Ya know, humor is a funny thing.
- rim shot -

My alter ego runs a daily, clean joke email list. Been doing it since 1996. It seems that yesterday I pushed the envelope a bit too much, with this entry (submitted by one of my subscribers):

More proof that gasoline prices are out of control: I pulled into a full service gas station today and asked for five dollars worth of gas. The guy farted, took my five and walked away.

I received 12 complaints about it and the subscriber count dropped about 30 lower than a normal day. The list still has 29,000 subscribers. So that may not seem significant. However, those of us who have been in publishing ventures know that the few represent the many.

Here were some of the complaints:

• I don't consider this joke appropriate.
• You have always been above this type of humor. I am surprised at this.
• I noticed in your header that you advertise “clean” jokes. I thought today’s “funny” fell short of that, and I’ve asked to be taken off of your e-mail list. The play on the word “gas” and the synonym that was used falls under the category of “coarse jesting” as far as I interpret the Word of God in Eph. 5:4
• Today's funny was definitely not funny. It was tasteless. I am sorry you felt the need to include it.
• Remove my name and do your best to consider the audience who are your subscribers. I hope and pray that you have a revelation of what is appropriate and decent for our society.
• That's very ugly! I'm surprised at you!
• Just a quick note .. in some cultures the word 'farted' is rude and insulting .. I realize you don't know this .. thought you'd want to know. :)
• This is NOT funny especially for a Christian group to pass on.

On a related note, just the other day our band of ThinkChristian contributors were having a discussion about humor, satire in particular - related to the responses to the Spongebob post.

The point was made that it seems that with each younger generation, more and more people are getting satire as a form of humor. Satire was just not widely accepted in the generation before the Boomers. Then came Saturday Night Live and Boomers became more accepting of it. Then it became even more prevalent as SNL attracted younger viewers and satire was used more prominently in TV shows and movies. Today it's a regular part of high school and even junior high repartee.

I mention this because I noticed that many of the names of the people who responded to the f-word joke had names that would be associated with an older generation (like Eula).

There are a few sites run by Christians that are based on satire. I even used to work for the world's pretty much only religious satire magazine, The Wittenburg Door, where "sacred cows make the best BBQ."

All this to ask…is the use of this f-word truly, biblically offensive? Or is it just a cultural issue? Is satire an acceptable form of humor for the saved?

Have at it!