I have sometimes lamented our contemporary loss of any sense of antiquity, grandeur, or nobility. I have argued that the trivialization of Bible stories in things like Veggie Tales represents a far greater tone deafness to the story as God told it than any gain it represents in knowledge of broad plot outlines, or in …
Cherry Picking In the Orchards of Scripture
In the thread on insult and insulting, a question was raised that merits a response. Should we not spend our time and energy trying to obey the positive commands of Scripture (love your enemies, bless those who curse you, etc.) and not squander our resources on trying to figure out how to imitate the satiric …
Insult and Neutrality
When the question of “trading insults” comes up, one of the first things we should see is how the false assumption of neutrality has crept into our thinking. An insult is not simple invective, detached from questions of truth. When two football teams play, we require a level playing field, a penalty for one team …
Prophets and Court Jesters
This particular version of this particular thread, which generally draws a lot of interest, began with my observation that Jesus taught with authority, and not like the scribes. I want to return to this for a moment. If we acknowledge, as all Christians must, that any given action that could be righteously done could also …
Hubrizo Like Crazy
“One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. “Woe to you …
More Out of the Nail Can
As we sort through the propriety of using satiric speech, there is first the doctrinal or theological aspect of it (what does the Bible require of us?), and after this is the practical or pastoral aspect. I would like to key off several important comments posted under my recent post on The Nail Can of …
The Nail Can of Bitterness
Once a British politician was running for office, and he was confronted by a heckler who shouted out that he would not vote for him if he were the archangel Gabriel. “Ah,” the politician replied. “But if I were the archangel Gabriel, you would not be in my constituency.” Now they were both speaking “negatively” …
When Satire Hits the Glass Ceiling
Sometimes the life of a satirist is a lonely calling. You do your best to call your fellow man back to the permanent things, and away from the follies of the hour. You use hyperbole, trying to accentuate the worst features of contemporary errors so that people will see those errors in stark relief, realize …
The Horse Laugh and the Syllogism
Where we have had recent disagreements with the folks over at christianculture.com, it is good on several levels to be able to agree with Monte Wilson’s recent post there on the need for more court jesters. As Mencken put it once, a horse laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. For those interested in a detailed …
Arrogance and Certainty
Andrew Sandlin asks why, if I do not believe my observations and pronouncements to be on a par with Scripture, I speak as confidently as I do. In this confidence, Andrew sees the hallmarks of religious arrogance. My answer to this (in brief) is that the Bible teaches that when the bugle blows indistinctly, no …