2012-11-05T11:56:57-05:00 GCI info@gospel.com /feeds/topics/jokes/ http://internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/9623 2012-11-05T11:56:57-05:00 I love the self-deprecating New Zealand humor, exemplified by comedy series such as Flight of the Conchords. Below is the new Air New Zealand safety video, in Middle Earth Hobbit mode. Priceless. But here's the thing. Have you ever paid much attention to a safety briefing? Did you remember it later? Probably not. But embed something in humor, and you gain instant attention, with high memorability and comprehension. Humor is biblical. Use it to communicate. Jesus did. Constantly. Creatively. http://internetevangelismday.com/spikemilligan.php 2010-08-14T08:16:34-05:00 The last published words of the late British comedian Spike Milligan of blessed memory were recently issued in The Times, and relate to the Bible, his religious upbringing, and specifically his confusion about Jesus. During a time when he was losing his faith, he writes, “I remember, during this period when my faith was fading, that I wished that somehow, somewhere, I’d come across something humorous - a comment or an incident – in my prayer book or Bible. One, just one, line like ‘And lo, Jesu laugheth heartily’, or ‘Jesus sayeth “Come unto me and I will tell you a joke.“ But no such luck.” How sad that he was unable to see in the Bible the very humor ... http://internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/2320 2010-08-12T04:47:45-05:00 I blame Bob Monkhouse. I trace my huge enjoyment of comedy, and attempts to make others laugh, largely back to his Mad Mad Movies TV programme. All he really did was show clips of old slapstick – Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, The Keystone Cops and the rest. And I was hooked at the age of about seven or eight. But I never thought I’d be organising and running a comedy club – let alone launching our town’s first ever Comedy Festival. http://internetevangelismday.com/medicine.php 2010-08-07T17:56:41-05:00 Some years ago there was a documented case in the British Medical Journal about a man who laughed himself well. He actually had a terminal illness, and through the employment of laughter therapy, he allowed his body to successfully fight the disease. While we may grudgingly acknowledge the merit of such a case, for the most part, we find such an incident almost incredible. Can laughter really be that good for us? The Bible definitely supports such a notion. http://internetevangelismday.com/humor.php 2010-08-07T17:55:49-05:00 Humor is very valuable in evangelism and Christian communication because: * humor breaks down barriers and can smuggle ideas and challenges into people’s hearts. * a joke or humorous situation is often very memorable. * it shows that we don’t take ourselves too seriously, that we are not ‘holy Joes’, killjoys, or boring. * humor has been shown to be an essential component of adult learning. * most importantly, because we have a biblical mandate to use humor!