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Hey – he just woke up!

Jesus is getting his butt kicked in Mario Kart this morning. He must be feeling a little groggy, what with that dying and getting resurrected and all.

On a completely unrelated note: Does anyone know why Google doesn’t have a Doodle for Easter today? The only thing I found on the About section of Google Doodles is “The doodle selection process aims to celebrate interesting events and anniversaries that reflect Google’s personality and love of innovation.” They doodle based on location (different doodles for different countries), so I would have though US Google would create something for the Christians in the audience. They have done non-religious Christmas Doodles. Trust me, I’m not complaining, just pleasantly surprised to find godiness quietly absent from the Google front page.

Hey – he just woke up!

Y U NO TELL ME?

I was at a Minnesota Skeptics Drinking Skeptically last night and we moseyed into the topics of religion and the bible. Someone mentioned that there are two creation stories in the book of Genesis, and I was a little bemused to realize I didn’t know what they were talking about. I read the bible in its entirety back in college, but it’s been a while. I looked at the group and said, “I hate to say this, but I think I’m going to have to read the bible again.” One of the guys got a huge grin on his face and told me that he had the perfect version for me:

Of all that is unholy, Y U NO TELL ME THIS EXISTED?

The book contains some of the more better-known biblical stories, but the LOL Cat Bible Translation Project that started in 2007 has translated everything into lolcat.

Here’s an example of Adam wussing out before God (Ceiling Cat, of course) and blaming Eve for his decision eat the apple:

*sniff* I love my life.

Y U NO TELL ME?

Ha! Religious Humor!

Seen over at Le Cafe Witteveen. Original Source is InherittheMirth.com

I thought this was humorous, especially in light of Tim Tebow’s on-going dinkusness. Of course it’s ridiculous, this idea that if there is a God, he would give one good crap about your personal performance on the football field. I mean, what if BOTH teams are praying really, really hard for God’s approval? How is he going to decide who to favor? Or what if he’s too busy making famines in Africa to listen to the football guys prayers at all?

I was originally just going to post this comic and move on, but I liked the title of the website that it came from: “Inherit the Mirth”. Cool – more comics using humor to point out the idiosyncrasies of the bible and belief, perhaps? When I followed the link back I discovered that the site was started by a Christian. Hmm. Well, good on him. I like people who can have a laugh at themselves. After a bit of digging around I found the “About” page (bolding is mine):

Ten years ago, Cuyler Black, a part-time youth minister in Ontario at the time, was often buying resources in local Christian bookstores. He noticed that very few, if any, of the greeting cards in those shops had a humorous bent. Cuyler thought that was a shame. He understood God to have a wonderful sense of humor and believed all Christians should as well. That humorous sensibility was being under-represented in Christian merchandise. The ensuing result has been Inherit The Mirth®,a line of greeting cards, calendars, t-shirts, posters, books and more, emphasizing the light-hearted side of faith.

A “wonderful sense of humor?” Oh, that wacky God – what with the witty drowning of the Earth’s entire population (minus a few), the silly smiting, the jokester plagues and the filicide*. And do you know how else we know that God has a sense of humor? More from Inherit the Mirth:

People with a sense of humor give other people nicknames. Jesus called Peter ‘the Rock” and called the boisterous brothers James and John the “Sons of Thunder”. And speaking of boisterous, Jesus enjoyed the company of kids (“Let the little children come unto me”– Matt. 19:14). How can you enjoy hanging out with ankle-biters and not have a sense of humor?

Some of the Christians I know embrace just the “good parts” of their religion. They brush aside the bad parts as “antiquated” or as “misinterpretations” or as blatant lies written by man after the “original bible” was written (wait, what?). They have these ideas and thus can justify dismissing the parts they don’t like. They can walk away with a rosy picture of Jesus petting a lamb, feeding the poor and healing sick people. God becomes just a stern father figure who might have to take humanity over his knee now and then, but really, don’t all children get out of line and need the occasional physical and psychological torture as a reminder to be good?

I really appreciate a sense of humor, but I have a hard time reconciling the idea of a jokey-pokey, nickname-giving, Dad-on-the-playground-with-the-kiddies God with the same God who would cast anyone into an eternal pit of suffering. Some people may find humor in their faith, but I’ve read the Bible and I sure don’t remember there being much to smile about.

Or, you know, this could just be a silly comic.

*********

*BTW – This is a fun page if you need to know which prefix to add to “-cide” if you want to be specific about the kind of killing someone is doing.

Ha! Religious Humor!