Dr. Seuss Bible

In America, there was once a time when one could stay up into the wee hours watching Comedy Central and come across, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson trying to convince Bruce McCulloch to pray at the altar of Compensation on a little Canadian show called The Kids in the Hall. If you're unfamiliar with the Kids in the Hall just imagine 5 grown men doing sketch comedy in drag, occasionally wearing cabbage on their head, while collecting armpit sweat that ushers in a new era of world peace. Great stuff, eh. Unfortunately, we received the censored sketches in America. Apparently Americans can handle watching people eating animal organs on Fear Factor but can't stand to watch Jesus Christ getting crucified on Sam Ziddle's Crucifixion machine.





Shocked? Irreverent? Some of our Bible stories should seem shocking yet we read them with glossy eyes not appreciating, nor understanding, what is being said. Yet, when we take that event and dress it up (as in the Dr. Seuss Bible sketch) a part of us is horrified not because it has been turned into a comedic work but because it reveals the brutality of the event. Each of us interprets events differently and place meaning on those events. To Christians the crucifixion is an act of universal and transcendent love, to others it is sheer horror. It is the meaning behind the event that holds power over the individual not the event itself. Thousands of people were crucified by the Romans yet the crucifixion of Yeshua the son of Mary was remembered. Why? Maybe so that we can appreciate the preciousness of life itself and pass on that understanding to our children, hopefully a bit more tactful than The Kids in the Hall but you get my point.




Again, the Kids in the Hall are not having fun at God's expense but at the expense of those that sit, bicker, and argue over things that can't be proven (maybe they argue because they walk in toe-crappity shoes). And if the object of our debates were proven, our minds would be blown and the world would keep on spinning. Unfortunately this is not the case with 21 century religious believers with 21st century weaponry at their disposal. To quote another show on Comedy Central "isms are great for those who are rational, but in the hands of irrational people, isms always lead to violence."(South Park)

Although not related to religion, this is one of my all time favorite Kids in the Hall sketches. Enjoy!