Oh God, I Want to Laugh but I Can’t

beginningtoend (69)in #poetry • 8 years ago (edited)

God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.

I am sure Voltaire smiled as he made that statement in the 1700’s. After all, he was cracking a joke, and one that was aimed at the church. You see Voltaire disliked the way the church was using fear to keep parishioners in line. Voltaire wanted religious freedom, he felt that each person should believe what they wanted with being coerced.

During this same period in time the American theologian Jonathan Edward was also using fear tactics. Below is an excerpt from his most famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” In it he suggested to his sudience that the fires of hell where close at hand.

"Your wickedness makes you as heavy as lead, and presses you downwards toward hell, and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink swiftly into the bottomless gulf. And your healthy constitution, your self-reliance, your best schemes, your self-righteousness, would no more hold you up and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would stop a falling rock."

Today we refer to this style of preaching as “fire and brimstone.” And although those who might use it today do so with good intent, most preachers are choosing to focus on God’s love and compassion.

But lets circle back to Voltaire’s quote. Here is the part that I think is striking, the suggestion that God is a comedian, yah! an entertainer, someone who wants to make people happy. It was as if Voltaire was telling the church, God wants life to be joyous, look for the good, don’t wallow in the negative, let people believe without using threats.

When I thought about Voltaire's statement I kept picturing God working the comedy clubs. I questioned myself as to what his routine would have been and how his audience would have reacted. It was my twisted thoughts, as I tried to answer these questions, that inspired my poem, "Blogging My Review," and my illustration, "Playing to a Tough Audience."

Blogging My Review

God was a deadpan comedian.
The audience was confused, but the show was still great.
He juggled as he spoke , keeping a blue marbled bowling ball,
a slippery banana and a ripping chainsaw
in a constant circle of motion. He lit cigarettes
as he juggled, let their embers burn down in blue smoke.
He giggled when he talked in the mic,
then one after another he recited
limericks and poems he had written.

This was my favorite-

The old man was sharp as a bell,
a medical wiz from Cornell,
when his patients undressed,
their sizes he guessed,
the old man is going to hell.

All in all a flawless performance, God
delivered his lines like a young Woody Allen.
I wanted to laugh at his every word,
but just like the audience, I was simply afraid.

Playing to a Tough Audience