Comments on: Can I Laugh at a Dead Man?

By: Thoughts on death :: a broken mold

Thoughts on death :: a broken mold — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:28:10 +0000

[…] subject of death, and specifically the Christian attitude towards death. More recently, Caleb made this post on the matter. He argues that we should be able to laugh at death and irony, that we should not […]

By: Rachel Olson

Rachel Olson — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:51:29 +0000

Ok, mind you, I read through the post once. I think you make a good point that yes, we should not be obsessed with death but you only deal with one facet of society’s obsession with death; the fear of it.
I remember Mr. Appel talking last term about society’s glory in death; all the action movies where the hero cheats death countless times. Death is treated like the ultimate bad guy to be beat and the human can beat him. We also have the whole goth/emo movement stemming from postmodernism; life is meaningless, death is absorption into the ether so we might as well go now, we are representing how the world really is etc.
Yes, those people are nuts and death is a thug of Satan who has been beaten by Christ. So, for us,Christians, it is no longer “death” but the advancement of the new kingdom. Pardon me, at the risk of sounding dualistic I think we should be very careful when talking about death in friendly terms. N.T. Wright talks about that in “Surprised by Hope” do you remember the passage by Scot Holland that is continually taken out of context? Death is not a happy thing, it is an enemy. A beaten enemy, but an enemy nonetheless. I know you believe this, I’m just commenting that the point of view you posit in the post smacks of this “friendly death” mentality.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:31:42 +0000

Of course mourning is not wrong, and sad things are to be lamented, but dieing within itself does not require sorrow alone. Had the man been, say, my brother, if I had one, I would probably not laugh as hard. At the same time, God revels humorous and ironic deaths in the Scripture. When someone is so fat that you can shove a dagger in him and hide it in there, I don’t know about you, but I roll on the floor. That’s strait out of Scripture! Lament when it is something to lament, laugh when it is appropriate to laugh, do both if unsure.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:17:13 +0000

Your conclusion seems in keeping with N.D. Wilson’s Notes From the Tilt-A-Whirl, as the world is all God’s story, and I agree about being cultured, if I understand you aright. But I still feel some sorrow at the story, which I think is compatible with the correct Christian response: ours is not to be an “Allah-wills” attitude, and while we trust and submit to God’s sovereign plan, it is not wrong to sorrow or attempt to change things (evangelism, etc.).

By: Caleb

Caleb — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:46:18 +0000

Here’s the rule, laugh if it is funny. A son of a snack food owner in his sixties tying himself up, sending a hate note in a bag of chips in his car, and shooting himself to death to make it look like an accident… is a riot. Why? Irony.

By: Nathaniel

Nathaniel — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:16:50 +0000

I got the conclusion but I’m slightly confused on one point, I think. Do you think it wrong to laugh at the son of the snack company owner?