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Pedantic answer: depends on what you mean by "God", "sense of humor" and "has". We need to know what the definition of "is" is.
Having said that, anthropomorphic gods in Hindu mythology certainly do. In fact, a half-god Narada is famous for starting ish between gods by making them jealous and angry (always for the greater good, as it turns out.)
This does not apply to the formless attributeless Brahman that came into being through its own free will and embodies all of life.
I agree with you & don't mind pedantics - personally, when the pedantics slip into sophistry is what is annoying.
I'm familiar with some of the Hindu Gods & Goddesses - some of the stories are quite captivating! I also enjoy the 'formless' types, as in Tao - although I imagine a sense of humor to be possible there as well, maybe more subtle is all.
The Norse gods slew a troublesome giant named Thiazi and were celebrating the fact in their hall when his daughter Skadi came to the hall to avenge her father's death. The gods offered reparations instead. The second reparation was to make her laugh:
[...] the gods were to make Skadi laugh. After many feats were tried, none succeeded in bringing a smile to the grim face of the giantess. At last, Loki tied one end of a rope to a goat and the other end around his testicles and began a game of tug of war with the goat. Each screeched and howled in turn, until at last Loki fell over into Skadi’s lap. The giantess couldn’t help but chuckle.
-The Prose Edda. Skáldskaparmál 3
That is just one example of humor in the Norse myths.
The Norse gods slew a troublesome giant named Thiazi and were celebrating the fact in their hall when his daughter Skadi came to the hall to avenge her father's death. The gods offered reparations instead. The second reparation was to make her laugh:
[...] the gods were to make Skadi laugh. After many feats were tried, none succeeded in bringing a smile to the grim face of the giantess. At last, Loki tied one end of a rope to a goat and the other end around his testicles and began a game of tug of war with the goat. Each screeched and howled in turn, until at last Loki fell over into Skadi’s lap. The giantess couldn’t help but chuckle.
-The Prose Edda. Skáldskaparmál 3
That is just one example of humor in the Norse myths.
I'm familiar with some of the Loki stories although not this one, loved it, thanks & respect!
& now my curiosity is piqued, what was the first reparation?
When the rich man ran to Jesus and asked "Good Master, what can I do to inherit eternal life" and Jesus asked him why did he call him good, because there was none good but God. Without missing a beat the rich man said, "Master what can I do to inherit eternal life" It is written that Jesus beholding him, loved him. So God has to have a sense of humor especially with the rich man being told to "sell all you have and give it to the poor and you will have "treasure" in heaven."
I'm familiar with some of the Loki stories although not this one, loved it, thanks & respect!
& now my curiosity is piqued, what was the first reparation?
The three repartions were:
1: For Odin to cast Skadi's slain father Thiazi's eyes into the night sky to become stars (It is unknown which stars, but Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini has been suggested as a possibility).
2: To make Skadi laugh
3: To let her choose a husband from among the gods. The gods agree but with the stipulation that she must choose by looking only at their feet. She chose the most beautiful feet which she assumed must belong to Balder, but it turned out to be Njord. That's maybe a bit of humor there, too.
1: For Odin to cast Skadi's slain father Thiazi's eyes into the night sky to become stars (It is unknown which stars, but Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini has been suggested as a possibility).
2: To make Skadi laugh
3: To let her choose a husband from among the gods. The gods agree but with the stipulation that she must choose by looking only at their feet. She chose the most beautiful feet which she assumed must belong to Balder, but it turned out to be Njord. That's maybe a bit of humor there, too.
Thanks for responding to my question, I could've 'googled' but often appreciate receiving info 'straight from the horse's mouth' so to speak, it's more interesting from that perspective.
& I wholeheartedly agree with you, the 3rd reparation reveals wisdom wrapped in a bit of humor too! Wonderful!
When the rich man ran to Jesus and asked "Good Master, what can I do to inherit eternal life" and Jesus asked him why did he call him good, because there was none good but God. Without missing a beat the rich man said, "Master what can I do to inherit eternal life" It is written that Jesus beholding him, loved him. So God has to have a sense of humor especially with the rich man being told to "sell all you have and give it to the poor and you will have "treasure" in heaven."
Ahh Jesus, I often think Jesus must've been gifted with a sense of humor. Granted, humor is often lost with many literal translations as there's often a cultural aspect to humor. Even in the present day a joke or funny story will sometimes lose its impact even when translated from, say, modern day French to modern day English. What we know of Jesus was translated many times from language to language & from so long ago too - from Aramaic to Greek to ... & +2000 years later?
I agree with you, the story you described contains humor, even if it's of the melancholy sort, thanks for sharing that one. There are other stories of Jesus that indicate his sense of humor even if it's from a modern day perspective. Human nature hasn't changed all that much. Personally, I hope Jesus had a highly developed sense of humor & I hope it comforted him when he needed it most.
One of my favorite writers is Kurt Vonnegut. He has written (granted infrequently) about the Bible stories, although not everyone appreciates his sardonic or dark sense of humor. Here's one story:
Quote:
In the beginning there was absolutely nothing, & I mean nothing. But nothing implies something, just as up implies down & sweet implies sour, as man implies woman & drunk implies sober & happy implies sad. I hate to tell you this, friends & neighbors, but we are teensy-weensy implications in an enormous implication. If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go back to where you came from?
The first something to be implied by all the nothing was in fact two somethings, who were God & Satan. God was male. Satan was female. They implied each other, & hence were peers in the emerging power structure, which was itself nothing but an implication. Power was implied by weakness.
God created the heaven & the earth. & the earth was without form, & void, & darkness was upon the face of the deep. & the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Satan could have done this herself, but she thought it was stupid, action for the sake of action. What was the point? She didn’t say anything at first.
But Satan began to worry about God when he said, “Let there be light” & there was light. She had to wonder, “What in heck does He think He’s doing? How far does He intend to go, & does He expect me to help Him take care of all this crazy stuff?
& then the '$hit' really hit the fan. God made man & woman, beautiful little miniatures of Him & Her, & turned them loose to see what might become of them. The Garden of Eden might be considered the prototype for the Coliseum & the Roman Games.
Satan couldn’t undo anything God had done. She could at least try to make existence for His little toys less painful. She could see what He couldn’t: to be alive was to be either bored or scared stiff. So she filled an apple with all sorts of ideas that might at least relieve the boredom, such as rules for games with cards & dice, & how to 'eff', & recipes for beer & wine & whiskey, & pictures of different plants that were smokable, & so on. & instructions on how to make music & sing & dance real crazy, real sexy. & how to spout blasphemy when they stubbed their toes.
Satan had a serpent give Eve the apple. Eve took a bite & handed it to Adam. He took a bite & then they 'effed'.
Granted some of the ideas had catastrophic side effects for a minority of those who tried them. All Satan wanted to do was help, & she did in many cases. & her record for promoting nostrums with occasionally dreadful side effects is no worse than that of the most reputable pharmaceutical houses of the present day.
-Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake
God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut!
Last edited by ChiGeekGuest; 11-03-2014 at 04:39 AM..
God most certainly has a sense of humour. Just that not everyone can appreciate it. For example, God had deliberately created Eve for Adam as his soul mate and companion for life. Yet, a great multitude of men on earth are still alone without the chance of finding his Eve ever. What's up with that? I just have to keep a smile to this one......
Humans have a great capacity for telling 'good ones.' What would we be like without our myths, stories, fables and other creations of the imagination?
Very true! Although this got me to thinking ... are we created in their image? ... or do we create them in our?
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