# Does God ever lie in the Bible? Secondary: Does he ever laugh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2014, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478 "2014-04-19T08:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478/41 "2014-04-20T07:28:08Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Technically (since this is still in GQ, after all), God’s covenant with Abraham, which is where circumcision was required, said nothing about getting into Heaven, which is a concept that appears little if at all in the Old Testament. I knew the nit would be picked, but it was more pithy than, “God told people that they had to get circumcised in order to display their dedication to him, in return for him to consider their people to be the best on the planet and lead them forward to greatness. Which - according to Christianity - he was lying about and actually it was his intention all along to switch to protecting everyone _except_ the circumcised, whom he would throw out of their homeland and persecute for the next 2000 years.” ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478/42 "2014-04-20T16:02:14Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I knew the nit would be picked, but it was more pithy than, “God told people that they had to get circumcised in order to display their dedication to him, in return for him to consider their people to be the best on the planet and lead them forward to greatness. Which - according to Christianity - he was lying about and actually it was his intention all along to switch to protecting everyone _except_ the circumcised, whom he would throw out of their homeland and persecute for the next 2000 years.” Well, \*that’s \*kinda funny. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478/43 "2014-04-20T16:36:02Z")
:: ok, I’m gonna get blasted from all sides for this, but, :: “God as Mean Old Guy (except for Jesus and all that Book)” is pretty much culture influenced, ie, Christian, and not worthy of, or solely as, a PC rejection of the Hebrew Bible “God.” It is like saying Hamlet is a homocidal maniac (I just made that up so take it for what it’s worth.) Ie, read the book. Um, Noah? All humanity, a zillion times individual Jews, the Jewish people right and left. /sarcasm coming: The Prophets make a few points about his mercy and goodness. Lastly, umm, anyone read the Psalms? Same guy. :: ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478/44 "2014-04-20T17:54:24Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > :: ok, I’m gonna get blasted from all sides for this, but, :: > > “God as Mean Old Guy (except for Jesus and all that Book)” is pretty much culture influenced, ie, Christian, and not worthy of, or solely as, a PC rejection of the Hebrew Bible “God.” > > :: I see the Hebrew God as being rather unforgiving and strict. You proclaim me as the one true God and do everything I say or there’s going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478/45 "2014-04-20T18:04:13Z")
Considering this is 4/20, I’ll post this: “I am That Am” did lie, by telling people He existed. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478/46 "2014-04-20T20:04:52Z")
> [@butterfiles](#): > > How is that hilarious? I’m not seeing the humor in any of the above except maybe the foreskin bit. Whooshed by God…again. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478/47 "2014-04-20T22:59:01Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > I would suggest that the sense of humor current among the people alive at the time of Jesus, and in the time of the old testament, was most likely more along the lines of the Three Stooges than anything modern sophisticates would call humorous. And remember there are still many, many people–not all adolescents–who find slapstick and toilet humor hilarious. I find it entirely possible that an ancient audience might have found the story of Job funny. Or Lot’s wife. “Stupid b\*\*\*\*! Hahahaha!” Unlikely, unless you have a cite or something… People are people, and you don’t need an education to have a sense of humor beyond the level of slapstick. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478/48 "2014-04-21T02:07:48Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Unlikely, unless you have a cite or something… People are people, and you don’t need an education to have a sense of humor beyond the level of slapstick. You’re right. Let me amend my comment to say that most people’s sense of humor now is astonishingly primitive, and I venture to say that it was so for most people in days of yore as well. I still think my point applies, though I would prefer you defend to the death my right to make it than I would to defend it to that point myself. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-god-ever-lie-in-the-bible-secondary-does-he-ever-laugh/686478.md?page=2)