Matt Crawford

Humor in the Classrooms of Seminaries and Institutes

In his final general conference address Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles offered a few things that have helped [him] through times of testing and trial.
His sage counsel included, Learn to laugh and Look for humor. Among his examples of humor
were the times when he and his family got lost on vacation, and a blind date mix-up experienced by
one of his daughters. Elder Wirthlin ultimately challenged: The next time youre tempted to groan,
you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you
more enjoyable.1 The counsel to laugh and find humor is specifically apt for the classrooms of
Seminaries and Institutes.
Those classes with a teacher and students who engage in humor regularly demonstrate a higher level
of student interest in the subject matter and a greater rate of content retention.2 On the whole
students and teachers also perceive humor as a way to relieve stress, gain attention, and create
[a] healthy learning environment.3 Teachers and students alike recognize that laughter unleashes
creative thinking and reduces social distance.4 Of interest, in this world of gigantic class sizes and
shrinking budgets, is the fact that laughter is likely to be greater with larger classes in crowded
classrooms than with smaller classes in larger rooms.5 Further, since S&I classes desire to be safe
havens (physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually), then as professional Cris Mayo argues,
Humor . . . can create provisional safe spaces and may give us a way to think about safety not as an
achievement across long periods of time but as moments in relations. Mayo continues, Humor can
be an invitation to think relations differently by affecting a pause or a gap in what might otherwise

be contentious relations.6 In short, humor is a tool that may be used in the S&I classrooms. Yet
even this tool comes with cautions.
In the Gospel Teaching and Learning handbook humor is mentioned three times, and in each
instance a caution is attached: (1) appropriate humor is a good type of variety; (2) if a humorous
story is fictitious announce it as such; and (3) never use humorous anecdotes to simply entertain,
impress, or gain the praise of students.7 The handbook also reminds us that while the classroom
should be a place of order where the Spirit can teach, this does not always mean having complete
silence; nor does it mean that a class cannot be enjoyable and fun.8 The major purposes of this
paper are to define and exemplify appropriate humor and then explain how to implement
appropriate humor into S&I classrooms so that the experiences with students are Spirit-driven,
enjoyable, and fun.
Appropriate and Inappropriate Humor
A passage in the book of Ecclesiastes notes that there is a time to weep, and a time to
laugh (3:4). Many passages in ancient and modern scripture ratify this truth. Yet humor is a
difficult term to define, particularly across time and cultures.9 What is funny to one is not to another,
and vice verse; men and women even have divergent senses of humor.10 However, since analyzing
the infinitesimal number of humor definitions is not a purpose of this paper, the following definition
will suffice: Humor is any communication which is perceived by any of the interacting parties as
humorous and leads to laughing, smiling, or a feeling of amusement.11 Obviously for this paper
we need to be concerned with identifying appropriate humor, and begin by looking in the scriptures.
Scholar Hershey H. Friedman analyzed numerous passages in the Old Testament and found
that humor is regularly present, and surmised that humor brings God closer to humankind.12 Joel
S. Kaminsky argues that the Isaac in Genesis, whose name, in part, means laughter, is at the center
2

of various humorous episodes.13 From the New Testament perspective Kelly R. Iverson reports upon
the humor in the Gospel of Mark, and particularly an episode in chapter 8.14 Yet despite these and
other academic investments in identifying humor in the Bible, some do not see it. One particular
scholar acerbically concluded that the God of the Bible has no sense of humor, and that while
Biblical writers may have inserted bits of humor here and there, it is false that Humor permeates
the Holy Scriptures.15
One of the reasons that humor is so very difficult to identify in the scriptures, particularly
the Bible, is because of language and the vast cultural differences from a twenty-first century reader.
Much of the humor is embedded in the Hebrew or Greek nuances of the ancient books.16 BYU
professor Richard Holzapfel provides these examples:
I have often heard students say, Jesus would not do that, or, I cannot imagine him saying
thatparticularly when we talk about the nuances of certain Greek phrases in the New
Testament or talk about the historical and cultural background. North American students
have a hard time grasping that the Jesus described in the four Gospels cannot be easily
understood in the context of a middle class North American culture.
. . . Often modern readers postulate that a perfect being could not use hyperbole or
sarcasm. Some students who hold this position picture Jesus as a sweet animal lover who
was never direct nor confrontational. Nothing could be further from the reality. The Gospels
are clear that he often struck out against self-righteousness harshly rebuking both individuals
and groups.
. . . [For example,] Jesus reproves the Pharisees and scribes with a parable [Luke 15:17]
dripping with sarcasm. . . .
The fact is that when confronted with Jesus as portrayed in the text without forced
interpretations, our cultural views and preconceived ideas are often found hollow and
wanting. We are separated by two thousand years of not only history but also cultural and
religious development. I try to suggest to my students that they let Jesus be Jesus if
something needs to change it is probably their view of him.17
As mentioned by Holzapfel, apart from linguistic difficulties, we are separated by, at times,
thousands of years of culture and living. In other words, humor is shaped and/or determined by
socio-cultural factors.18 The reason socio-cultural factors mold the humor of humans of every
3

generation is because all humor involves playing with what linguists call scripts. . . . Basically,
scripts are hypotheses about the world and how it works based on our previous life experiences. . . .
And because our scripts are so generalized and compressed, we tend to make unwarranted
assumptions based on them. Humor takes advantage of this tendency.19 As an example, consider
this aside from Gerrit W. Gong of the Seventy, which he offered during the 2010 October
conference: One family who nurtured my mother was that of Gerrit de Jong Jr. A linguist who
loved the language of the heart and Spirit, Grandpa de Jong tickled my little boy imagination by
sayings like Blackberries when red are green. Today, speaking of electronic handheld devices, I
tell young friends, Blackberries read in Church make green bishops blue.20 If Elder Gong could
warp back to the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and share this same quip, they would have no
idea what he was talking about. Further still, did the Saints in an impoverished country like India
really understand his humor? In other words, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and probably the Saints in
India did not have a mental script to work with to make the story humorousthat is, there was no
background or familiarity with the Blackberry electronic device.
Ancient scripture is not the only sacred text which helps us to define appropriate humor.
Through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord commanded, Cast away . . . your excess of laughter
(D&C 88:69; see also D&C 88:121). Yet this instruction must be tamed with a reminder that it was
given specifically to the School of the Prophetsa school designed to train men to be full-time
missionaries. Even so, the School of the Prophets tells more about the desired texture of Josephs
holy society than anything he had done thus farand more of what he was up against. The
directions to quell excessive laughter and all light-mindedness implicitly reflect the rough-hewn
characters who had joined him in the great cause. Few were polishedand he would never teach
them gentilitybut he wanted order, peace, and virtue.21 On a previous occasion Joseph received
further counsel about laughter, especially as it pertained to actions on the Sabbath day (D&C
4

59:15). Yet in the end, the counsel concerning laughter in the Doctrine and Covenants really seems
to be about personal-restraint or observationuse humor in the right place at the right time. Or, as
President Gordon B. Hinckley put it: We need to have a little humor in our lives. We better take
seriously that which should be taken seriously, but at the same time we can bring in a touch of
humor now and again. If the time ever comes when we cant smile at ourselves, it will be a sad
time.22
There are various forms of humor which exist in most societies, ancient and modern, and
which are employed in the scriptures or in the lives and words of the prophets, and thus would be
appropriate in S&I classrooms. The following list of appropriate humor is not intended to be
exhaustive, but a starting point for discussions and writings outside this certification project. The
forms of appropriate humor which will be defined and exemplified using scriptures and the lives
and words of the prophets are jokes or quips, irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, self-deprecation, and
teasing.23 Proper delivery and implementation of each of these will be discussed later.
Jokes or quips. Jokes are actions, short stories, or anecdotes which at least are intended to
produce a smile. Quips are not planned, but usually quick, clever verbal. Though we are hardpressed to find a joke in the scriptures, there are examples given to us by latter-day prophets.
President Joseph Fielding Smith was once in an elevator with a man who was a medical doctor.
Knowing the mans profession, President Smith quoted, what he felt was, a humorous passage from
the Bible: And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his
disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but [went] the physicians.
And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign (2 Chronicles
16:1213).24

At another time President Smith returned from an assignment in California with a bag filled
with olives which he picked from a tree. Eagerly he asked one of the Brethren back at the Church
Administration Building if he wanted to taste an olive right off the tree. The unsuspecting
victim had never tasted a fresh olive and took a bite. The unprocessed olive was of course very
bitter, and the victims mouth responded accordingly; so President Smith apologized by saying,
Whats the matter, did you get a bad one? Here, you had better try another one.25 President
Smiths great-uncle also had a great sense of humor. Though not prone to perform practical jokes,
Joseph Smith was known for his laughter and pronouncements of anecdotes.26 President Spencer W.
Kimball was also quick-witted.
President Kimball was plagued with various health ailments, including throat cancer, yet
through it all he strove to keep his sense of humor. After one of President Kimballs throat surgeries
he told a congregation, I went away to the East and while I was there I fell among thieves and
cutthroats. They cut my throat and stole my voice.27 When President Kimballs son Ed suggested
that his father pop yet another pill for pain, the prophet replied, I dont want to take any more pills;
Im already the piller of the Church.28
Finally, President Boyd K. Packer gave this counsel at a CES Fireside: If you young
women are going with a young man who wants to take you to places where you should not go,
however appealing, to those dark and noisy places, and there is some move to try to get you to do
something you know you should not do, cut it off. Break it up! Send him a letter. Stamp it SecondClass Male.29 In the audio recording of this address President Packer, after chuckling heartily with
the audience for quite some time, he adds jovially, Calm down. Were talking about sacred
things.30 Though quips and jokes are a regular part of the lives of modern prophets, ancient

scripture records little of such in the lives of ancient prophets. Yet the next type of humor is found
regularly in ancient scripture.
Irony. Irony is an expectation fighting against reality. For instance, over a year ago, as part
of an object lesson, I asked a beefy, self-congratulatory boy to rip an old T-shirt. After his failure to
do so, a petite, shy girl ripped the shirt easily. In the Bible, the book of Psalms report that God
laughs at the vain attempts of the wicked to derail divine judgment or decrees (see 2:4; 37:13; 59:8).
Perhaps Brigham Young was reflecting on these passages when he penned: The Lord sits in the
heavens and laughs at mans puny efforts to thwart His purpose and to render His word into
promises of non-effect, and He will visit them with fierce indignation in His own due time.31
Brigham Young and the passages in Psalms emphasize, through the medium of laughter, irony:
natural mans extreme short-sightedness and nothingness (see 2 Nephi 9:2829; Helaman 12:48)
versus Gods omniscience and perfection (see 2 Nephi 9:20; Mosiah 4:9).
A specific historical incident of irony is found in the life of Joseph of Egypt. After Josephs
brothers cast him in a pit, sold him, and faked his death, he served in Potiphars court and prison.
Eventually, through the guidance of the Lord, Joseph became a valued counselor to Pharaoh. The
irony is resplendently displayed when his treacherous, starved brethren came, and bowed down
themselves before [Joseph] with their faces to the earth (Genesis 42:6). Irony within familial
relationships is also found in the Book of Mormon.
Early in the writings of Nephi, son of Lehi, we learn that the Lord promised the young man
that if he was obedient, he would be made a ruler and a teacher over [his older] brethren (1 Nephi
2:22). We see proof that this promise was fulfilled when Nephis brothers asked him to explain their
fathers prophetic words (see 1 Nephi 15:736), when Nephi saved the families from starvation (see
1 Nephi 16:3033), when Laman and Lemuel literally kneel and attempt to worship their younger
7

brother (see 1 Nephi 17:55), and when the older brothers vehemently expressed their disfavor in
what they saw as Nephis bid for monarchical rule (see 2 Nephi 5:23). Though neither the
example from the life of Joseph or Nephi is side-splittingly funny, we may enjoy a hint of a wry
smile when we consider that the Lord sits in the heavens and laughs at mans puny efforts to thwart
His purpose and to render His word into promises of non-effect. Obviously irony is not the only
form of humor in which the ancient recorded. Sarcasm is the next form of humor discussed.
Sarcasm. Sarcasm is an aggressive verbal humor which generally mocks the receiver. On the
top of Mount Carmel, the prophet Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest: each of us
will prepare an animal sacrifice; you call on your god and I will call on the name of the Lord: and
the God that answereth by fire, let him be God (1 Kings 18:2324). When Baals prophets received
no voice after an entire morning of pleas, Elijah unabashedly employed sarcasm: Cry aloud: for
he is god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth,
and must be awaked. Elijahs mockery stung the prophets and they intensified their pleas through
self-mutilation (1 Kings 18:2628). A similar episode occurred generations later in Kirtland, Ohio.
An unnamed man claimed to be the recipient of an angelic ministration. Upon describing the angel
and his attire to the Joseph Smith, the Prophet replied that such was not an angel because there was
not such dress in heaven. Incensed, the man commanded fire to come down from heaven to
consume [Joseph]. The Prophet laughed at him and then, following the example of Elijah,
retorted, You are one of Baals prophets; your God does not hear you; jump up and cut yourself.32
Even the Savior employed sarcasm in His mortal ministry.
To a group of Jewish leaders, Jesus challenges, Search the scriptures; for in them ye think
ye have eternal life (John 5:39; emphasis added). More than likely the leaders missed the point: the

Son of God, the fountain of all truth, was with them and they were too busy searching the scriptures
trying to find if what He was saying was true.
In another episode Jesus sent a message to a Roman leader. When a horde of supposedly
concerned Pharisees advised Christ to leave Jerusalem because Herod will kill thee, the Savior
unflinchingly replied: Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to
morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected (Luke 13:3132, emphasis added). Not only did the
sobriquet mock Herod, but it also let the Pharisees know that no one can intimidate the Son of God.
In fact, more bold is the Saviors sharp responses throughout Matthew 23. He repeatedly labels the
group of attentive Pharisees hypocrites (vv. 1315, 23, 25), blind (vv. 16, 19), as well as fools
(v. 17), whited sepulchers (v. 27), serpents and vipers (v. 33). The stinging, sarcastic labels
were deserved, because all judgment, which is perfectly righteous, is given to the Son by the
Father (see John 5:22).33 As exemplified earlier, the prerogative to engage in sarcasm extends to the
Lords prophets.
President Gordon B. Hinckley warned that those young people who regularly abuse drugs
and engage in pre-marital sexual relations are losers who belong to the Future Losers of America
Club. . . . They are throwing away their future on some stupid thing of that kind. He then
challenged the youth to whom he was speaking: Don't become a member of the Future Losers of
America. Remember to choose the right in all that you do. Or in other words, repent if you need to
and get on the right track.34Another form of humor which often finds place in scripture and modern
prophets is hyperbole.
Hyperbole. Hyperbole is extreme exaggeration to make a point. When the Savior
commented, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter

into the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25), He engaged a hyperbolean image which was impossible,
and humorous, but which made the point vibrantly clear.
President Thomas S. Monson often engages in verbal hyperbole and physical gestures to
connect with us. In the April 2006 priesthood session of general conference he describedusing his
voice, eye movement, and hand gesturesan interview he had in his youth with his Stake President
Paul C. Child. President Monson noted that when he arrived for the interview the room was quiet
like a city library, where the clock goes by and you can hear every tick, tick, tick. And then he asked
to see my scriptures. I handed the triple combination to him, and he looked at it. And then he said,
Well read, well read. And I could have said, Well perused, well perused. And then he said, You
hold the Aaronic Priesthood. You know, I knew that. And then he said this: Have you ever had an
angel minister to you Brother Monson? And I said, Im not sure.35 More recently President
Monson related an experience of sharing the gospel on a tour bus in Texas during the October 2011
priesthood session. While doing so he engaged in hyperbole through word and huge bodily
gesticulation at the pulpit.36
Self-deprecation. Perhaps the most endearing form of humor, if not over-used, is selfdeprecation. This form of humor is demonstrated when people make fun of themselves, or articulate
their personal weaknesses in a light-hearted manner. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First
Presidency recently began an address by describing what scientists can learn about the rings of
trees. Any regular general conference viewer knows of President Uchtdorfs propensity to share
stories that include airplanes, due to his former professionairline pilot. Thus, after discussing the
rings of a tree, he interjected, At this point some of you may be thinking, Thats all very fine and
good, but what does it have to do with flying an airplane? Well, let me tell you.37 Another Apostle
of the Lord also demonstrated sweet self-deprecation.
10

Chuckling as he went, President Boyd K. Packer related the following during a CES Fireside
in 2003: . . . We are not going to live forever in this life. We can live with our infirmities.
I remember once we were having a sacrament meeting in the temple. Elder Marion D.
Hanks was passing the sacrament. I had a catch in my shoulder, and I could not get my hand up to
the bread plate. It was very awkward. I was very embarrassed. Finally, we accomplished it, and later
I apologized to him and said, I just couldn't; my shoulder just wouldn't move!
And he said, My shoulder wouldn't move, either! I couldn't get the thing down to you! So
that was some comfort.38
When Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was suffering from the
baldness brought about by cancer treatments, he noted to the the general conference audience that
the lights combine with my cranium to bring some different illumination to this pulpit.39 We
move away from self-deprecation to the final type of humor illustrated in this paper, teasing.
Teasing. President Spencer W. Kimball could be a tease. After attending a parade with his
family he read the newspaper the next day. To one of his children he announced, I see you are in
the newspaper! Where? Where? It says right here, Crowd of Thousands Watches Parade.40
President Kimball was not only prone to gently teasing others at home, the characteristic extended
to his fellow Brethren.
The serious business of the weekly meetings of the First Presidency and the Twelve did not
bar a spirit of camaraderie, a little gentle teasing. The group usually lunched together in the
temple after the meeting, and for dessert they passed around a box of Cummings chocolates
beginning with the First Presidency. As one of these meetings ended, President Kimball
asked, Is there any further business?
David B. Haight, then the junior apostle, queried, in fun, Is there any chance to reverse the
usual order of choosing chocolates? I dont care for dark chocolate, and by the time the box
gets to me, thats all there is left.
11

Spencer joked, If you live long enough, youll move up into the light chocolates.41
During his first priesthood session as president and prophet of the Church, Thomas S.
Monson recounted a time when, while sitting on the stand at a meeting, he noticed a young boy who
imitated every physical movement President Monson made. I decided to put him to the test.
President Monson continued. I looked squarely at him, certain I had his attention, and then I
wiggled my ears. He made a vain attempt to do the same, but I had him! He just couldnt quite get
his ears to wiggle. He turned to his father, who was sitting next to him, and whispered something to
him. He pointed to his ears and then to me. As his father looked in my direction, obviously to see
my ears wiggle, I sat solemnly with my arms folded, not moving a muscle. The father glanced back
skeptically at his son, who looked slightly defeated. He finally gave me a sheepish grin and
shrugged his shoulders.42
Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of Apostles also possessed a teasing, jovial spirit.
Elder McConkie tolerated the idea that his children enjoyed participating in school athletics.
When he learned that his son basketball-loving son Joseph had joined the debate team, Elder
McConkie held a one-man parade, marching from the kitchen down the hall through the living
room to the dining room and back to the kitchen. Around and around he went, marching and
singing, My boy is going to use his brain, my boy is going to use his brain.43
When Ellis T. Rasmussen worked on the committee that compiled and created the 1981
edition of the LDS scriptures, Elders Monson, Packer, and McConkie supervised the work. In a
recent interview Rasmussen recalled: For problems or for proposals we needed to have evaluated
or approved at the working level, we were permitted to contact Elder McConkie freely by phone or
in person. I remember with delight how we from time to time would enter his office and see him

12

stand and reach his big hand out over his desk to us, saying with a big smile, Well, slaves, how are
you today? 44 Elder McConkie also taught the importance of humor.
A Time to Laugh
Elder McConkie wrote that joyful laughter meets with divine approval, and when properly
engaged in, it is wholesome and edifying.45 How then do we properly engage in laughter and
humor? This paper has established that jokes or quips, irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, self-deprecation,
and teasing are appropriate forms of humor and deserve laughter. Yet despite the Saviors regular
use of sarcasm, it is not employed with any regularity today in the public realm by living prophets.
So there must be a set of boundaries, guiding principles which can guide our uses of the types of
humor in an S&I classroom so as to facilitate Spirit-driven, enjoyable, and fun experiences. Three
principles follow.
Principle number one. Humor that hurts the audience is counterproductive. If you allow
your students or yourself to engage in it, it stifles creativity and class participation and creates an
atmosphere of fear.46 Perhaps the most destructive type of humor is sarcasm. Sarcasm usually
humiliates, mocks, and makes fun of its victims and immediately puts them on the defensive.47
Yes, the Son of God employed sarcasm, but He also never sinned. The scriptures remind us that the
Lord doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world (2 Nephi
26:24). His motives need never be questioned, and His methods are always motivated by love (see
Moroni 7:4547; D&C 121:4145). His uses of sarcasm were invitations to repent, and apparently
the individuals who were at the receiving end of the sarcasm were most likely to respond to that
type of invitation than anything else. Scriptures and latter-day prophets note that at judgment day all
of usincluding the victims of Jesus sarcasmwill acknowledge that Gods ways were just and
that we were dealt with fairly (see Alma 12:15).48
13

With all those qualifications, we might ask, When can I use sarcasm? First, when we are
motivated by pure love and the Spirit. Second, employing sarcasm with a disruptive student may be
just what he needs. Consider this counsel from Brigham Young: You may, figuratively speaking,
pound one Elder over the head with a club, and he does not know but what you have handed him a
straw dipped in molasses to suck. There are others, if you speak a word to them, or take a straw and
chasten them, whose hearts are broken; they are as tender in their feelings as an infant, and will melt
like wax before the flame. You must not chasten them severely; you must chasten according to the
spirit that is in the person. Some you may talk to all day long, and they do not know what you are
talking about. There is a great variety. Treat people as they are.49 Finally, we must consider the
world we currently live in. We are not in the first century A.D. Given how much we seem to value
humor in our daily lives, one would expect that we would be telling and listening to jokes all the
time. Yet how many jokes have you been told today? How long has it been since somebody came up
to you and asked, Have the heard the one about ? How often have you recently encountered
someone who went out of his or her way to make you laugh? (Spouses and close intimates excepted
here.) Perhaps in response to the stresses of the early 21st century, we have become a serious (i.e.,
comparatively humorless) society. In a culture that is increasingly polarized politically, its hard
now to make a joke, either privately or publicly, without running the risk that someone will find
some aspect of it offensive.50
Principle number two. Recently Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve
admonished us: be cautious with humor. Loud, inappropriate laughter will offend the Spirit. A
good sense of humor helps revelation; loud laughter does not. A sense of humor is an escape valve
for the pressures of life.51 In this teaching Elder Scott appears to be sponsoring a good sense of
humor and warning against loud, innapropriate laughter. In other words, we may participate in

14

any form of humor as long as we can, at the same time, maintain the presence of the Holy Ghost.
Counsel F. Enzio Busche, former member of the Seventy, is also helpful.
Elder Busche observed that when we are under the influence of the Spirit, we can find a
sense of humor and the ability to smile and not take ourselves too seriously, and we can laugh at
ourselves. . . . The adversarys weapons are sarcasm, irony, and cynicism, but that the Lords power
is a gentle sense of humor. I have learned . . . that the adversary cannot deal with a sense of humor.
He does not have a sense of humor; he does not even know that that is. He is always dead serious,
and when you have a sense of humor, you are in control of the adversarys influence.52
(Undoubtedly, more than one reader of this paper will hasten to point out that Elder Busche clearly
places sarcasm and irony as demonic humor. Modern prophets have condemned such types of
humor as well.53 However, the debate, as it pertains to this paper is largely one of semantics. If we
use sarcasm, irony, or any other form of humor to demean and put-down another person we are
playing into the devils hands. However, if the sarcasm or identified irony is purely motivated and
intended to build and liftin other words, ratified by the Spiritthen it is appropriate humor.
Nephi did not sin when he killed Laban? No, because the young man was inspired by the Spirit [see
1 Nephi 4:1018]. Was Abraham was under condemnation because he practiced plural marriage
with his wife and her handmaid? Nay; for I, the Lord, commanded it [D&C 132:35].)
In the end, it appears that Elder Scotts counsel to embrace a sense of humor and shun
loud, inappropriate laughter invites us and our students to enjoy and smile at things which
maintain the Sprit, and refuse to entertain the lewd, filthy, and profane. Every form of humor
discussed in this paperjokes or quips, irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, self-deprecation, and teasing
can, depending on the intent and degree, be categorized as a sense of humor, or at other times
loud, inappropriate laughter. For example, gently teasing a student can build rapport with a shy
15

student. Conversely aggressive teasing can destroy a students self-image. In the end each teacher
must evaluate the humor in class and learn to embrace all forms which allow the Spirit to always be
present, and, as a by-product, produce a fun and enjoyable experience. Former Brigham Young
University Professor Richard H. Cracroft put it this way: a sense of humor is defined as the ability
to discover, identify, and appreciate the ludicrous and the incongruous in situations, in others, in
oneself, and in the universe. If one seeks for the incongruities and coddles the ludicrous in life, he
becomes more and more aware of the very real gap between the ideal and the real in people,
situations, and the universe and may well begin to exaggerate, distort, caricature, and undercut
others and thus judge unrighteously. That's a danger.54
Principle number three. According to his biographer, President Monson sees life and
teaches the gospel through the eyes of experience. I learned he is most comfortable answering
questions with true life accountshe does not call them stories because they are true.55 Many
times President Monsons true life accounts contain at least a sliver of humorhe clearly shares,
and acknowledges the humor therein. Yet his overall intent is not to entertain us, or to make us
laugh. His sense of humor is but a gift of the Spirit which aids him in teaching us and increasing our
desire to be obedient.
For instance, after retelling the wiggling ears contest he had with a boy in a congregation,
President Monson quoted this teaching from Brigham Young: We should never permit ourselves to
do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we
wish them to imitate.56 Is our gift of humor used for meritorious purposes? If we, as stated in the
Gospel Teaching and Learning handbook, are just being humorous so that our students will like us
more, then, despite its content, its just pure vanity. On the other hand if we our humorous to build a

16

student, teach a principle, unify a class, or ease a potentially difficult class discipline issue, then we
are using the gift of humor in the way the Lord intended.
Conclusion
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones (Proverb 17:22).
The Lord expect us to find joy in life (2 Nephi 2:25), and humor is a recommended tool of that joy.
Scriptures and modern prophets attest to at least six forms of appropriate humor: jokes or quips,
irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, self-deprecation, and teasing. Yet each type of humor must be used with
temperancethe tempering influence of the Holy Ghost. Humor, when appropriately employed, can
facilitate learning, promote creativity, and unify.

Notes

17

1 Joseph B. Wirthlin, Come What May, and Love It, Ensign, November 2008, 2628.

2 See R.L. Garner, Humor in Pedagogy: How Ha-Ha Can Lead to Aha! College Teaching 54, no. 1 (2006): 177
180. See also Gayle Webb White, Teachers Report of How They Used Humor with Students Perceived Use of Such
Humor, Education 122, no. 2 (2001): 338; Sarah E. Torok, Robert F. McMorris, and Wen-Chi Lin, Is Humor an
Appreciated Teaching Tool? Perceptions of Professors Teaching Style and Use of Humor, College Teaching 52, no. 1
(2004): 15.

3 Gayle Webb White, Teachers Report of How They Used Humor with Students Perceived Use of Such Humor,
Education 122, no. 2 (2001): 343, 345.

4 Debra Korobkin, Humor in the Classroom: Considerations and Strategies, College Teaching 36, no. 4 (1988): 154.

5 Sarah E. Torok et al., Is Humor an Appreciated Teaching Tool? Perceptions of Professors Teaching Style and
Use of Humor, 19, quoting R.A. Berk.

6 Cris Mayo, Incongruity and Provisional Safety: Thinking Through Humor, Studies in Philosophy and
Education 29, no. 6 (2010): 511; 509521. see also Stuart V. Hellman, Humor in the Classroom: Stus Seven Simple Steps
to Success, College Teaching 55, no. 1 (2007): 37. 3739.

7 Gospel Teaching and Learning: A Handbook for Teacher and Leaders in Seminaries and Institutes of Religion
(Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2012), 66, 67, 76.

8 Gospel Teaching and Learning, 17.

9 For a discussion of this difficulty see Mayo, Incongruity and Provisional Safety: Thinking Through Humor, Studies in
Philosophy and Education, 509521. For an analysis of humor inside the Church see Leonard J. Arrington, The Many Uses
of Humor, The Journal of Mormon History 34, no. 3 (2008): 122; Shawn R. Tucker, On Mormon Laughter, BYU
Studies Quarterly 51, no. 4 (2012): 141154; Diana L. Mahony and Marla D. Corson, Light-Mindedness versus
Lightheartedness: Conflicting Conceptions of Laughter among Latter-day Saints, BYU Studies 42, no 2 (2003): 115129.

10 Richard Restak, Laughter and the Brain: Can Humor Help Us Better Understand the Most Complex and Enigmatic
Organ in the Human Body? American Scholar 82, no. 3 (2013): 2627.

11Richard L. Weaver II and Howard W. Cotrell, Ten Specific Techniques for Developing Humor in
the Classroom, Educaiton 108, no. 2 (1987): 167, quoting V.M. Robinson.

12 Hershey H. Friedman, Humor in the Hebrew Bible, Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 13, no.
3, (2000): 258285, as available at http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/bibhumor.htm (accessed 10 July
2013).

13 Joel S. Kaminsky, Humor and the Theology of Hope: Isaac as a Humorous Figure, Interpretation
54, no. 4, (2000): 363375.
14 Kelly R. Iverson, Incongruity, Humor, and Mark: Performance and the Use of Laughter in the Second Gospel
(Mark 8.1421), New Testament Studies 59, no.1, (2013): 219.

15 John Morreall, Sarcasm, Irony, Wordplay, and Humor in the Hebrew Bible: A response to Hershey Friedman, Humor International Journal of Humor Research 14, no. 3 (2001): 301.

16 See Friedman, Humor in the Hebrew Bible, 258; Kaminsky, Humor and the Theology of Hope:
Isaac as a Humorous Figure, 363.
17 Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Thats How I Imagine He Looks: The Perspective of a Professor of Religion,
BYU Studies 39, no. 3 (2000): 9394.

18 Iverson, Incongruity, Humor, and Mark: Performance and the Use of Laughter in the Second Gospel (Mark
8.1421), 5.

19 Richard Restak, Laughter and the Brain: Can Humor Help Us Better Understand the Most Complex and
Enigmatic Organ in the Human Body? 2122, emphasis in original ; see also Iverson, Incongruity, Humor, and Mark:
Performance and the Use of Laughter in the Second Gospel (Mark 8.1421), 67.

20 Gerrit W. Gond, Temple Mirrors of Eternity: A Testimony of Family, Ensign, November 2010, 36.
21 Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 211212.

22 Gordon B. Hinckley, Excerpts from Recent Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Oct 1996,
73.

23 See Craig Adolf Finnestad, The Use of Humor in Preaching and Its Relationship with Ethos, Relational Solidarity, and
Affective Learning, Ph.D diss., Asbury Theological Seminary, 2010, 1518.

24 As witnessed by Leonard J. Arrington and recorded in Adventures of a Church Historian (Chicago:

University of Illinois Press, 1998), 16.
25 Joseph Fielding McConkie, True and Faithful: The Life Story of Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, 1971), 74.

26 See Mark L. McConkie, Remembering Joseph: Personal Recollections of Those Who Knew the Prophet Joseph
Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003), 8589; Joseph Smith, An American Prophets Record: The Diaries and
Journals of Joseph Smith, ed. Scott H. Faulring (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 1 January 1843, 267.

27 Edward L. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball: A Man of Good Humor, BYU Studies 25, no. 4 (1985): 66.

28 Edward L. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball: A Man of Good Humor, 66. For more on President Kimballs sense of humor
see the entire article.

29 Boyd K. Packer, The Instrument of Your Mind and the Foundation of Your Character, CES Fireside, 2 February 2003;
available at http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=180 (accessed 15 July 2013).

30 Audio recording of Boyd K. Packer, The Instrument of Your Mind and the Foundation of Your Character, CES
Fireside, 2 February 2003 also available at http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=180 (accessed 15 July 2013).

31 Brigham Young to Charles S. Kimball, 31 December 1964, Letterbook 7:414416, as quoted in Leonard
Arrington, Brigham Young: American Moses (Chicago: University of Illinois, 1986), 301.

32 Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 vols., 2d ed. rev., ed. B.H. Roberts (Salt
Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1971), 5:268269.

33 For other instances of Christs sarcasm and general humor see Bruce W. Longenecker, A Humorous
Jesus? Orality, Structure and Characterisation in Luke 14:15 24, and Beyond, Biblical Interpretation
16 (2008): 179204.
34 Gordon B. Hinckley at St. George Utah Youth Fireside, 14 January 1996, as reported in Teachings of Gordon B.
Hinckley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997), 5657.

35 Thomas S. Monson, Our Sacred Priesthood Trust, April 2006 video recording as found at
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/04/our-sacred-priesthood-trust?lang=eng (accessed 15 July 2013). To fully
appreciate the humor the video recording must be viewed.

36 Thomas S. Monson, Dare to Stand Alone, October 2011 video recording as found at
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/dare-to-stand-alone?lang=eng (accessed 15 July 2013). To fully appreciate
the humor the video recording must be viewed.

37 Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Of Things That Matter Most, Ensign, October 2011, 19.

38 Boyd K. Packer, The Instrument of Your Mind and the Foundation of Your Character, CES
Fireside, 2 February 2003; available at http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=180 (accessed 15
July 2013).
39 Neal A. Maxwell, From Whom All Blessings Flow, as found at http://www.lds.org/generalconference/1997/04/from-whom-all-blessings-flow?lang=eng (accessed 15 July 2013).

40 Edward L. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball: A Man of Good Humor, 62.

41 Edward L. Kimball, Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005),
30.

42 Thomas S. Monson, Examples of Righteousness, Ensign, May 2008, 66.

43 Joseph Fielding McConkie, The Bruce R. McConkie Story: Reflections of a Son (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book,
2003), 236.

44 D. Kelly Ogden, Ellis T. Rasmussen: A Gentle Giant, BYU Religious Educator Review (Winter 2012): 14.

45 Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), 432.

46 William Boerman-Cornell, Humor Your Students, Education Digest 65, no. 5 (2000): 60.

47 Sarah E. Torok et al., Is Humor an Appreciated Teaching Tool? Perceptions of Professors Teaching Style and
Use of Humor, 17, quoting R.A. Shade.

48 See also Jeffrey R. Holland, What I Wish Every New Member Knewand Every Longtime Member
Remembered, Ensign, October 2006, 15.

49 Brigham, Young, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young (Salt Lake City: The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1997), 141; see also William Boerman-Cornell, Humor
Your Students, 60.
50 Restak, Laughter and the Brain: Can Humor Help Us Better Understand the Most Complex and Enigmatic
Organ in the Human Body? 26.

51 Richard G. Scott, How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life, Ensign, May 2012, 46.
4547.

52 F. Enzio Busche, Yearning for the Living God (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2004), 270271.

53 Gordon B. Hinckley, Way to Be! Nine Way to Be Happy and Make Something of Your Life (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 2002), 8384; Neal A. Maxwell, Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been, Ensign, May 2004, 44; Marvin
J. Ashton, Give with Wisdom That They May Receive with Dignity, Ensign, November 1981, 89.

54 Richard H. Cracroft, The Humor of Mormon Seriousness, Sunstone 10, no. 1 (1985): 15.

55 Heidi S. Swinton, To the Rescue: The Biography of Thomas S. Monson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010),
viii.

56 Thomas S. Monson, Examples of Righteousness, 66.