We at The Holy Observer want to let you in on a little secret: we are
all really serious about Christianity. We cling to our faith in the one
triune God and affirm the classic Christian consensus—those essentials
of the faith that have been believed by all Christians, everywhere, and
stated best in documents such as the Apostles'
Creed.
That said, we are acutely aware of two facts that drive the content on
this site:
- Laughter is good for the soul.
- Satire is an appropriate way—and maybe one of the better ways—to
comment on the state of Christianity as it is believed and practiced
today.
Christians, at times, take themselves too seriously! We can poke fun
at the idiosyncrasies that we all have without crossing the line into
sacrilege. Just because Christ and the Holy Bible are sacred, doesn't
mean that everything that humans do in the name of Christianity is sacred.
Every other belief or ideal that we hold apart from our religion has always
been open game. We poke fun at politics, our jobs, and even our families.
It's healthy. It helps us point out the inconsistencies and ridiculousness
in our lives in a lighthearted and constructive way. The same should be
true for our religious practices. We are human, and our practice of religion
is imperfect, just as we all are imperfect. Pointing that out in a good-natured,
lighthearted way is not sacrilegious. In fact, it's constructive. So read
our articles looking for the message behind the jab, and have a good laugh.
We hope that it helps you take yourself a little less seriously.
One common misconception about this type of humor is that it fosters
disunity and animosity among Christians of different traditions and worship
styles. Ironically, much of our content that is accused of this is actually
designed in a way that we believe brings to light some of the ridiculous
presumptions and stereotypes that are the premises of the text. That is,
the attacker many times ends up looking more ignorant than the attacked—which
is probably the case with many of the issues that cause real division
within the church. We fully support the prayer of Christ where he calls
all believers to be one "so that the world may believe" (John
17).
On the other hand, we also believe it is reasonable to question and criticize
certain behaviors, beliefs, and practices of supposed Christians. God
surely gives each of us grace to cover our theological shortcomings, but
part of our conversation with God and others must include a humble analysis
of differing belief systems.
Ultimately, the actions of any individual can be unhealthy if the motivation
is not based on godly ideals. Our intention (besides our intention to
make you laugh) is not to harm, but to provoke thought and to keep the
human aspects of our relationship with God in proper perspective. We cannot
emphasize enough the gravity and seriousness of dealing rightly with the
eternal verities of life.
We love Jesus; we love our religion; and we love the church, despite
of all its gaffes and blunders (after all, we are all only human!). Thanks
for laughing along with us, and hopefully we will all "go on from
grace to grace" (to quote John Wesley) and make this world a better
place while we're all here together.
Sincerely,
THO Staff
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