Having a sense of humour

On twitter recently, there has been a spoof account called @EmergentBroDude, who is definitely worth following, but has attracted a lot of criticism. Most of this criticism comes from a) the very people who the account is spoofing, who don't seem to appreciate the fun being poked at them and b) people who seem to think that spoofing these sorts of ideas is sacrilegious.

I also follow a couple of "God tweeting" accounts, who also occasionally attract comments like "This isn't what God is like".

I should point out that Emergent is probably somewhere around the position that I might take, should I be wanting to label myself, so I appreciate that my views are, at times, the ones being taken the mickey out of. In particular, the arguments in one of my earlier posts on feminism is not issue was rather well torn apart (actually, not quite the argument that I was trying to make, but one that was quite close to it, and I could have drifted into). The @EmergentDudeBro posts made me think and appreciate how close I was to a view that I would reject if presented to me, but could work myself there quite easily.

But so often, when I see people criticising these parody accounts, I think Get yourself a sense of humour, won't you?

Really, is the god who created the universe going to actually be offended by someone running a  parody twitter account? Given how many people claim to speak his words without any sense of parody or irony, I think someone doing it with the acknowledgement is probably better off. What is better, @TheTweetOfGod saying "My love for you is unconditional, provided you do and think exactly as I say." as a parody, or people who promote this idea as actually being what God is like?

Parody is a long-established way of poking fun at people. If you don't like your parody, then a) identify the aspects that are true; b) change them c) laugh at yourself. Don't say that the parody "doesn't understand what you mean" or is "unfair and unreasonable and blasphemous". OK, some parodies are poor, but the good ones simply reflect back what people hear. It is not easy to appreciate that, but the fault actually lies where the message starts. Not at the parody.

And sometimes, Christians can be very humourless. "Oh we're not," we say, "we laugh at xxx" where xxx is something poking fun at someone else - maybe other Christians, or religious groups. If we cannot actually look at what we claim to believe, what we - ourselves, not others - say is our creed, and realise that it is ludicrous, that it sounds hilarious, that we sound like a parody of it, then we are missing the point.

Christianity is ridiculous. The core tenets of our belief are laughable.

Which doesn't, of course, make them wrong. I mean who said reality has to make sense?