). If you haven’t checked out all the Old & New designs, GO DO THAT NOW BECAUSE THEY ARE AMAZING. I have poured my heart, soul and a crapload of time into that project and I am incredibly proud of it.
Seriously, if you don’t check it out, I’m not your friend anymore.
The funniest thing about Christian culture is Christian culture
I realize/hope that some folks might be offended by my Old & New submission and I’d like to share a little bit about how I arrived on the concept. At first glance, it may seem like a juvenile attempt at a crude pun. I must confess, I am juvenile and I love a crude pun, but there’s a little more to it for me.
In Christian culture, there isn’t much of an appreciation for humor or comedy, unless you count the unintentional hilarity of Christian culture. There is no shortage of things described as “Christian humor” or “Christian comedy.” But that mainly just means that there are no naughty words, it doesn’t offend anyone and is safe enough for a 10 year old. (As a side note, I have an inherent distrust of anything – especially something creative – described as “Christian,” but I’ll save that rant for another post.)
Did Jesus ever fart for a cheap laugh?
Not only is humor not valued or appreciated in Christian culture, but it tends to be looked down upon. I mean Jesus would never giggle, tell (dirty) jokes or fart in front of the disciples for a cheap laugh, right? That would be sacrilegious, right? Right?
I’d bet every cent I own that he did all 3 of those things. After all, why wouldn’t he? It’s not like those are sin and based on what I read about him, Jesus could care less about being safe an non-offensive. Plus, as my design above references, God used a donkey to communicate to one of his prophets and made sure to include the story in the Bible. The creator of the universe talks to someone through an ass. C’mon! That is hilarious! He spoke to other people through a burning bush (awe-inspiring) and a still small voice (mysterious), but this time he chooses to talk to a human being using the mouth of a donkey. Brilliant! Makes me love God even more.
Anyways, this design was a way of trying to show that God is pretty frickin’ hilarious and I hope it made Jesus chuckle when he saw it. In fact, I hope he laughed his ass off.
As usual, this is just a crazy rant by me. My guess is that have your own opinions about this. Feel free to share ‘em in the comments!
11 comments on “Old & New Submission”
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Haha, I love your humor and attitude! You’re quite cool for a Christian
I bet most other Christians probably see you as a weirdo though, lol!
you definitely balance out all the “religious” out there… Perhaps a bit far, but man was that good for a laugh or three…
If we can’t laugh at ourselves, we’re too invested in our own importance. Love your stuff!!
Actually, this “Sometimes God sounds like an ass” will preach. God speaks in all kinds of ways. We miss Him when we insist that He speak in only “holy” ways…
I’m with you except on the dirty jokes bit. I 100% agree that Christians are often too serious (and weird), and that Christian culture is unintentionally hilarious. I’m one of the most cynical, least religious Christians you’ll ever meet. I (perhaps unfortunately) am given to using naughty words too frequently, etc.
However your remark makes me think of Ephesians 5:4: “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” There’s no mistaking that God calls us to purity. I think we have to be careful not to reduce Jesus to our level of “good ol’ boy” who does the kinds of things we sometimes do.
Susanna I think you’re right to a degree. Or rather it comes down to whats interpreted as a ‘dirty’ joke. The typical high school locker room types jokes are most definitely filthy and crude. But I do believe that there is a certain realm of jokes that would make your grandmother blush but are still wholly acceptable. I can’t think of a specific example, but I know there are times when another one of my married guy friends and I will make something into an innuendo- nothing filthy or anything, just making something relate to one of God’s great gifts (sex) that normally isn’t. If that makes sense?
But if its something that anyone would feel uncomfortable or brought down by or taken to a place of tempting etc – then that’s definitely not edifying at all and needs to be corrected.
But God talking out of a donkey?! Man God is awesome!
David, I get it. I have often thought that Christians are way too uptight about sex and the human body. It’s a perfectly normal and natural part of life that, as you say, God created. It can become dirty and cheap, but it doesn’t have to be. I get what you’re saying.
I was thinking the same thing, especially about the dirty joke part. I guess it depends on the definition of “dirty” — but I usually think about something that involves lust or sexuality or is generally offensive.
I was on staff of a church camp. A kid came up to me and asked (for the benefit of his friends who were watching and giggling) if Jesus ever farted? Did he ever go up to Peter and ask him to pull his finger?
I’d just finished up a study of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus so I answered, ‘Dunno. John 3:8 tells us he was aware of the silent-but-deadly though.’
I made them go look it up. No point being on Bible camp if you don’t make them look at their Bibles.
[...] Old & New Submission [...]
It is so refreshing to have a genuine Christian who happens to ‘push-the-envelope’ every now and again. In fact, it is probably what we (Christians) should all be doing! Jesus was so counter-culture in his times and isn’t our ultimate aim to be like Christ? I think the conclusion we can all draw from your articles is to just get over ourselves (and religious antics) and just be real and admit we all (very)imperfect and enjoy a ‘dirty’ joke every now and again.
Sorry, my rant is done but I just wanted to show my support!!
i.e Keep the articles coming!
Wow. I have to say, I agree that the church as a whole can be be rigid, but to say that Jesus would have told a dirty joke??? This is GOD in the FLESH, who came to die for the people he created, and who crucified Him. Where is the reverence? We can talk about this stuff on our own, but do we not HONOR Him? Where is the HONOR?? Where is the RESPECT?? I think that in the attempt to make Jesus relevant, we have taken the desire to be honoring to God in our actions and called it legalism, and made God Almighty one of our “homeboys”. Make no mistake, He made Himself approachable and the veil was torn, but He did not give up his throne, and these comments seem very dishonoring, and disrespectful.