The Anesthetic of Humor
Just before we ate Christmas dinner, my frail 85-year-old grandpa shared a few words before praying over the food. He said, “This will probably be the last time the entire family is together.” What? Is he planning on dying this year!? I thought as my wife and I stared at each other in disbelief. “The next time will be at John’s wedding,” he continued, which was a joke because my cousin John has no dating prospects at the moment. We laughed, prayed and began to eat.
What my grandpa said – or rather did – gave me pause. He made a profound confession concerning the finality of his life, but instead of letting us dwell upon that serious thought, he diminished its import with humor. As far as I know, no one addressed the subject with him again.
Humor is like anesthesia. It dulls the senses to what is actually happening to you. When a person has surgery, he receives anesthesia to limit his sense of pain caused by the surgical knife. Or when a person has a headache, he takes Tylenol, not to remove the cause of the pain but to cover it up. The ache is still there, but he is unaware of it.
I think humor has the same effect on our sense of right and wrong. It acts like a Trojan horse that allows sin to be welcomed into our soul. What might otherwise be rejected immediately by our Spirit-led minds (e.g., dirty jokes, gossip and foul language), we overlook when the package in which it comes is humorous. If something sinful makes us laugh, we do not feel its soul-blackening effects.
Take movies, for instance. I just watched “Fun with Dick and Jane,” starring comedian Jim Carrey. The film is about a financially strapped couple that robs others to pay their bills. They take someone else’s hard-earned money and use it for their purposes. (Sounds like taxes, doesn’t it?) By the end of the movie, you are rooting for Dick and Jane to pull off a $400 million heist because emotionally and comically they have won you to their side.
Other movies do this, too. The “Austin Powers” series encourages lewd sexuality and promiscuity, but it sure is funny to hear Mike Myers say, “Oh, behave!” How about “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” a film containing scenes promoting lust, vulgarity and inhospitality? But it sure it funny to see Chevy Chase slide down that hill! The same is true of “Sorority Boys,” “Wayne’s World” and “Meet the Parents.” I know, I know, you will hear, but it sure is funny to see... (fill in the blank).
Notice how humor is always given as the reason for a willingness to entertain evil. Also notice that PG-13 and R-rated comedies nearly always rely on sexual humor. A coincidence? No, because movie studios realize that humor and sex sell. Movie producers’ goal is to fill the seats; they can do this best by making you laugh and lust.
Commercials use humor similarly. Remember the old Super Bowl ads that showed frogs saying, “Bud…wei…serrrrr”? Were any reasons given for buying Budweiser? No. The frogs were solely intended to make you laugh. However, Bud’s marketing department realized that comedy was a means of promoting their brand and selling more beer. Put simply, humor is a tool for achieving something else, typically sales.
Consider modern music. Some lyrics are heinous, but put a cute tune to them and you’ll have millions saying the same evil things. A good example is John Lennon’s melodious 1971 hit “Imagine.” How many of us have said with him, “Imagine there’s no heaven” and “no religion too.” These are blasphemous statements, yet we unthinkingly say them because music – of any genre – bypasses our minds as it touches our souls. Humor does the same.
Do you now see the slyness of comedy? When you are not looking (or rather, while you are laughing), something evil can slip right by your principled mind and into your soul. Humor is an effective anesthetic to your hold on Christian principles. It dulls your spiritual guard.
Scripture says to “test the spirits, whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). Adapting this exhortation to our current topic, I would encourage that we also “test the morality” and “test the truth” when humor is present. We would be wise to live attentively at the front of our minds, not with folded hands at the back. Be alert, for the devil prowls the earth looking for Christians to corrupt through godless laughter.
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