Stuff Christians Like- 3 Rules of Christian Satire

I freely admit, I fall short in this area. But the article smartly helps it be OK for Christians to sometimes poke fun, and laugh, even at other Christians.

Here's the link to the Relevant magazine's article.

If you’re a Christian and want to be funny, you have two options. 1) You can be cheesy. 2) You can be hurtful. The first one involves a lot of humor with kittens and rainbows. You have to tell gobs of limericks or send mass forwarded emails that end with a little kid doing something all “rascally.” Your other option is to become cynical and critical of Christianity. You pick on Carman and Facing the Giants and slam everything with a vicious tongue of poison. The problem with this approach is that no one in the history of mankind ever said: “You know, the way you rip into Christianity on your blog really helped me begin a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you for using your cynicism for the Lord.” The third, often unacceptable, option is satire. But how is that different from cynicism? Let’s review the second rule.

Mockery is not the same thing as satire. Mockery always has a victim. Satire doesn’t. Mockery is about wounding someone and leaving a bruise. Satire isn’t that way at all. I define satire as “humor with a purpose.” My purpose is to clear away the clutter of Christianity so we can see the beauty of Christ...

Be sure to check out the rest of the article...the book Stuff Christians Like, and if you are cheap like me, the website. Relevant magazine is a great resource too, though they would like you to purchase a subscription. :-) I am sure they have some other free articles too.

DB