God Laughs

Bradley Davidson

It is a little known theological conclusion that God laughs. He’s got a sense of humor. You see, He chuckles and chortles and guffaws and snickers and snortles and titters and twitters and hoots and hollers and sometimes just lets out a thunderous rolling belly belch of a laugh. And why shouldn’t He. If He’s made us after his own image, and we so like a good joke and we seek people and friends and partners who make us laugh and we all think it is so important to be humored, He must have salted us with His gregarious sense of funny.

It is more a controversial matter, though, as to why. What is He laughing at? Us? Himself? The universe and His creation in general? He must have a cosmic sense of humor, but I suspect He laughs at us. There is a saying that “Man plans and God laughs”. But I don’t think He laughs at our well laid out plans. We just do funny stuff, planned or not. We can’t help it. He gave us free will together with all the emotions and feelings that make life worth living. Then He gave us some guidance handed down through spokespeople and filtered through generations of religion on how to live life, how to interact with one another and how to get the ultimate rewards. And finally He let us go on our global playground. This is all a recipe for silly.

First we fight each other to get what the other has. And often it is in His name, on both sides. How can one have a war and each have God on his side? The Crusades were a righteous endeavor for all involved. The various Inquisitions certainly badgered some very fine people. And the methods our minds come up with can be laughable. Beheading, gunpowder and atom bombs are such an effective means of persuasion. Humor, you see, like art, is in the eye of the beholder and has a lot to do with perspective.

But on a less gruesome level, we can still be dreadful while being so charming. People are good to each other, on the outside, while often conniving behind backs for our own well being. People lie! We do it all the time and often. Little white lies and strategic omissions of fact to those big blatant out-and-out contradictions of truth all litter our footsteps through life. Some are good to protect fragile peace and harmony. Most are just bad. God has got to laugh at how we reconcile those differences. Then there is the romantic relationship. God set this up. It has to do with a partnership (marriage in some circles) in which two can share their mutual love, do the act and other assorted wild and crazy things, raise children and be good to one another. He’s still laughing at the way most of us handle that simple arrangement.

If one looks at the overall landscape of the human condition, it is a simple conclusion that God must be rolling on his heavenly floor until his divine ribs hurt. Indeed, God laughs. But for us serious, hard working and obedient creations of His, it is never exactly clear as to why.

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