Should religion be lighthearted?

[sandandfoam]

When I was a child I was introduced to a religion that was austere and sombre. Praying and God were serious things and not to be treated lightly.
I think this way of approaching God and prayer is wrong. I think religion should be lighthearted. Praying makes me smile, God makes me laugh. I think it's true that 'The good are always the merry, save by an evil chance, and the merry love the fiddle and the merry love to dance..."
No doubt strict rules, hush and seriousness have their place but I don't think that place should be religion.
I think the laughing buddha is spot on

 

[YmirGF]

Ok, StephenW, you got me here. The one endearing residual effect I have from my experience with inner reality is an almost limitless sense of mirth and well being. To be honest, I do gauge spirituality on the level of ecstacy spoken of as it was and is a central part of all my deeper experiences... (And no, I am not talking about the drug known as ecstacy.)

Like light, ecstatic bliss is always a very strong element found in all my inner adventures. For those who dismiss bliss, I'd rather suggest that they have never experienced it for themselves on a sustained basis and quite frankly, have no idea what they are missing. :drool:

 

[blackout]

I lost years of my life to solemn piety. yuck.

My "gOd connection" now, is something organic & flowing...
free of rules and dogma,
full of humor, whimsy, mystery, allure, sensuality..
the freedom to BE... me... light & dark.
I am SOOOOOO much happier now. YAY!

 

[The Neo Nerd]

Yes most definitely we should practise a humorous look at religion.

Discordians definitely have the best look on praising a deity.

 

[blackout]

Fnord.

 

[rojse]

Fnord.

You start arguments saying things like that, UltraViolet.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Should religion be lighthearted?

So long as the disciple is wholehearted, the very source of life within will unfold and be expressed naturally without effort and preferences.

 

[CarlinKnew]

Well religion is certainly a joke to me. I wish everyone else was lighthearted about it. That might cut down on just a tad bit of violence.

 

[Storm]

A helathy streak of irreverence is more than beneficial, it's vital, imo.

 

[sojourner]

We tend to take ourselves too seriously. Therefore, our perspective of God is, likewise, too serious.

 

[Quiddity]

It has it's place. But always lighthearted? That seems to leave out dimensions of the human nature. Anger is not always bad. Being serious is not always a bad thing.

I guess some people are just too stickin sensitive now adays.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Mine is, but that could be from the beer...

 

[Breathe]

I don't think religion should be too light hearted, but it shouldn't be too sombre either.

Religion should be enjoyable, but there should be some limitations, some self-control, I guess. Not quite silencing others, but I think you get the idea.

It's all well and good to have a joke about faith, but I feel as though if one takes their faith too lightly, then they're just wasting their time. Faith is a journey, and you aren't going anywhere fast if you're that much of a practical joker that everyone around you is sticking potatoes up your car exhaust; that doesn't mean you can't have fun and play I Spy on the long journey.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

If religion had a sense of humor, particularly about itself, it wouldn't be religion anymore. There's way too much truth in humor.

 

[Heneni]

Yes, yes and yes again. If we cannot be happy Christians we are to be pittied indeed. If we cannot find joy in God we are truly misserable. Everything God does is for our joy. I sometimes wonder why people believe that god wants us to be misserable! What kind of pleasure can god get out of seeing us misserable? He does not beat around the bush when it comes to our joy, he commands it. And he commands us to love Him, cause if we do, we are filled with joy. It seems like a rather odd thing to do isnt it? TO COMMAND someone to love you. Hmmm... lets look at this from a childs perspective. If you found treasure, do you look somber about it? Do you wonder if you should have sparkling eyes and be exited about it? No, you are extatic cause you found treasure. And if we find god, that is what we will feel. Extatic. And then, in case you wondered if it was OK to feel such joy, God sets us right, YES, indeed he commands us to love the treasure. HE commands us to love it. To love HIM. To be joyful in our treasure.

It is not the child that makes the treasure something spectacular, it is the nature of the treasure that makes it oh so special. And....if god finds any delight in us, he must see in us what we cannot see in ourselves. TREASURE! And he delights in us!

 

[Katzpur]

When I was a child I was introduced to a religion that was austere and sombre.

LDS doctrine states that "Men are that they might have joy." How many theistic belief systems, and how many Christian denominations in particular, believe that God's purpose in creating us was NOT to ensure that He would have somebody to praise and adore Him for eternity, but to provide us with both a present and future existance in which joy was the ultimate goal?

 

[Heneni]

NOT to ensure that He would have somebody to praise and adore Him for eternity, but to provide us with both a present and future existance in which joy was the ultimate goal?

I agree with you, God is glorified when his creation finds joy in Him. He is utterly happy with himself, and our joy in Him expresses and reflects His own Glory.

 

[ChristineES]

When I was a child I was introduced to a religion that was austere and sombre. Praying and God were serious things and not to be treated lightly.
I think this way of approaching God and prayer is wrong. I think religion should be lighthearted. Praying makes me smile, God makes me laugh. I think it's true that 'The good are always the merry, save by an evil chance, and the merry love the fiddle and the merry love to dance..."
No doubt strict rules, hush and seriousness have their place but I don't think that place should be religion.
I think the laughing Buddha is spot on

I don't it is healthy if we take ourselves too seriously, even in religion and faith. There are a lot of verses in both the New and Old Testament that talk about joy.

 

[MoonWater]

I'm with Odion here, a balance between seriousness and fun is the ideal for religion. Though I agree we do take ourselves to seriously, and I don't understand why, if god didn't have a sense of humor then how could we have possibly ended up with one.

 

[Lindsey-Loo]

I think it's up to the individual. While some prefer to worship somberly, others will prefer to be more light-hearted. I personally prefer somber and serious worship because for me it puts my time with God on a higher level than the rest of my day. It's my time to focus on Him and put everything else aside. That's not to say that I make God feel unapproachable, or that my worship is cold and loveless. It's just full of reverance, awe, and respect that could only make me more serious and quiet.