Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Pretty Sure God Didn't MEAN For This To Be Funny


There's an account in the Old Testament book of I Kings that always cracks me up. I'm sure it's meant as a testimony to the reality and greatness of Yahweh, but I can't help envisioning Jim Gaffigan in the role of Elijah.



It's in I Kings 18. The scene is a showdown between 450 prophets of Baal and Yahweh's sole spokesperson, Elijah. Two altars are built. Two bulls will be prepared and laid on top of the altars with some wood. The Baal-Boys and Elijah will both pray for their god to set the sacrifices on fire, and whichever deity answers will be proving which god is real.

Spoiler alert: Yahweh wins the contest, but that's not what makes me giggle. The humor I see is how Elijah taunts the prophets of Baal while they're wailing and dancing and cutting themselves...trying to get Baal to flick his Bic.

You may think I'm embellishing this to make it sound more like a stand-up comic, but this is a direct quote of I Kings 18:27 in the New Living Translation: "'You’ll have to shout louder,' he scoffed, 'for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!'"


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Truth is...One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think. (Brother Lawrence)

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