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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Sunday school question
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Simon
Editor
# 1
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Posted
This joke submitted by Lillian:
A Sunday-school teacher asks the class of young children, "What is little and gray, eats nuts, and has a big bushy tail?"
After a moment one child replies, "I know the answer's probably supposed to be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me."
Poll information
This poll contains 2 question(s). 144 user(s) have voted.
You can't view the results of this poll without voting.
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Eternal memory
Posts: 3787 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2001
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
As a former Sunday School teacher, I must admit to liking this one! Virtually every question asked in one of those places does have the answer "Jesus" ![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif) ...
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Jonah the Whale
Ship's pet cetacean
# 1244
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Posted
When I heard the joke it was a preacher giving a children's address. I thought that was funnier because that sort of thing happens all the time - a preacher trying to milk obvious answers out of reluctant children.
Posts: 2799 | From: Nether Regions | Registered: Aug 2001
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
When I heard it, it was a visiting preacher giving the children's address.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Amos
Shipmate
# 44
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Posted
I thought it was pretty funny. Our Sunday School curriculum (MCU, or something) insists on mentioning Jesus every three lines of every story, as if the kids would forget about Him if it didn't.
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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken
Posts: 7667 | From: Summerisle | Registered: May 2001
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
I'm slightly influenced by the fact that when I see that joke I hear Mike Yaconelli delivering (a somewhat longer version of) the same joke with his usual panache for such things.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Lady R of Ashwood
Shipmate
# 4788
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Posted
Snorted out loud in the university library at this one. It may be old, but therefore I must be young, right ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Posts: 420 | From: Glasgow | Registered: Jul 2003
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Pânts*
Ship's underwear
# 4487
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Posted
It's funny? ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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I'm not here any more. Dial 999 to get me. (No. Please don't really. Bit you could PM me on my new number cos I never get PMs!)
Posts: 8380 | From: The Stables | Registered: May 2003
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Look, now you've upset Pants, because she thought the answer really was Jesus. Have you no compassion? ![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif)
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Campbellite
Ut unum sint
# 1202
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Posted
<- Chorister!
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I upped mine. Up yours.
Suffering for Jesus since 1966.
WTFWED?
Posts: 12001 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Aug 2001
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Alicďa
Shipmate
# 7668
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Posted
Mildly amusing, made me LOL.
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"The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world." Georgia Elma Harkness
Posts: 884 | From: Where the Art is. | Registered: Jun 2004
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sharkshooter
Not your average shark
# 1589
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lady Alicia of Scouseland:
Mildly amusing, made me LOL.
Hopefully you won't read any really funny ones at work, then.
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Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. [Psalm 19:14]
Posts: 7772 | From: Canada; Washington DC; Phoenix; it's complicated | Registered: Oct 2001
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Foolhearty
Shipmate
# 6196
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Posted
Huh?
I guess we run our church school differently, then.
Left me cold. Read it twice to see if I'd missed the joke.
Didn't.
Wasn't funny.
[ 05. July 2005, 15:41: Message edited by: Foolhearty ]
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Fear doesn't empty tomorrow of its perils; it empties today of its power.
Posts: 2301 | From: Upper right-hand corner | Registered: May 2004
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I have heard a number of variations on this. But they are funny, mainly because I know people for whom the only acceptable answer to any question seems to be Jesus.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Flausa
Mad Woman
# 3466
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Posted
This didn't strike me as funny at all. It just feels like it's missing something. It seems to assume that everyone will understand the background, but I know very few people who actually would be familiar with the Sunday school experience.
Posts: 4610 | From: bonny Scotland | Registered: Oct 2002
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ChastMastr
Shipmate
# 716
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Posted
Actually from some of the things Adrian Plass talks about and an experience the cub and I had at a Vacation Bible School week at my own church, this hits home beautifully. (It was on the spiritual aspects of Harry Potter. "In the chess game, Ron sacrificed himself for his friends. Now, who else sacrificed himself for his friends? That's right, Jesus sacrificed himself for his friends..."
So really it's perfect!
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My essays on comics continuity: http://chastmastr.tumblr.com/tagged/continuity
Posts: 14068 | From: Clearwater, Florida | Registered: Jul 2001
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MaryO
Shipmate
# 161
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Posted
I was at a Eucharist where the preacher was trying to tell a children's story as the sermon, and he had some difficulty getting it really going. About 5 minutes into it, a 5-year-old girl raised her hand, and when he called on her, she said (in a voice that could probably have been heard miles away), "What does this have to do with Jesus?"
The laughter took about another five minutes to die down.
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Hanging around off and on since 2001.
Posts: 349 | From: New York City | Registered: May 2001
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serena
Apprentice
# 7649
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Posted
Oh man ... I think anyone who went through Sunday School or has ever tried to lead it must find that funny by virtue of experience ... I just snorted very loudly in a packed Computer Room at uni!
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S
xXx
Posts: 6 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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busyknitter
Shipmate
# 2501
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Posted
That's odd, our vicar told this very joke at the beginning of his sermon last Sunday. Are you out there Reverend F?
BK
Posts: 903 | From: The Wool Basket | Registered: Mar 2002
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Evangeline
Shipmate
# 7002
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Posted
That story gave me the creeps-I can still remember the strips our 1st grade teacher tore off Cathy Kirkpatrick (this is 30yrs ago but seems like yesterday) for being so rude as to ask what this story the teacher was relating had to do with maths-I think she had to stand in the corner for the rest of the year or something it stuck in my memory because I was wondernig the same thing and was just mighty glad I hadn't asked.
Posts: 2871 | From: "A capsule of modernity afloat in a wild sea" | Registered: May 2004
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
I like it! It's funny because it points up an uncomfortable truth.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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John Donne
Renaissance Man
# 220
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Posted
Fantastic. Loved it. I'm in there snorting with all the other snorters. You have to have been there perhaps? Wide-eyed Sunday school teachers, enunciating their every word and exaggerating their actions like a silent movie (because for some reason people under the age of 8 cannot understand unless spoken to like this):
"...and who can tell me who that is?"
~chorus~
JESUS!!!!!!
(Then the praise-up pay-off)
Posts: 13667 | From: Perth, W.A. | Registered: May 2001
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Calindreams
Shipmate
# 9147
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Posted
This is the first joke that has made me laugh out loud up to now. It's probably based on a true story.
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Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore
Posts: 665 | From: Birmingham, England | Registered: Mar 2005
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Carys
Ship's Celticist
# 78
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Posted
I've known this story for a long time, and it does amuse me, but I only voted 2 because I don't see it as a joke.
Carys
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O Lord, you have searched me and know me
You know when I sit and when I rise
Posts: 6896 | From: Bryste mwy na thebyg | Registered: May 2001
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tclune
Shipmate
# 7959
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Posted
Reminds me of what my father used to say: "Christ is the answer. Now, what's the question?"
--Tom Clune
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Posts: 8013 | From: Western MA | Registered: Jul 2004
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Zeke
Ship's Inquirer
# 3271
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Posted
Having been a preacher's kid and spent innumerable hours with innumerable Sunday School teachers, this made me laugh out loud. Too much like the real thing not to laugh.
(Once I asked a teacher to explain what circumcision was because I had no idea--her explanation was completely incoherent, and I later got into trouble for harassing the teacher)
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No longer the Bishop of Durham
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If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be without it? --Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 5259 | From: Deep in the American desert | Registered: Sep 2002
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Evensnog
Shipmate
# 8017
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Posted
This one makes me laugh, because I've sat through far too many ridiculous, cutsey 'children's moments' and 'children's sermons' where well-meaning adults coax obvious answers out of reluctant children, and it brings back fond memories of the children who spoke back.
Posts: 507 | From: Silicon Valley | Registered: Jul 2004
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Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ChastMastr:
Actually from some of the things Adrian Plass talks about and an experience the cub and I had at a Vacation Bible School week at my own church, this hits home beautifully. (It was on the spiritual aspects of Harry Potter. "In the chess game, Ron sacrificed himself for his friends. Now, who else sacrificed himself for his friends? That's right, Jesus sacrificed himself for his friends..."
This story is actually far funnier than the joke!
Though I could get the punchline of the joke, having some experience teaching the little ones, I cannot say I found it enjoyable. In fact, unless someone had taught Sunday School, and therefore could immediately connect with that kids think all the answers are "Jesus" (which is often true), I think it would be very confusing. Why is the teacher mentioning a squirrel?
Also, all too many tired jokes (not religious) begin with "what is this colour...etc.", where it ends up being a stupid answer. One could be thrown off by this joke, expecting one of those pat answers.
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Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
Posts: 6740 | From: Library or pub | Registered: Jun 2001
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quirky_beth
Shipmate
# 5696
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Posted
vagely amused, as it struck a few resonances! Now I run Sunday school though, it just serves as something to avoid!
Posts: 411 | From: UK | Registered: Mar 2004
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Orb
Eye eye Cap'n!
# 3256
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Posted
Kids just aren't that perceptive! (Maybe the REALLY bright ones are.) It sounds more like the kid is the one making the joke, but I doubt a kid would do that, except with the prompting of an adult or something.
Add to that the fact that only about 5% of people in western nations would get it and it's a pretty pointless exercise.
So it's not funny. And obviously not offensive.
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“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.” Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Posts: 5032 | From: Easton, Bristol | Registered: Aug 2002
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
A nice quick, throw-away quip.
