title


DIRECTORY
Home
General LDS Information
Basic LDS Beliefs
LDS Videos
Critics' Questions
Submitted Questions
Scriptures/LDS Literature
Genealogy/Family
LDS Temples
Missionary
Music and Arts
LDS Online Stores
Priesthood, Humor, Miscel.
Site Map

Suggest a Site
Now accepting banner ads!

Bookmark and Share



DAVID - Does God have a sense of humor?

JOEL - I am certain God does have a sense of humor; I am reminded of it every time I look in the mirror :-)

It seems to me that if we are made in God’s image, and we have a sense of humor, it follows that a good sense of humor is part of whom God is.
Here are some scriptures that illustrate God's support for humor:

Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us that "there is a time to laugh."
Proverbs 17:22 says, "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine: "
Psalms 37:13: "The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming."
Jesus Himself said, "Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh"(Luke 6:21).

In Numbers there's the story about God playing a joke on a man named Balaam. Balamm kept hitting his donkey with a stick. Suddenly "the Lord opened the mouth of the ass" and the donkey started talking to Balaam, asking why he keeps hitting him. That must have been quite a surprise to Balaam and quite a commical scene that God created, using the donkey to get his attention(Numbers 22:21-34).

In Genesis we read about God telling Sarah, a 90 year old woman, that she was going to have a child. Her comment was, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me" (Genesis 21:6).

Humor comes in different forms. Sometimes Jesus showed his humor through exaggerations:
He said to some religious frauds, “You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.”(Matt 23:24)
"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? (Luke 11:11)
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matt 19:24)

Of course there are no scriptures that record Jesus laughing at something or telling what we might consider jokes; that isn't the purpose of the scriptures. But we know that his mother was human and therefore we expect that he would have experienced all the joy, sorrow, laughter and humor like others would.

There is other evidence of God's humor. Besides us funny-looking human beings, look at the animal world; the hippopotamus or a whooping crane, a camel, a giraffe, a monkey, the duck-billed platypus. Henry Eyring, the father of President Henry B. Eyring tells the following story:

"One time I was stuck most of a day in London and couldn't face the thought of sightseeing, so I went to the London Zoo. I was attracted by a crowd watching the great apes. One fellow in particular was getting a lot of attention as he sat close to the front of the cage on a tree platform. As the zoo visitors moved closer, he suddenly spewed them with water he had in his mouth. Now, that was interesting! I found a bench across the path—out of range—and watched. The ape got down and went over to his water trough to reload. He then went about the cage awhile and finally repositioned himself on the platform. He waited—patiently. Finally a new group of humanoids, not aware of the danger, moved into range. Spray! Splat! Bullseye! The fellow practically chortled out loud as he made his trip to the trough. I spent the entire afternoon enjoying his enjoyment." (Reflections of a Scientist, p. 60)

The person who created that ape must indeed have a sense of humor. The Lord has revealed to us that He has created all these things "to please the eye and to gladden the heart" (D&C 59:18).

Return to top
Return to Questions
HOME