Boring Christianity? 

 

I have a friend who once called himself a Christian but enjoyed the ways of the world. He cussed, made crude jokes, lived life the way he wanted with no regard for what God’s will could possibly be until he finally came to a point where he realized that he was wasting his life away. So he began earnestly seeking God, and then one day gave me the wonderful news that he had truly given his heart to the Lord and was done being his own boss. I was thrilled. However, several weeks later, he told me that while he did not regret making a decision to follow hard after Christ, he felt like people did not like him anymore. He said that all his friends thought that the change in him had made him boring – that he no longer knew how to have fun and that he took life too seriously. I was reminded of him as I pondered on the shift in tone between Martin Luther and John Calvin’s writings. Too often, Christians tend to think that in order to lead a Christ honoring life, they must be stoic and solemn – because fun is meant only for the heathens – failing to realize that one can be highly principled and good humored at the same time.

 

I must confess that I found Luther’s letter possibly the most enjoyable read all semester. However, fun and easy as it was to read Luther’s writing, there was also a sense of unease in which it seemed as if Luther was being too arrogant. Though he may have perceived his way of handling the papists an imitation of Jesus’ way of handling the Pharisees, we must also realize that Jesus was Jesus and could in fact react in righteous anger. Luther, however, was a mere man. Righteous as his intentions may have been, I think it is safe to say that no man can express such scorn without the slightest bit of sin. Regardless of his achievements or abilities, more people may perhaps have been more willing to listen to what he had to say had he exercised a little bit more grace and shed some of his haughtiness.

 

On the other hand, John Calvin’s work – solid and exhorting as it is for the Christian life – is rather dry. While I breezed through Luther’s letter, I struggled to stay awake while reading Calvin’s Institutes. Unless one is truly devoted to reading Calvin’s work, one would easily get distracted. Despite his convincing arguments, humble approach, and important message, Calvin’s work does not capture a reader’s attention the way Luther’s does. For Calvin, his work may perhaps be easier to get through if he incorporated some measure of humor or at least some light-heartedness to it.

 

This being said, we need to learn to have a good balance of humor and seriousness. While there is nothing in Scripture that teaches against good fun, there is also a fine boundary between having a good time and foolhardiness; between laughing with someone and laughing at someone; between teasing and outright ridicule. Similarly, while we should indeed be serious about our faith and seek to follow hard after God, we must also remember that God has a good sense of humor – in fact, He created humor. Whenever I forget that our God is a humorous God, all I have do is think, “He made giraffes.” When we look at our world and all that is in it, we realize that God is a God of variety and dynamics. We were never meant to be stringent captives of rules and order, but neither were we ever meant to run completely wild. God has given us His beautiful creation for our enjoyment and we should therefore live life to the fullest as long as we remain aware of Whom we are serving.