• Blog
  • About

Hacking Christianity

Faith | Tech | Geeks

  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • Contact
  • Hacks
  • Geek Gospel
  • United Methodism
You are here: Home / Hacks / humor.hack / Stuff Christians Like [review]

Stuff Christians Like [review]

April 2, 2010 by UMJeremy 3 Comments

Stuff Christians LikeI almost swerved off the road several times yesterday. Not for imbibing or DWS (Driving Whilst Shaving) or DWSML (…My Legs) but because I was listening to an audiobook of Stuff Christians Like.  Jonathan Acuff is a blogger on the popular StuffChristiansLike.net and the man is just hilarious. The tagline “100% funnier than The Shack” is pretty spot-on.

While you can buy the book here, the audiobook is free at the moment on ChristianAudio.com.

What I really appreciate is the way how Acuff uses humor as a hack (a humor.hack), as a way to cut through the layers of self-righteousness and embarrassment.  He’s able to talk about stuff that we are uncomfortable with or that people outside the church notice in ways that are humorous but also empowering.

For instance, here’s a segment from an interview found on Christian Audio’s freebie interview too.

Acuff (6:00): I think sometimes we have…a Christian “F” word which is “Fine.”  There’s a temptation to shine up your life.  How’s your marriage? Fine. How’s your work? Fine. I think a lot of it stems from the core issue of believing that if you get mad and express something as horrible then it looks like God is horrible. So you don’t want to say things are bad right now, cuz then a non-Christian will go “if life is bad for that guy and he is a Christian, then why would I want anything to do with that God?” There’s an incredible temptation to whitewash our lives. 

It’s humorous but with a point.  Hence, being able to poke holes in the shield of self-righteousness and expose what our little idiosyncrasies can mean to the outside world.

Finally, Acuff responds with a helpful distinction between mockery and satire.

Acuff (7:15): There’s a world of difference between mockery and satire.  Mockery has a victim. Mockery’s goal is to hurt and wound. Satire is humor with a purpose. And my ultimate purpose is to share the love of Christ.  The bottom line is that mockery is a great shortcut to laugh but it removes your ability to speak and love later…My goal is to make this huge mirror that is big enough that we can all look in it and go “hey is that us? Are we okay with that? Is that what love looks like?”

I highly recommend it.

Video preview after the break:

So check out the site and the book and the free audiobook, and support Christian humor as a way of breaking down the barriers between people today.

To find out more about opening Christian systems and other “hacks” visit Hacking Christianity or follow UMJeremy on Twitter

Filed Under: humor.hack, Reviews

Print Friendly and PDF

Rev. Jeremy Smith is a United Methodist clergyperson who blogs about faith, young clergy issues, technology, internet theory, and geeky topics. Click here to learn more.

All original works are licensed as Free Cultural Works by Creative Commons. You may reprint without permission but with attribution.

Comments

  1. Brian says

    April 8, 2010 at 9:05 am

    Love the part about "Fine". Talk to folks who deal with people in addiction and they'll tell you that "Fine" means "F***up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional". It is a reflexive verbal response with the intent of hiding/denying real emotion, either good or bad.

    Reply
  2. Rev. Jeremy Smith says

    April 8, 2010 at 10:32 am

    Oddly, I used that exact same section last night with my youth!

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    April 8, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    Jeremy,
    Thanks for the tip off on this one. I'm getting a kick out of it, and lots of things to thinking!

    -Peter

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hacking Christianity is a community that engages in conversations about faith using the lenses of progressive theology, technology, and geek culture. [ Read More ]

Tweets by @umjeremy
Visit Hacking Christianity's profile on Pinterest.
Follow this blog

Categories

Possibly Related Posts

  • Humor.hack :: The Book of Job
  • Dangerous Church: Not FAIL but WIN
  • Glo: The Bible for a Digital World [review]
  • A People’s History of Christianity [review]
  • Who Goes There? [review]
HX
A bottom-up faith in a top-down world.
Join the Network.

Rev. Jeremy Smith is a United Methodist clergyperson who blogs about faith, young clergy issues, technology, internet theory, and geeky topics. Read More…

  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • Contact

About · Contact · Sitemap · Terms of Service · · Looking for a copyright? All Reprints allowed with attribution