Oh no, now YOU'RE making me think too! :oP

Here's what I'm thinking at the moment: Maybe the axiom "hate the sin; love the sinner" can be adjusted to apply here. "Mock the sin; don't mock the sinner?" I'm not sure that works. I can't seem to really sort through all the thoughts flying around in my brain, so the rest of this post may be a little disjointed.

I think, among Christian friends, it's normal to laugh about the ridiculous things that unsaved people do in their sin. I've had conversations like that. We laugh at all those stories of stupid criminals, etc. It stands to reason that among the type of high caliber people (not all necessarily Christians) that tend to frequent this site, it's normal too. Back to "among Christians..." we'd never laugh about those people if they were present. It would offend them, right? We don't want to offend the people we are trying to reach for Christ. And yet at some point we have to tell them the truth about their sin, and that will offend them too! What's the difference?

People don't like being laughed at; it's not good for their self-esteem or whatever. People also don't always like being told the truth, even when it's good for them. But I guess the difference is that it is good for them. Does that make any sense?

I'm totally off on the tangent now. This post officially has nothing to do with the original post that started me down this line of thought (meaning Sam's original post, not Wolf's which I am replying to).

So now I'm saying that it's okay to laugh at someone behind their back, but not to their face? NO, I don't think that! Ugh. Okay, I'll ask myself a couple of questions.

1. Does God find sin to be funny in any way?

Answer: Absolutely not! The Bible specifically says that our sin grieves him. He created us, and loves us, and yet our sin separates us from him. He hates it!

2. Do I find sin to be funny in any way?

Answer: Well, no. Not really. What's funny, I suppose, are some of the ridiculous things that sinners do. When someone lampoons that (tastefully, of course), it can be funny. But it should also be a sobering reminder of how "depraved and deplorable" this world truly is without God. Sort of a dark comedy sort of thing.

Grishny