The Totally Serious Thread

[Joe Sperling]

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This room is for serious posts only. No humor is allowed on this thread. Subjects of a most serious
spiritual nature are to be discussed, and them alone.

Any jokes will not be tolerated so posters beware.
I have created this thread in response to a suggestion that I "tone it down a bit"with jokes and silly discussion. I am attempting a reformation of heart.  Todays suggestion for conversation: I am so sinful, let me explain why.

thanks, Joe

[editor]

(Start Gregorian chant music)

This room is for serious posts only. No humor is allowed on this thread. Subjects of a most serious
spiritual nature are to be discussed, and them alone.

Any jokes will not be tolerated so posters beware.
I have created this thread in response to a suggestion that I "tone it down a bit"with jokes and silly discussion. I am attempting a reformation of heart.  Todays suggestion for conversation: I am so sinful, let me explain why.

thanks, Joe

Joe,

You have a large "S" in the center.  How can you post to the glory of the GM unless you have the GM in the center?

Repent.

Brent

[vernecarty]

(Start Gregorian chant music)

This room is for serious posts only. No humor is allowed on this thread. Subjects of a most serious
spiritual nature are to be discussed, and them alone.

Any jokes will not be tolerated so posters beware.
I have created this thread in response to a suggestion that I "tone it down a bit"with jokes and silly discussion. I am attempting a reformation of heart.  Todays suggestion for conversation: I am so sinful, let me explain why.

thanks, Joe

Joe,

You have a large "S" in the center.  How can you post to the glory of the GM unless you have the GM in the center?

Repent.

Brent

Repent!
Said Brent.
And Joe knows what he meant.
But the evidence will show
As most of us know
This BB was heaven-sent!  

I knew it would come to this.  From one end of the spectrum to another.  Perhaps it will be in this very thread that the happy medium will arrive.  And if she does, maybe she could tell your fortune while she's at it.

Andrea

Hmmnnnn...palm reading or tea leaves?!
Verne

[Mark C.]

A very solemn response to Joe !    
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   Humor, as Proverbs also recognizes, is a necessary part of a healthy psyche.  I believe Joe has been given this gift of humor and it has provided me often with some much needed relief from becoming overwhelmed with all the pain and suffering in this world (and of taking myself too serioiusly).
   For those of us who had nightmares re. GG, humor like Joe's provides the same function as Toto pulling aside the curtain to unvail the truth about who the Wizard of Oz really was:  nothing more than a carnival act!
    When GG first told us the story of God's miraculous rescue of himself as a child via the giant hand many of us stood in awe of him (as he intended we should), but Joe's story of "Little Georgie And The Giant Hand" helped to release us from GG's attempt to convince us he was a "great man of God".
   I laughed, and still laugh, at the sarcasm used in Joe's comic illustrations and I hope he never stops as it has been good medicine for my soul!  
                                      God Bless,  Mark C.
   

[Mark Kisla]

Joes classic, "Little Georgie and the the Giant Hand" was a true moment of clarity.

[vernecarty]

Joes classic, "Little Georgie and the the Giant Hand" was a true moment of clarity.

Hey Mark K
How much longer are you going to be in Chi town?
We are thinking about coming up to see the Lion King...
Verne

[Joe Sperling]

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Sorry. I received an E-mail (not from the other BB's--an aoccasional visitor) saying I and some others should "tone it down a bit" as this should be a serious place for serious subjects. After hitting myself over the head for a couple of hours with a two by four, I replied that I truly believed that Jesus and the Father himself must have a sense of humor---and quite a wacky one at that to have created something like a platypus. Though I don't believe Jesus went around doing practical jokes(like turning someone's milk into wine just as they were drinking it), I think he must have had a great laugh, and probably a smile that would melt you in a second. The person E-mailed back and said to just forget what they had said in the first place (I shouldn't have taken it so seriously, but I felt bad)--. So, I am retiring from the "Totally serious thread" almost a day after starting it. Unless anyone feels like continuing it:
Today's Subject: I'm just not humble enough

[M2]

A very solemn response to Joe !    
(Gregorian chant music is now playing in the background)
   Humor, as Proverbs also recognizes, is a necessary part of a healthy psyche.  I believe Joe has been given this gift of humor and it has provided me often with some much needed relief from becoming overwhelmed with all the pain and suffering in this world (and of taking myself too serioiusly).
   For those of us who had nightmares re. GG, humor like Joe's provides the same function as Toto pulling aside the curtain to unvail the truth about who the Wizard of Oz really was:  nothing more than a carnival act!
    When GG first told us the story of God's miraculous rescue of himself as a child via the giant hand many of us stood in awe of him (as he intended we should), but Joe's story of "Little Georgie And The Giant Hand" helped to release us from GG's attempt to convince us he was a "great man of God".
   I laughed, and still laugh, at the sarcasm used in Joe's comic illustrations and I hope he never stops as it has been good medicine for my soul!  
                                      God Bless,  Mark C.

Mark C

I totally agree with you on this. Joe has a gift, and it has helped on numerous occasions to break up the tension, or just to entertain/enlighten us.

Lord bless,
Marcia

[al Hartman]

Why, oh why has this thread been so long in coming?  At last, a place to come to that is safe, where i need never question the sincerity of any poster, where i can post without fear of ridicule and sarcasm.  If anyone has anything to say to me, let them say it here, for this is holy ground, and here i will abide.  i will build three tabernacles:  one for Moses, one for Elijah...

I believe Joe has been given this gift of humor and it has provided me often with some much needed relief from becoming overwhelmed with... taking myself too serioiusly...
   

Mark, i am truly happy for you!  No one else takes you seriously, and now you are one of us...

From Joe Sperling:  I replied that I truly believed that Jesus and the Father himself must have a sense of humor---and quite a wacky one at that to have created something like a platypus.

Joe, i have it on good authority that platypi believe God has a sense of humor because he created something like you & me.  i got it straight from a platypus's bill (which i'll be able to pay if you will loan me $20).

al

[al Hartman]

I believe Joe has been given this gift of humor and it has provided me often with some much needed relief from becoming overwhelmed with... taking myself too serioiusly...
   

Mark, i am truly happy for you!  No one else takes you seriously, and now you are one of us...

     Just in case anyone may have mistaken the above for seriousness on my part (this being The Totally Serious Thread):  it isn't.  Mark Campbell has a terrific sense of humor, and he knows me well enough to recognize when i'm kidding him.  The Wounded Pilgrims thread, which Mark began & faithfully continues, is probably my favorite on the BB for encouragement.  Seriously!

al

[H]

Since this is "The Totally Serious Thread", I thought this would be the appropriate place to ask the following totally serious question:
Is there anybody else here who thinks that Dave Barry often says funny things in his columns? For example, is there anybody else here who laughed when they read the following column?:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/7364452.htm

H

P.S. I am a scientist by training, and I am curious to know if non-scientists also find this column funny.

[Oscar]

Since this is "The Totally Serious Thread", I thought this would be the appropriate place to ask the following totally serious question:
Is there anybody else here who thinks that Dave Berry often says funny things in his columns? For example, is there anybody else here who laughed when they read the following column?:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/7364452.htm

H

P.S. I am a scientist by training, and I am curious to know if non-scientists also find this column funny.

H,

I predict that this research will revolutionize male/female relationships worldwide.

Women frequently complain that men don't communicate well, especially about feelings.  Now, as every guy knows, communicating by Fast Repetitive Clicks feels good!

So, if you ever hear this complaint...just increase your FRT communication frequency.  

Rejoice, ladies...its a win/win situation.

Also, "H",

I'm not a scientist and I thought it was hilarious.

BTW, what is your field?

Thomas Maddux

[al Hartman]

Since this is "The Totally Serious Thread", I thought this would be the appropriate place to ask the following totally serious question:
Is there anybody else here who thinks that Dave Berry often says funny things in his columns? For example, is there anybody else here who laughed when they read the following column?:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/7364452.htm

H

P.S. I am a scientist by training, and I am curious to know if non-scientists also find this column funny.

     Seriously?  OK, first of all, i am a flat-worlder by training, and i think it's hilarious.  In all the years i lived on the coast, i never knew what caused all those little bubbles in the tide!
     i guess we aren't so different from the lower species (in fact, this discovery may provide a key to the missing evolutionary link ), as i can recall similar communications in the home of my youth, sometimes accompanied by words about finger-pulling or elephants under the chair.
     Anyway, i think the whole idea is a real gas, and discussing it is apropos for these inflationary times.  My hope is that marine biologists can help the little fellers by fitting them all with tiny "herring aids."

 ;Dal    

P.S.--  Scientifically speaking, his name is Dave Barry.

[H]

Thanks for posting your very amusing comments, al and Tom! Good to know that at least some of the non-biologists here also think Dave Barry's column on herring research is hilarious.  Here is another of his columns on scientific topics. This one is not in my field, but I still got some laughs out of it (although I don't think it's quite as funny as the herring column).  What do you think of it?

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/7217432.htm

H

[al Hartman]

     In my humble opinion, Dave Barry is presidential material.  As a nation, we could do worse.  As a nation, we occasionally have.

     What I really appreciate about Dave Barry is that he reduces the highly technical to terms understandable to laymen (men who give eggs).  This is important to people who want to microwave omelets, for example.

     Another appreciable quality of Dave Barry is his use of the phrase "I am not making this up" to indicate that a statement of his is true.  Of course, he may only use this phrase once or twice in an entire column, or sometimes not at all, leaving us to ponder whether the information rendered without such disclaimer is true or not.  Much like assembly ministry.  Only more enjoyable.

     Regarding the 62,000 mile high elevator, it is rumored but not substantiated that during the 1960s Dr. Timothy Leary ascended to nearly that altitude using nothing but tinted sugarcubes.

     When I was a new believer I had accepted Christ but knew Him only in theory.  The reality of knowing Him lay far in my future, but I didn't know that and I wanted to get on with being a Christian.  I hadn't the first clue how to start a conversation about Him, so I handed out gospel tracts in the hope that someone would ask me a question about God that I could answer.
     If you're wondering where I'm going with this and how it connects to the previous topic, here we go:  I had a tract that was especially printed to hand out on elevators!  The cover of it said "Will your final trip be UP or DOWN?" then it opened to discuss heaven & hell.  It was a good conversation starter, and sometimes when I went downtown I made extra trips on elevators just to distribute them.  
     One building I occasionally visited had an old fashioned elevator with an operator who sat on a little murphy seat and stopped the car wherever you asked him to.  We got slightly acquainted, and I think he knew that I genuinely cared about his eternal destiny, but I never actually saw a soul come to Christ because of a tract.
     But just think how my odds of winning someone would have improved on an elevator that traveled 32 million stories.  And think how crowded the car would be if I brought a tract for every floor.  On second thought, don't think about it -- that's ridiculous.  Nobody would be in a building like that.  The commute from home to the garage would be nothing compared to the trip from the lobby to the office.  On the other hand, what a view!

     Let's see, what was my totally serious subject again?  Oh yeah-- Dave Barry and the giant elevator.  Sounds kinda like Little Georgie and the Giant Hand, doesn't it?  Only more believable.  
     Well, that's Dave Barry for you.  The man can write or speak on any subject and fascinate his audience.  And his audience is world-wide.  For pocket change you can get his column, with a whole newspaper thrown in on the deal.  The man gets paid for his work, his income is a matter of record, he pays his taxes, and he seems like a nice guy.  Naw, he's nothing like Little Georgie after all !

 ;)al