"'Maybe God likes a joke now and then. But if so, Vwi has a pawky sense of humor.'" (p. 602)
For the first time, a Gwydiona refers to God as a person.
A guy I knew hitch-hiked in the US and kept meeting Evangelicals who assured him that, if he asked Jesus for anything, it would be given. When no car would stop and he was in danger of missing a plane, he thought, "I'll try anything once," then prayed: "God, I want the next car to stop and to take me directly to the airport in good time for the plane." The next vehicle was a coach and it passed him by. He thought, "That's that." Then the coach stopped and reversed. A head stuck out and called, "Hi. We're going to a Billy Graham rally and we wondered if you would like to come with us!" He said, "No, thanks," and to God, "You and I are finished. I don't like your sense of humour." But he referred to that experience as his encounter with God and claimed to know Christians who received, as they believed, humorous responses to their prayers.
Discussing Poul Anderson's texts opens up the whole great tapestry of human experience.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
As evangelical Protestants go Billy Graham was not that bad! He used to believe the anti-Catholic nonsense found in Jack Chick comic books--but after he actually LEARNED about the Catholic Church, he publicly apologized for helping to spread those lies and slanders.
And I do believe God to have a sense of humor, as did Steven Matuchek in OPERATION CHAOS.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I think that ultimate reality as a person with a sense of humour is far too anthropomorphic a concept. One interpretation of the mystical "Dark Night of the Soul" is that mystics have to go through a process of realizing that the object of religious experience is not as they had thought It was.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I feel the need to disagree. In themselves humor and laughter are good things. And some parts of the Bible, OT and NT, strikes me as showing comedy--such as the Book of Jonah and Christ's sayings about camels and the eyes of needles.
Mystical experiences like those "dark nights of the soul" are on a far higher level--but God also approves of humbler good things!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
My point is not that humour is a bad thing but that a person with a sense of humour seems too anthropomorphic a concept of ultimate reality.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I still believe God appreciates a good joke.
Ad astra! Sean
The human tendency to anthropomorphize is probably inherent.
Human intelligence evolved for social purposes -- to enable us to "introject" models of other people's personalities and predict or deal with their decisions.
(We're far more intelligent than we need to be to be effective hunter-gatherers.)
The distinguishing mark of our species in particular -- h. sap. sap. -- is larger, more complex and more organized social groupings. Neanderthals, for example, don't seem to have had groups larger than 20, and usually smaller. Genetic analysis of their DNA shows a pattern that's typical of social animals with groupings like that.
The downside of this ability of humans is that we tend to project personality and intentionality onto -everything-.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Actually, I agree. But I also believe in the divine inspiration of the Bible. My point here being God using this anthropomorphizing ability of H. sap. sap. to include or bring out the points He wished made in the Scriptures.
Ad astra! Sean
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