Seeing what God is like through the bible (and in particular Jesus)

[tansy]

A thread started elsewhere as to whether or not God has a sense of humour, prompted me to start this thread.

Jesus said 'if you have seen me, you have seen the Father'. Fair enough.
From Scripture I can see that Jesus has compassion and is merciful, heals and all those kinds of things.
But I can nowhere see that Jesus has a sense of humour or is fun or would maybe sit down and have a game of chess or many of the things that we do.
He always seems very serious or sad (unsurprisingly), although He did go to a wedding feast, but even then, for all I know He was just sitting in a corner not joining in. Yes, yes, I know most probably that wasn't the case. And of course, I know that the Bible wasn't written as a kind of interesting biography like might be written about other famous people or celebrities, with lots of details.
That is not to say he doesn't have a sense of humour or is fun or might play football or whatever. I believe that He is and would do.
However I get that idea more from my relationship with Him, not a straight reading of Scripture (at least the New Testament.)
So do you think we can glean these things from the New Testament account of Jesus, or do you think we 'get' this from our own relationships with Him? Seeing Him in that sense, rather than seeing Him in the flesh or from reading about Him. And how do we know that we're not just making Him in our own image so to speak?

 

[archer75]

My opinion, so take it as such:

In the story of the adulteress, Jesus uses the word ἀναμάρτητος (anamartetos - not sinful, without sin. But hamartia, 'sin', also means 'missing the mark'. So I take this as an instance of wordplay, and the two meanings are:

-"Let the one who is without sin throw the first stone"

-"Let the one who has good aim / doesn't miss throw the first stone."

So in response to "should we stone her?" Jesus seems to say "sure, just make sure you hit her with the first rock" and also "Let the sinless one among you throw the first stone". Then they feel guilty and leave.

So while it's not exactly comedy hour, I think this shows an interest in wordplay that is not often noted.

 

[tansy]

My opinion, so take it as such:

In the story of the adulteress, Jesus uses the word ἀναμάρτητος (anamartetos - not sinful, without sin. But hamartia, 'sin', also means 'missing the mark'. So I take this as an instance of wordplay, and the two meanings are:

-"Let the one who is without sin throw the first stone"

-"Let the one who has good aim / doesn't miss throw the first stone."

So in response to "should we stone her?" Jesus seems to say "sure, just make sure you hit her with the first rock" and also "Let the sinless one among you throw the first stone". Then they feel guilty and leave.

So while it's not exactly comedy hour, I think this shows an interest in wordplay that is not often noted.

Hm, ye-es, but Jesus was a master at clever wordplay and responses. And for me that doesn't particularly smack of humour. It was simply a very pointed response. But, nonetheless, that is interesting information. Thanks

 

[AvgJoe]

A thread started elsewhere as to whether or not God has a sense of humour, prompted me to start this thread.

Jesus said 'if you have seen me, you have seen the Father'. Fair enough.
From Scripture I can see that Jesus has compassion and is merciful, heals and all those kinds of things.
But I can nowhere see that Jesus has a sense of humour or is fun or would maybe sit down and have a game of chess or many of the things that we do.
He always seems very serious or sad (unsurprisingly), although He did go to a wedding feast, but even then, for all I know He was just sitting in a corner not joining in. Yes, yes, I know most probably that wasn't the case. And of course, I know that the Bible wasn't written as a kind of interesting biography like might be written about other famous people or celebrities, with lots of details.
That is not to say he doesn't have a sense of humour or is fun or might play football or whatever. I believe that He is and would do.
However I get that idea more from my relationship with Him, not a straight reading of Scripture (at least the New Testament.)
So do you think we can glean these things from the New Testament account of Jesus, or do you think we 'get' this from our own relationships with Him? Seeing Him in that sense, rather than seeing Him in the flesh or from reading about Him. And how do we know that we're not just making Him in our own image so to speak?

Perhaps the best indication that God has a sense of humor is that He created man in His image (Genesis 1:27), and, certainly, we humans are able to perceive and express humor. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a “sense of humor” as “...The ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is comical or funny.” According to this definition, then, God must show an ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is comical. The difficulty is that people perceive what is comical, differently, and what sinful man perceives as funny would not amuse a holy and perfect God. Much of what the world calls humor is not funny, but is crass and crude and should have no part in a Christian’s life (Colossians 3:8). Other humor is expressed at the expense of others (tearing down rather than building up), again something contrary to God’s Word (Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 4:29).

An example of God's humor is the instance in which the Israelites were using the Ark of the Covenant like a good-luck charm in taking it to battle, and the Philistines ended up capturing it and placing it in their temple before their idol of Dagon. They came into the temple the next day and found Dagon flat on his face before the ark. They set him back up. The next morning, there he was again, but this time he had his hands and head cut off as a symbol of his powerlessness before the God of the ark (1 Samuel 5:1-5). God’s putting Dagon in a position of submission to His ark is a comical picture. This incident is an example of God laughing at the foolishness of those who would oppose Him.

 

[SeventyOne]

Different people will see Him in different ways, depending on how He reveals Himself to them. He reveals Himself in line with the attributes of that person. When you know how a person sees God, you know what is in their core being.

Psalms 18:25-26 "With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous."

 

[tansy]

An example of God's humor is the instance in which the Israelites were using the Ark of the Covenant like a good-luck charm in taking it to battle, and the Philistines ended up capturing it and placing it in their temple before their idol of Dagon. They came into the temple the next day and found Dagon flat on his face before the ark. They set him back up. The next morning, there he was again, but this time he had his hands and head cut off as a symbol of his powerlessness before the God of the ark (1 Samuel 5:1-5). God’s putting Dagon in a position of submission to His ark is a comical picture. This incident is an example of God laughing at the foolishness of those who would oppose Him.

Well, that certainly makes me laugh

 

[tansy]

Different people will see Him in different ways, depending on how He reveals Himself to them. He reveals Himself in line with the attributes of that person. When you know how a person sees God, you know what is in their core being.

Psalms 18:25-26 "With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous."

That's an interesting way of looking at it