Stupid Answers to Snappy Questions

Over at Debunking Christianity, John Loftus has posted Some Tough Questions for Christians. I'm an atheist, but I'm gonna take a crack at the first one. The list of questions is just too long, and John has already tackled some of the later questions in the links on his own posts.

1.) Can God be surprised? Surprise is the basis of laughter. Can God laugh?

No, God knows all, so he can't be surprised. He can probably laugh, though. Not all humour is based on being surprised; some is based on experiencing something that is out of the ordinary, that doesn't jive with what normally happens, and you can appreciate that without necessarily being surprised. I still think that a particular South Park episode is funny even after the 6th time watching it.

God is also omnipotent. Even if it was impossible to shock his sensibilities enough to make him laugh, he could just snap his fingers and make himself laugh. If you were in heaven, and told a joke, and everyone else there was laughing, I'm sure he would laugh along, too. At least to fit in and not make anyone uncomfortable.

And if that doesn't work, I supposed you could always tickle his feet.

On the other hand, have you ever heard of anyone laughing piously in the bible? Whenever someone laughs, it's always misplaced laughter (ie. laughing at something God claims he's going to do because it's sounds so impossible) or contemptous laughter (laughing at your defeated enemies). Look it up on BibleGateway. Maybe laughter is a sin, and humour doesn't exist in heaven.