Is laughing a sin?

...Gottcha :-P
Okay, I'm a bit twisted... but I've been up for a whole day and feeling a bit giddy I guess...
May the Lord put a new song in your heart today.
richie

Thank God for laughter!

Pro 15:13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pro 15:15 All the days of the afflicted [are] evil: but he that is of a merry heart [hath] a continual feast.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pro 17:22 A merry heart doeth good [like] a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

:-D :-) :-D ;-)

However some of the put on laughter today might be. If it bubbles up from the joy of the Lord I'm all for it.

:-P

It probably depends on what you are laughing at... :-P

The Holy Spirit never convicted me of laughing...unless it was something that should not have been laughed about. Brother, you need to develope this skill to a high level in order to mother children and stay married!:-)

ginnyrose

The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and JOY.

I think laughter is part of God's kingdom.

KrispyKrittr wrote:
[b]LOL!![/b] (I'm only allowed to ask forgiveness for this 488 more times.!)

Krispy

I thought that was how many times we forgive our brother, not how many times God forgives us??? :-P

KrispyKrittr wrote:
Oooooo... very good!

Krispy

You scared me there for a minute...I passed that number years ago if that is all the forgiveness I get from God... :-o

This is getting so funny I laughed so hard I shot a tic tac out my nose. Just kidding, but I know someone who did! 8-)

LOL.

Hmm, I thought about writing 'forgive me but that was funny.'

Hmm. (Serious note) I think maybe their is a mental stronghold of 'taboo of laughter'. Hmm, just an interesting sidenote.

Thanks for the laughs. 8-)

bro Krispy

KrispyKrittr wrote:
Even us KJV'ers laugh at least once a month.

(Just my feeble attempt to turn this into a KJV debate!!)

[b]LOL!![/b] ...oh no! Thats twice in one day I laughed. Forgive me again Lord. (I'm only allowed to ask forgiveness for this 488 more times.!)

....that last joke will take some of you a minute to figure out. (PM me if you cant)

Krispy

*gasp*

shame on you!!! :-P

bro Goldminer

Goldminer wrote:
This is getting so funny I laughed so hard I shot a tic tac out my nose. Just kidding, but I know someone who did! 8-)

if that person had to dig in their nose to get that tic-tac (or another one in a similar but separate incident) that is what we call mining for gold ie picking one's nose :-P

Very funny :roll:

I guess we can carry this a bit further and tell a funny story to make all laugh.

My pastor and his family were in an elevator. The pastors son was leaning against the button so the the door wouldn't close. My pastor reached over and smacked him on his hinder parts only to discover it wasn't his son leaning on the button. The lady gave a shreak and my pastor was left with egg on his face trying to explain his actions. :oops:

I am certain we all do laugh from time to time. Recently I was asked to dismiss our youth service Sunday Night and go to a Christian Comedy event at another church- with our youth group. And I ask myself- do we really need more laughter?

Of laughter I said, 'Foolish!' and of mirth, 'What [is] this it is doing?' (Eccl. 2:2 YLT)

This is a good question Solomon asks. What is mirth (amusement) really doing? If laughter doeth good like a medicine- then we are a heavily medicated society and people. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to laugh and a time to cry, etc. I wonder if we know the timing of these things or [is it] that when we need to cry we seek out something to make us laugh. Again Solomon asks, [i]and of mirth, 'What [is] this it is doing?'[/i]

I knew a Christian police officer (pastor/sheriff) who told me once of the carnage he had seen going into homes at night where a person had been shot or committed suicide. He had seen so much that he said- I sometimes need a good laugh. He used this as an reasoning for being involved in 'holy laughter'. Ironically the night of Christian comedy is called, "A night of joy." I wonder if folk even understand what joy really is? Laughter is such a fleeting feeling. It soon shall pass and then what? Another joke? Another funny event? More mirth? One thing that the sheriff was really saying is that laughter helps him to forget things that he would rather not remember. I am afraid that this happens with believers also.

I have walked thru some Church doors that you might be lead to believe laughing was a sin after looking around. :-P

Goldminer wrote:

I guess we can carry this a bit further and tell a funny story to make all laugh.

My pastor and his family were in an elevator. The pastors son was leaning against the button so the the door wouldn't close. My pastor reached over and smacked him on his hinder parts only to discover it wasn't his son leaning on the button. The lady gave a shreak and my pastor was left with egg on his face trying to explain his actions.

Now what is the alternative to an incident like this? Do we laugh or get angry? Which will have the desired results? Is not the sense of humor at the core a forgiving sense? The understanding the offender meant no harm and made an honest mistake? Can we not see the absurdity of this action and then laugh? This type of action is one that was not planned to make another laugh - it is an incident when one realizes the absurdities that occur in life unintentionally....makes life easier,more pleasant.

Would you not agree RobertW?

ginnyrose

I would like to make a couple more comments on this line of thought.

I have had several encounters with "Holy Laughter". Or what is called " Holy Laughter".

My first encounter was a cassette tape of a service of a very well known minister. The entire tape was " Holy Laughter", except for one spot where the minister pointed out someone in the room that had a look on his face that said what was happening wasn't real or a bunch of junk. The "minister" proceeded to speak directly to him and humiliate him in front of the entire room with repromands for not receiving what was happening. I really prayed before listening to this tape, someone asked me to listen to it, and I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck and everything in me rejected what was happening.

My next encounter was of a different sort. A woman who went to my church had been married for a long.... time, both her an her husband were even used in ministry. He decided to leave her for a younger woman. She was devastated. Her entire life fell apart. She continued in church and participated in intercessory prayer and other things. But she was dealing with a broken heart for a long time. One night in the depths of despair and anger she went outside in the woods behind her house and took an ax and began to smash it into a log with all her might. She screamed out her anger at her husband and God for letting it happen and raged and wept until she fell into a little exhausted pile in the ground. Her anger was spent and released and she was freed as she gave it to God.

The next evening she came to church and joy began to well up deep inside her. She began to bubble over with inner delight in the goodness of God. She laughed and laughed, told everybody she loved them. It was the most refreshing thing I have ever seen. She was so messed up that she couldn't even drive herself home. Now she isn't a fakey person. She is a college professor and extremely stable. This was just God's gift of healing to her. The pain and anger was gone and joy replaced it, but laughter was the gift God gave her to bring on her healing. Nobody observing this could have thought it was fake.

A few days ago I watched a Christian minister, which I rarely do, very well known, and on the program a number in the room began to laugh and laugh. The minister made funny little looks at them that set them off more. It was all flesh and had none of the hallmarks I saw in that woman's experience.

Having said all that I believe there is the real and the fake. I also believe having witnesses both it is easy to tell the difference. When your see the real you will know it is genuine.

One more note I don't believe God was at all offended by this wonderful woman of God screaming out her anger. He desires truth in the inward parts. That was the truth about what she was feeling and dealing with. As she yelled it out to Him he brought her down to the ground, to the very dust, and then He built her up again in freedom and joy using laughter as an ointment. That is how understanding and wonderful our God is!

Hi Little Gift,

For example: When working in care homes I had to help deal with the inevitable deaths, and humour sometimes intruded even there. Often we would talk to, or even have a little joke with the person who had died, as we would if they were still there.

I was in an emergency room once and saw a sign that alerted folk that if they saw the staff laughing not to think that they were not taking the seriousness of folks needs rightly; but that they laugh from time to time to help deal with the trauma that comes with the trauma (as it were).

I laugh often. Several times a day I suppose. But I think that excessive frivolity grieves the Holy Spirit and injures our testimony in the eyes of people. People don't know when to take us seriously. Again, to everything their is a season. Sometimes there is a solemnity during an altar call and folk cannot handle that. They will tell a joke at the worst of times to 'lift' or 'lighten' the mood. That is not what this thread is about, but it concerns me very much.

Is laughter a sin? [url=http://zoecarnate.com/#humor]I hope not[/url].