My skin bristles when someone is being taunted or teased. The cry for justice alarms inside me, and anxiety floods my heart. Maybe it’s the Spirit prompting me. Perhaps it’s too similar to my own childhood wounds. Either way, I’m overly sensitive to situations in which someone is targeted for a laugh. But my sense of justice isn’t entirely pure or helpful, as it also causes undue alarm in situations that most people find acceptable. Even good-natured ribbing and harmless practical jokes make me uncomfortable because I feel bad for the recipient. What if feelings are being hurt? How far will it go before a line is crossed?

Whether it’s my bent for mercy or my fear of things getting out of control, I’m not sure. Either way, this overactive demand for kindness robs me of the ability to enjoy humor because I’m worried about what could happen. I’d rather keep things a bit serious than risk the bite that humor is capable of delivering. So when the theme making fun was announced for this issue of Christ and Pop Culture Magazine, I had some soul searching to do.

Making fun—of people, situations, life, and so on—isn’t all bad. Humor is one of God’s best mechanisms for relieving pressure. Finding the absurd often points us to the transcendent and ideal, calling us to something greater, even as we mock the current state of affairs. This is why so many have watched John Stewart’s The Daily Show or Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report. Humor and sarcasm help us deal with serious and overwhelming circumstances we cannot directly control.

I also think it’s healthy to poke fun at ourselves. If done properly, humor can help us admit our oddities without allowing them to crush our spirits. We may be made in the image of our Creator, but some of the things we create are laughably bad. Making fun of our creative attempts gone bad not only keeps our pride in check but also produces humor as an unexpected and redemptive outcome. This is exactly what is detailed in the feature article “MST3K, the Weirding of Film, and the Meaning That Makes Goofy Riffing Possible” by Ted Turnau. He explores the genius way Mystery Science Theater provides “a thoroughly postmodern way to perceive and endure laughably bad cultural works.” Though mercy prods me even here, and I wonder if the people associated with the films being spoofed had their feelings hurt—or did they see it as badge of honor?

In the feature “How Should We Then Mock?” Jeremy Larson addresses the very issues I’ve been battling—is making fun of anything appropriate for Christians? are Christians being stodgy when we can’t enjoy a little humor? if it is biblically sanctioned, and I am not free to use it, why is that? The rationale Larson presents is refreshing, surprising, and freeing for those of you, like me, who are squeamish about the use of mockery.

After reading the sound ideas presented in this issue, I see my own faulty assessment about humor a bit more clearly: Humor can be a weapon that wounds, therefore we should stow it away because we cannot be trusted to wield it safely. This elevates feelings over and above correction, which leaves us in error with our warm-fuzzy feelings in tact. A more biblical response would care more about growing more and more like Christ. Humor, though sometimes painful, can awaken us to the discrepancies. There is a place for making fun in the Christian life. Some of us just have to work a bit harder to clear a space for it.

—Erin Straza