Laughter and happiness, while they are not as important as True Joy, are wonderful gifts of God. Happiness (enjoyment of the things that happen) is not always something that we can find, but many modern conveniences attempt to provide this. Laughter, too, is readily abundant, with YouTube, TikTok, and memes shared on social media. We should look at happiness and laughter, not as our right, but as a wonderful gift from our Lord for us to enjoy.

Yet, we can turn laughter into an insidious tool for boosting our ego and dismissing our evil. I have a friend who uses humor in this way. Sometimes, when he sins or witnesses something evil, instead of being disgusted at himself or at evil, he makes a joke about it. I have seen others use this comedian technique to help deflect shame from their sins. Even the innocent Andy Griffith show has the town drunk, Otis, who is often a source of comedic relief in his drunken state. Drunkenness is no laughing matter, nor is alcoholism. It causes health issues, shame, poverty, family instability, and even death. Yet, Otis deflects much of his shame because he makes you laugh.

This joking technique is commonly used in bullying tactics. Bullies often “make fun” of other people to get laughs. The best bullies (especially female bullies) will make fun of you to your face and say it was “all in good fun.” However, it was not all in good fun and it left the victim feeling insecure and hurt. For this reason, I try to be extra careful with deprecatory humor that makes fun of someone, even when I am just kidding and giving them a hard time. I should rather avoid this type of joking altogether and try to use words of encouragement, which are much more effective than deprecatory humor.

The most insidious aspect of this joking technique is that it callouses our minds toward sin and irreverence. We become more comfortable around sin and celebrate it through humor. Late night comedy and adult cartoons like Family Guy, American Dad, and The Simpsons base their humor off such irreverence. Such shows are dangerous because they can cause us to laugh at or ignore blasphemy and pass it off as “funny”.

Therefore, be watchful of what you find funny, the jokes you make, and your attitude toward sin. If the devil can make us downplay sin, he can get us to do much worse.

For more on this topic, read Eph 4:29 and C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, Letter 11.