Does cynicism have any place in the Gospel story?
I think I’m a pretty funny guy. I try to be at least. I love to make people laugh and unless my friends have been faking it for the last twenty-three years (I’m sure they have more than a few times) I’m at least remotely good at it.
As a small child, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I sincerely answered, “Canadian.”
Because I thought that meant “comedian.”
But I haven’t always been super funny. There was a period around 2008-2010 when I wasn’t the most fun person to be around. I was super involved in politics and I was super cynical.
In fact, I can be a very cynical person. I think many creative people are (again, not saying I’m a really great creative person. I’m just really, really not a mathematical person. It’s that rightside-leftside of the brain thing).
So much of humor, or writing, or art, or songwriting comes from making observations about the world around you - largely rooted in some form of critique - and using wit to illustrate said observations. That is essentially what stand-up comedy is.
So my question is this: does cynicism have any place in the Gospel story?
let me know what you think HERE.
Does cynicism have a place in the Gospel story? Is there such a thing as positive cynicism? Or is that an oxymoron I use to justify my own bad habit?
Paul is sarcastic/cynical in the epistles, and many people (including me) take what he says in Acts 23:5 as sarcasm.
Likewise, it’s becoming increasingly well known that a lot of what Jesus said was actually pretty hilarious; we just don’t get the jokes because we’re not in that culture. C.S. Lewis notably said that Christianity might have been much different if the gospels had mentioned Jesus laughing, which they never explicitly do. It sounds, however, like they record him being funny quite often — so perhaps it’s time for that difference to occur.
Ultimately, I’d say as long as cynicism, sarcasm, and jokes in general aren’t used in a mean-spirited way — as long as their application doesn’t get in the way of love — there’s no problem.
God made humor. Presumably he likes it.
