Expert: Dr Don Howe - 5/16/2008

Question
Hello Pastor,

Many people like to make jokes that have to do with religion, here is an example:

There was once a man who asked God how long a million years was to Him and God said that it was like a second…then the man asked what a million dollars was like to Him, and God said that it was like a penny….then the man asked God if he would give him one of His pennies, and God said, sure, just wait a second.

Would you consider a joke like this to be mere fun, or blasphemy? At what point does a joke become blasphemy or unsound?

Thanks: A.J

Answer
Thank you, A.J. for your question.
  A.J., many people feel God is a very authoritarian and very judgmental God and that He does not laugh. But the Bible tells us that in  2 Kings 19:21, Isaiah 37:22, Proverbs 1: 26, Psalms 37:13,  Psalm 2:4, and  Job 9:23, that He does laugh. So we can laugh also, but we need to be careful in what way we do it, who are we laughing at, and for what reason.     
  I do not see anything wrong with this joke particularly. Preachers put jokes in their sermons all the time to make a point. Christian Comedians like Dennis Swanzberg, Chondra Pierce, Christian ventriloquists, and others make a living by being funny and telling Christian jokes and make fun of situations that Christian get into. But they are usually talking to other Christians.
  Sometimes we make fun of ourselves because we are confused about something that is going on in our life and we do not know where God is, and it helps to laugh to relieve the anxiety that we maybe feeling, but note we are laughing at ourselves and not others. David tells us in Proverbs 17:22 “A merry heart doeth good [like] a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Even Sarah laughed when God told her she was going to get pregnant in her old age.  
 Sometimes people tell religious jokes to be scornful and make fun of the name of God and what Jesus did on the cross (here is your blasphemy). Apostle Peter tells that in this these last days that we are living in, there will many scoffers of the Gospel. 2 Peter 3-4 states “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation.” There are many pseudo-Christians who fall into this also. Laughing with someone is a lot different than laughing at them by making jokes about them and being scornful.       
  A.J, one thing that telling religious jokes does is; it ruins our testimony for the Lord. You never know when there is someone who is watching you, who knows that you are a Christian and different, and they are wanting and seeking the same joy that they see in you, but then  they see you telling a bad religious joke to a group. This ruins your testimony, and they see you now in a different light as a hypocrite. Paul tells us not to do this in Romans 14:21 “[It is] good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor [any thing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.”  Be a light for the Lord Jesus.
  A.J., I do not see telling religious jokes is blasphemy in general, but it could be depending on what context it was used as discussed above. If you do not tell religious jokes at all then you will be always safe that you will not offend someone or ruin your testimony, and you can “[be] ready always to [give] an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).
May God Richly Bless You,
Dr. Don Howe, R.N., PhD, ThD.