FALLENNESS
The other night when watching America’s Funniest Videos, I noted the comedic relief I experienced at the bumbling mishaps and clumsiness of others. The more I think about it, the more it doesn’t seem right. I don’t know why, but for some reason it’s truly hilarious when someone slips on the proverbial banana peel or when a bride trips and crashes into her own wedding cake while dancing with her new husband. The shameful truth is, it’s funny when people fall. I’m not saying it’s right, but simply stating the fact that it’s entertaining to watch other humans’ blunders.
Why Is It Funny When People Fall?
The reason falling is sometimes funny has to do with context and the unexpected. Most will not find it comical if a person falls from the roof of a house and is seriously injured, but if that same person is strutting down the street with a swagger and suddenly trips, an observer would definitely find it amusing.
Everyone has a sense of humor, and everyone’s taste for humor is somewhat different. But certain fundamental aspects of humor help explain why a misstep may elicit laughter. If a mishap seems to be inconsistent with what is normal, despite our innate empathetic reaction—you poor fellow!—our incongruity instinct may be more powerful. —Scientific American Journal
I vividly remember a time early in our marriage when I was hurriedly walking to our car where my wife, Sonya, was waiting for me. There was a light drizzle, the sidewalk was wet, and somewhere between the motel door and car door I slipped and fell on my back. After slowly getting up and nursing my pride, I looked over at Sonya and to my dismay she was laughing hysterically (well, maybe not hysterically but there was a definite lack of restraint). I couldn’t hear her but could see her through the windshield, and she was cracking up through her “are you okay?” at her fallen and potentially bruised husband. I was a little offended because for all she knew I could have been really hurt and needed her comforting arms. But no! She had seen it all and watched me come crashing down, feet a-flying and arms a-flailing (my body going from vertical to horizontal like a cartoon character), and she couldn’t hold back the laughter. I guess she instinctively knew the only thing hurt was my ego, and when I got back in the car we both had a good laugh.
Fallenness Isn’t Funny
In the Garden of Eden, everything was as it was meant to be and “God said it was good.” In this state of perfection, God designed mankind to experience the mutual enjoyment of eternal fellowship with Him but evil entered the scene and spoiled what God had created. Scripture tells us that "satan fell from heaven as lightning" (Luke 10:18) and he, in turn, instigated “The Fall” of mankind. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God's plan and follow evil, mankind entered into what may be theologically referred to as a “fallen” condition. So because of satan’s temptations and mankind’s sinful condition, our world has the curse with decay and death upon it (which isn’t a laughing matter).
We instinctively know there is much wrong with our world. The law of entropy, which is the premier law of science, helps us understand why upkeep on our houses or maintenance on our vehicles is never ending. Left on their own, our cars will oxidize, corrode and rust, our homes will become infested with pests and eventually deteriorate. Our physical bodies are the same—we are trending towards inertia, disease, death and eventual decay. Things do not go from disorder to order, instead the reverse is true and entropy always wins by taking it’s toll. So until we grasp that the world is in a fallen, broken, decaying or cursed condition we will not comprehend why so many bad things happen and why we need Jesus to help us.
Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. —Jude 24-25
Fallenness is an irreversible flaw which has existed in humanity and the world system ever since Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden. For this reason, the scriptures warn us not to get our hopes up for or be deceived by this present world. Fallenness is also the expanding power of evil. It is the duplication, coupling or multiplication of evil and everyone unwittingly contributes to this profusion of wickedness through their own fallen state.
Don’t Fall in Love with the World
What is evil? And why is evil, evil? The nature of evil is to want more and to never be satisfied. The devil (evil personified) has been granted temporary rule over this present world, and those who “fall” for his temptations will always lust for more. We are admonished, however, not to fall in love with the system of this world.
Love not the world or the things in the world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. These are the ways of the world: Wanting to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, and being too proud of what we have. None of these come from the Father, but all of them come from the world. The world and everything that people want in it are passing away, but the person who does what God wants lives forever." —I John 2:15-17 (NIV)
Love Either Uplifts Or Contributes To Fallenness
Everything potentially good or bad revolves around love, so we must be careful what we love. The Word of God warns that "the love of money is the root of all evil" (I Timothy 6:10). Money is the fuel of economics. It represents power. We can never have enough of it. Money drives the world system. Out of the craving for more (money, fame, etc.) arises the cause for all wars, crime, and human suffering. This insatiable hunger can cause a “pulldown” which begins and ends with what we love. But to defy the pulldown and an inevitable demise, we must heed to what the apostle Paul said, "Set your affection [love] on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).
Loving the material world always pulls us down but loving God and knowing He first loved us, pulls us up. When we accept God’s love through Christ and perpetuate that love, it trumps the downward pull of evil and the curse on our lives. "God is love” and His purpose is to reconcile the world unto Himself through the sacrifice and death of His Son and to “make all things new.” Christ came to take away sin, destroy the work of satan and conquer death (1 Corinthians 15:57). Furthermore, through our faith in Christ we are made to be ministers of reconciliation by fulfilling the commandment of loving God and loving others. We have been equipped with truth and love so that we can nourish and protect relationships which should be the guideline for all of life's decisions and actions. The power of God’s love working in us and through us uplifts.
Only Jesus Can Rescue Us and Reverse Fallenness
Unless you welcome Jesus as a destroyer in your life, you can't have him as a Savior. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Jesus destroying the works of satan (the fallen one) and rescuing us is the only way the gospel of Jesus Christ makes any sense, if it is to be understood as good news. It is from this context that we have hope. Since this evil present world system is coming to an end, it is imperative that we not be distracted from Jesus Christ our only hope. Christ is the only One who can cure the fatal flaw of mankind by destroying the works of satan and reverse fallenness.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things. And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” —Revelation 21:4-5 (ESV)
The good news is that falleness will not continue. Jesus will come again to defy the pulldown once and for all. His Kingdom is coming to earth and “no longer will there be a curse upon anything” (Revelation 22:3). When Christ returns He will not only throw satan into the bottomless pit and bind him for 1,000 years, He will also make all things new and those who have been called by the name of Jesus and redeemed by His blood will reign with Him.
For he [Jesus] must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets. —Acts 3:21 (NLT