The Importance of Parody

On April 01 (April Fool's Day), a post entitled Breaking News was posted on this blog which "announced" the repealing of the Investigative Judgment doctrine by the General Conference of SDAs. It brought some interesting reactions. A few were positive but many were highly critical of the decision to post it. Many were deeply offended at the parody; maybe because it struck at the heart of what many consider to be the unique doctrine that sets Adventism apart from all other denominations. The decision was made to remove the offending post — a decision I don't wish to debate.

However, I would like to suggest that parody (and other forms of "foolishness") are essential to a healthy, robust faith. Firstly, these forms of "foolishness" confront us with new ways of looking at something. They force us to look at things in a new way that can sometimes be very enlightening.

Secondly, they prevent us from taking ourselves, or what we think, too seriously. There is always a tendency to solidify doctrine as if it is written by the finger of God on stone. But Adventists do not consider human articulations of doctrine to be infallible or immutable (see the preamble to the 28 Fundamentals). "Foolishness" can remind us that some things are not as important or permanent as they seem.

And, thirdly, they give us an opportunity to reflect on possible futures that may, or may not, confront us and where our faith truly lies.

In regard to the parody posted previously, ask yourself: What if it had been true? Would you be able to live without the investigative judgment doctrine? Or is your identity so tied up with a specific belief that it would undermine your faith in God? If you are one of those who believes that the whole Adventist movement was built on the investigative judgment — that this doctrine is the whole purpose of the movement — what would you do if it was shown to be unbiblical? What would you have left if the denomination ceased to exist? Where would you go if you had no denomination left? What is your foundation? your bedrock? Is it truly Jesus or a particular set of doctrines?

"Foolishness" is an important part of being challenged as we grow our faith. Back in 1994, Michael Frost wrote a brilliant little book called Jesus the Fool . In one of the chapters entitled Jesus the Jester, Frost draws on the role of the professional court jester to help us understand how Jesus was a "wise fool". He writes:

The professional jester was a unique and powerful member of the royal court. He was given license to utter the unutterable, to speak the word no court attendant would dare speak. So naturally he accrued great power, being able to influence policy and direct the affairs of the kingdom by highlighting the monarch's folly. It was de facto power, but power nevertheless. When the king became self-absorbed and out of touch with his own convictions in the rarefied atmosphere of the court, it was the [professional] fool who invariably was able to reframe his perceptions and find another way of seeing the situation. Of course, the fool managed such a feat by cloaking his message in the warmth of wit and laughter. (p. 53)

The essential skill of the jester (fool) is that of reframing. To reframe something means to take our present understanding of something and provoke a different perspective by changing some aspect of context, thus shifting our perception. We do this when we try to see a positive benefit associated with something that, at first sight, is negative. For example, we break our wrist and thus have to be off work for 3 months. At first, we might think this to be highly undesirable. How will we get all our work done? But then we might realise that we are overworked and close to burnout and that three months off work will allow us to rest and be reinvigorated when we return to work. The broken wrist has been reframed.

Parody, and other forms of humour, provoke us to reframe our current perceptions. Frost argues that Jesus was the great reframer. He reframed our understandings of the human condition, forgiveness, and our relationship with God and others. Jesus was a "holy fool", a wise jester, who used the unexpected to shock his hearers to reframe their understandings of God and our relationship to God. He was the reframer of conventional wisdom and religiosity in his day and the effects of his penetrating approach is still being felt to this day.

The "Breaking News" posted on this blog might have made us feel uncomfortable; it might have offended us. But Jesus brought discomfort and offense to the religious of his day. It might be worth asking ourselves just what our discomfort and offense may be telling us about ourselves when we read that "Breaking News". Maybe a reframe is necessary.