Did Christ Laugh since laughter is a worldly passion?

Chrysostomos · Post by **Chrysostomos** » Sat 14 May 2005 12:33 am

Laughter can also be an expression of joy, Happiness. Have none of you experienced this? If you have, do you mean to say that you have given to sin by doing so, and never expressed joy by doing so? There are different forms of laughter. Yes, you can laugh at someone, and you can laugh with someone out of joy.

I believe that our Lord could have laughed and did so without expressing it via Passion as you state. Could not Thy Passionless Passion be an expression of such laughter by Christ God Himself?

Your fellow struggler in Christ,

Rd. Chrysostomos

TomS · Post by **TomS** » Sat 14 May 2005 7:27 am

[post deleted by moderator since it was completley personal and senseless. No personal attacks are allowed.]

Liudmilla · Post by **Liudmilla** » Sat 14 May 2005 8:02 am

Tom,
I tend to agree with you regarding the lunacy, although I wouldn't extend it to any One in particular. Rather I view zealotry as the problem, and a certain distasteful holier-than-thou tendency. Everything that GOD created within us is seen as wrong and bad for you. Odd that God created those traits in us. What could he have been thinking? Is it not possible that it is WE in OUR pride and sinfulness who are the problem and not the GOD created passions?

Personally I believe GOD and Christ laughed, felt joy and wepted also. If we are made in the image of GOD then it follows that we also can laugh, feel joy and also weep. None of these emotions are inherently bad. It is how WE use them that creates the problem.

If we are mean-spirited and only find joy and laughter in our evil deeds then we are the evil But I'm sorry, I am hard pressed to find evil in a mother's joy in her child. Or a child's laughter at a new discovery or in the arms of their parent. Or, in the enjoyment of GOD's creation. None of these things are evil and neither are the emotions associated with them.

Whatever is written in the Fathers is the extreme usually written for monastics. WE are not monastics, when you apply the extreme to everything you only make it impossible to live a good and chaste and honest life. Not all were meant for monastism.

Milla

OrthodoxyOrDeath · Post by **OrthodoxyOrDeath** » Sat 14 May 2005 8:18 am

I think much of this line of thinking, that Christ laughed, comes from the Protestants and the effort to make Christ one of the guys, a real personal buddy. In short, a reshaping of Christ into our own image.

What this really is then, is an effort to bring God toward us rather than us bringing ourselves toward God. After all, it would be much easier to think God was one of the boys and that there was not much more we needed to do than to think Christ was very much different, someone who was "not of this world". And this is what we must make ourselves, "not of this world". Why else would this question of Christ laughing be so devisive here? It is really more a question about how we see our own spiritual state vs where we need to be, I believe.

TomS · Post by **TomS** » Sat 14 May 2005 9:18 am

I find it interesting in the list of "passions" that it seems to contain ALL things that could possibly bring us JOY in this life.

This is the problem with wackos - they think everyone should be miserable like they are. These people are NO DIFFERENT than fanatics in any religion. They need to be pointed out as the freaks they are.

ATTN: Moderator -- This is a GENERAL STATEMENT.

TomS · Post by **TomS** » Sat 14 May 2005 9:59 am

Nicholas, my agorimou, who is 11 weeks old, woke up crying a few minutes ago. This is what happens when he is HUNGRY.

I TRIED to get his mother to not feed him so that he could recieve the BLESSING of CRYING and sadness longer - but alas, she is a "New Calendar" orthodox so she did not understand the teachings of the Holy Fathers. God forgive her!

To make matters worse, when Nicholas SAW his MOTHER he SMILED AND LAUGHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAY GOD FORGIVE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He also did the same when he saw me.

SHOULD I SMACK HIM WHEN HE SIN'S LIKE THIS? I am confused about this!

I tried to explain to his Mother that smiling and laughing are OF THE DEVIL! But, again, SHE would not believe me! Alas, she does not understand the teachings of the Fathers.

WHAT SHOULD I DO TO SAVE MY CHILD FROM THIS EVIL PASSION???!!!

I WONDER HOW MANY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THAT LAUGHING IS A SINFUL PASSION HAVE CHILDREN? Because you simply cannot have an infant and see laughter and smiles as a sinful passion!

HOW CAN YOU EVEN ENTERTAINE THE IDEA THAT AN 11 WEEK OLD CHILD WHO EXPRESSES HIS LOVE BY SMILING AND GIGGLING IS PERFORMING A SINFUL ACT?????!!!!

Anastasios · Post by **Anastasios** » Sat 14 May 2005 2:03 pm

Why would anybody think that Christ laughed? Laughter is due to a mental state of idiocy...an idiocy that is a quality present in created man due to their influence by the prince of this world.

Where do you get this stuff? Laughter is a remedy for the harshness of life. I would think that Christ, as a perfect man, would have been laughing a lot in his attempts to deal with the fallen men around him.

Anastasios