LOL--Laughing Out Loud?
February 14, 2006
Btw, re: LOL, do you think that violates the admonition we receive to avoid loud laughter? I'm splitting hairs, but I always wonder where to draw the line. Maybe it has to do more with the context of the situation than the physical act? Guess what? I became interested in my own pondering and searched for what a few of the brethren have to say:
Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith, compiled by John A. Widtsoe, p.296
Let the parents in Zion give their children something to do that they may be taught the arts of industry, and equipped to carry responsibility when it is thrust upon them. Train them in some useful vocation that their living may be assured when they commence in life for themselves. Remember, the Lord has said that "the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer," but all in Zion should be industrious. Neither should they be given to loud laughter, light and foolish speeches, worldly pride and lustful desires, for these are not only unbecoming, but grievous sins in the sight of the Lord. And, we read that the wages of sin is death, and death is banishment from the Spirit and presence of the Lord.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Seek Ye Earnestly, p.197
Therefore, cease from all your light speeches, from all laughter, (that is, loud laughter-boisterous laughter), from all your pride and light-mindedness, and from all your wicked doings.
Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple , p.59
President Harold B. Lee was a man of quiet response to things that were humorous. Yet he enjoyed a very alert sense of humor and always had a ready story with some humorous twist to it. On one occasion while I was traveling with him he said that Elder Charles A. Callis had told him many years ago that loud laughter was a symptom of a vacant mind. He said, "I took that seriously, and since then I've tried to respond more quietly when I have been amused, not with an outburst of laughter."
Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 1: The Doctrine and Covenants, p.353
In order for mortal men and women to be able to learn essential truths, there has to be a certain mind-set and spiritual preparation. This revelation states that intellectual attainment is inseparably connected with both physical and spiritual characteristics. Thus the instructions are given that those who were to participate in the School were also to cease from lightmindedness, loud laughter, pride, lustful desires, covetousness, idleness, uncleanness, fault finding, and excessive sleep (vv. 122-24). In addition, they were to practice diligence, study, faith, prayer, love for one another, charity, and were to retire to bed early and arise early (vv. 118,123,125, 126).
Donald W. Parry, ed., Temples of the Ancient World: Ritual and Symbolism, p.553
As to laughter, Joseph Smith had a hearty laugh that shook his whole frame; but it was a meaningful laugh, a good-humored laugh. Loud laughter is the hollow laugh , the bray, the meaningless laugh of the soundtrack or the audience responding to prompting cards, or routinely laughing at every remark made, no matter how banal, in a situation comedy. Note that "idle thoughts and . . . excess of laughter" go together in D&C 88:69.
Richard J. Marshall, Home Teaching with Purpose and Power, p.94
"On the other hand, Christ's gospel is totally positive. And because his plan of salvation is so very serious, you will not find anything humorous or foolish in the scriptures. And you won't find it in the temples or the solemn assemblies or other sacred places. The Lord counsels us to avoid loud laughter and being light-minded about sacred things. The work of the Lord is holy. Holiness is serious.
Carlos E. Asay, Family Pecan Trees: Planting a Legacy of Faith at Home, p.107
We are warned against the evils of loud laughter, evil-speaking, light-mindedness, and other forms of shallow living that make a mockery of sacred things. Yet we are expected to keep our homes warm and inviting to all who cross the threshold. We must, therefore, find the proper balance between the "core of life" or pure religion and the "spice of life" in planting the "pecan tree" practice of good humor in our families.
(Here's an idea to go along with your I-messages)
Dennis L. Lythgoe, A Marriage of Equals, p.119
Sometimes we can vent anger with a touch of humor. Ginott told of a thirteen-year-old boy who had been fighting with his older sister, hurling insults at her. "Mother walked into the room and said: 'I'm tired of your relentless hostility and acrimonious attitudes."' The boy and his sister looked at each other and burst into loud laughter. Another example was Roy, age fifteen, who pushed the mattress off his brother's bed to punish him for an insult. "Father intervened. In a stern voice, he said, 'There is no place for acts of revenge and retaliation in our home. It is against my cherished values.' The boys looked at their father in disbelief. This was the end of what could have become an endless argument." (Between Parent and Teenager, pp. 100-102.)
The Contributor, Volume 2
Frequent and loud laughter is the characteristic of folly and ill-manners; it is the manner in which the mob express their silly joy at silly things; and they call it being merry. In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so illbred, as audible laughter. True wit or sense never yet made any body laugh; they are above it; they please the mind, and give a cheerfulness to the countenance. But it is low buffoonery, or silly accidents, that always excite laughter; and that is what people of sense and breeding should show themselves above.
Improvement Era - 1900
Brother Brigham did not believe in loud laughter; he seldom more than smiled, and rarely repeated jokes to provoke laughter. President Garfield once advised a noted politician never to make people laugh, saying that the popular appreciation of a public man was lessened when he sought to make them laugh rather than to think.
Improvement Era - 1905
Try to introduce some instructive and pleasant conversation, but avoid noise and loud laughter or talk as you would the plague. Do be careful to modulate your voice; we westerners are such outrageously loud talkers, our loud tones and great guffaws of laughter startle and annoy the stranger or European, and prejudice them at once against us. Talk quietly and without gesticulation, and keep your jokes and fun for the privacy of your own rooms. (Era - 1907) Loud laughter shows unrefined character in a marked degree, and its frequency robs one of that delicate demeanor which always characterizes a true lady or gentleman.
Loud Laughter a Sin
Prof. N. L. Nelson of the Weber Academy.
(Loud Laughter a Sin Prof. N. L. Nelson, of the Weber Academy.)
Improvement Era 1914
"Therefore, cease from all your light speeches; from all laughter; from all your lustful desires; from all your pride and light mindedness, and from all your wicked doings. * * * Cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you. * * * do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances; not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance."-Doc. and Cov., 88:121, 69; 59:15.
(An entire essay follows)
Btw, re: LOL, do you think that violates the admonition we receive to avoid loud laughter? I'm splitting hairs, but I always wonder where to draw the line. Maybe it has to do more with the context of the situation than the physical act? Guess what? I became interested in my own pondering and searched for what a few of the brethren have to say:
Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Joseph F. Smith, compiled by John A. Widtsoe, p.296
Let the parents in Zion give their children something to do that they may be taught the arts of industry, and equipped to carry responsibility when it is thrust upon them. Train them in some useful vocation that their living may be assured when they commence in life for themselves. Remember, the Lord has said that "the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer," but all in Zion should be industrious. Neither should they be given to loud laughter, light and foolish speeches, worldly pride and lustful desires, for these are not only unbecoming, but grievous sins in the sight of the Lord. And, we read that the wages of sin is death, and death is banishment from the Spirit and presence of the Lord.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Seek Ye Earnestly, p.197
Therefore, cease from all your light speeches, from all laughter, (that is, loud laughter-boisterous laughter), from all your pride and light-mindedness, and from all your wicked doings.
Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple , p.59
President Harold B. Lee was a man of quiet response to things that were humorous. Yet he enjoyed a very alert sense of humor and always had a ready story with some humorous twist to it. On one occasion while I was traveling with him he said that Elder Charles A. Callis had told him many years ago that loud laughter was a symptom of a vacant mind. He said, "I took that seriously, and since then I've tried to respond more quietly when I have been amused, not with an outburst of laughter."
Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 1: The Doctrine and Covenants, p.353
In order for mortal men and women to be able to learn essential truths, there has to be a certain mind-set and spiritual preparation. This revelation states that intellectual attainment is inseparably connected with both physical and spiritual characteristics. Thus the instructions are given that those who were to participate in the School were also to cease from lightmindedness, loud laughter, pride, lustful desires, covetousness, idleness, uncleanness, fault finding, and excessive sleep (vv. 122-24). In addition, they were to practice diligence, study, faith, prayer, love for one another, charity, and were to retire to bed early and arise early (vv. 118,123,125, 126).
Donald W. Parry, ed., Temples of the Ancient World: Ritual and Symbolism, p.553
As to laughter, Joseph Smith had a hearty laugh that shook his whole frame; but it was a meaningful laugh, a good-humored laugh. Loud laughter is the hollow laugh , the bray, the meaningless laugh of the soundtrack or the audience responding to prompting cards, or routinely laughing at every remark made, no matter how banal, in a situation comedy. Note that "idle thoughts and . . . excess of laughter" go together in D&C 88:69.
Richard J. Marshall, Home Teaching with Purpose and Power, p.94
"On the other hand, Christ's gospel is totally positive. And because his plan of salvation is so very serious, you will not find anything humorous or foolish in the scriptures. And you won't find it in the temples or the solemn assemblies or other sacred places. The Lord counsels us to avoid loud laughter and being light-minded about sacred things. The work of the Lord is holy. Holiness is serious.
Carlos E. Asay, Family Pecan Trees: Planting a Legacy of Faith at Home, p.107
We are warned against the evils of loud laughter, evil-speaking, light-mindedness, and other forms of shallow living that make a mockery of sacred things. Yet we are expected to keep our homes warm and inviting to all who cross the threshold. We must, therefore, find the proper balance between the "core of life" or pure religion and the "spice of life" in planting the "pecan tree" practice of good humor in our families.
(Here's an idea to go along with your I-messages)
Dennis L. Lythgoe, A Marriage of Equals, p.119
Sometimes we can vent anger with a touch of humor. Ginott told of a thirteen-year-old boy who had been fighting with his older sister, hurling insults at her. "Mother walked into the room and said: 'I'm tired of your relentless hostility and acrimonious attitudes."' The boy and his sister looked at each other and burst into loud laughter. Another example was Roy, age fifteen, who pushed the mattress off his brother's bed to punish him for an insult. "Father intervened. In a stern voice, he said, 'There is no place for acts of revenge and retaliation in our home. It is against my cherished values.' The boys looked at their father in disbelief. This was the end of what could have become an endless argument." (Between Parent and Teenager, pp. 100-102.)
The Contributor, Volume 2
Frequent and loud laughter is the characteristic of folly and ill-manners; it is the manner in which the mob express their silly joy at silly things; and they call it being merry. In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so illbred, as audible laughter. True wit or sense never yet made any body laugh; they are above it; they please the mind, and give a cheerfulness to the countenance. But it is low buffoonery, or silly accidents, that always excite laughter; and that is what people of sense and breeding should show themselves above.
Improvement Era - 1900
Brother Brigham did not believe in loud laughter; he seldom more than smiled, and rarely repeated jokes to provoke laughter. President Garfield once advised a noted politician never to make people laugh, saying that the popular appreciation of a public man was lessened when he sought to make them laugh rather than to think.
Improvement Era - 1905
Try to introduce some instructive and pleasant conversation, but avoid noise and loud laughter or talk as you would the plague. Do be careful to modulate your voice; we westerners are such outrageously loud talkers, our loud tones and great guffaws of laughter startle and annoy the stranger or European, and prejudice them at once against us. Talk quietly and without gesticulation, and keep your jokes and fun for the privacy of your own rooms. (Era - 1907) Loud laughter shows unrefined character in a marked degree, and its frequency robs one of that delicate demeanor which always characterizes a true lady or gentleman.
Loud Laughter a Sin
Prof. N. L. Nelson of the Weber Academy.
(Loud Laughter a Sin Prof. N. L. Nelson, of the Weber Academy.)
Improvement Era 1914
"Therefore, cease from all your light speeches; from all laughter; from all your lustful desires; from all your pride and light mindedness, and from all your wicked doings. * * * Cast away your idle thoughts and your excess of laughter far from you. * * * do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances; not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance."-Doc. and Cov., 88:121, 69; 59:15.
(An entire essay follows)
posted by Melvyn Bennett | 9:22 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home