But redemption is no joke.

Who is joking about redemption? And what does redemption have to do with April Fools'? The word "but" seems to indicate a relationship between the two ideas, but there isn't a logical connection there. It's like me saying, "April Fools' is great. But cracking my knuckles is no joke."

Someone here once posted something very similar on April Fools', but she intended it as a joke in itself, parodying the overspiritualized and somewhat legalistic denunciations of the day. She even (mis)quoted Scripture about not being a fool . Her purpose was to reveal the way that certain groups misuse the Word to support their agendas. I'm sure someone can dig this up from the old forum. It was priceless!

If April Fools' bothers you, NarniaWeb isn't a good place for you to be on April 1st

220, I'm sure Jesus had a sense of humor! While He would never have participated in a joke that would offend someone, or make them upset, or hurt anyone, I don't see anything spiritually wrong in having a little good, clean fun. Yes, redemption, and Jesus's sacrifice is not something to be made fun of, but just because he did die on the cross for us doesn't mean he would be solemn and serious all the time!

And as for the tricks we play on April Fool's day around here---they are never intended to offend, or harm of course! Us mods switching around our usernames and avatars is intended to confuse and just have some general fun. I really doubt people would be so upset over something like that that they'd leave NW or become seriously offended. If we ever do have a "trick" that upsets anyone, it was definetly never meant that way!

Hmm... I'm sure Jesus did have a sense of humor, but there is also that small verse in Exodus 20 to consider too.

@qwerty: what verse are you referring to?

@Valiant: yes, there's nothing wrong with good, clean fun. Afterward, I actually preferred NW's tomfoolery to what was on AC and NF. I guess I'm thinking of the latter websites' April Fool's stories. They were lies intended to deceive. What is good and clean about that? And I'm a newsposter for and member of AC.

@wisewoman: maybe I shouldn't have connected April Fool's and Easter, but maybe I should have too. Jesus came to this earth for the express purpose of dying on a cross for my sins, drinking the cup of God's wrath intended for me, the cup I should have drunk if I weren't saved and God withdrew His life-giving breath from my body. The cross was on Jesus's mind from the moment He was baptized in the Jordan. Did He have good, clean fun? I think so. But did Jesus tell a lie? No. Did He deceive anyone? No.

Let's consider the effect of an April Fool's story/joke we do/tell on a small child. We intend to deceive. The child trusts us and later learns the story/joke was a lie. Can he or she ever trust us again? Just think about it, people...

220, we've done many an April Fools story from having a Camp for all ages be put together to having Mr. T play Reepicheep. We take great care in how we craft our stories and when we post the stories. We also go back and label each and every news story with the words April Fools the next day to make certain that the general public knows they are fake.

Most to all of the stories are just plausible enough, but probably 99% of members and visitors know that it is tradition to post crazy news stories on April 1 here on the site. The only reason I don't say 100% is because there will be new members and such. Going along with the joke is half the fun on the day in question. Can it really be deception if people are expecting it ahead of time?

When I changed my screen name to hobbitkat on April 1, I didn't own up to being starkat, but neither did I deny it. If I was directly asked, I owned up over the pm system. While we may post crazy news stories, they are easily disproved with a bit of research as well as our changing of our usernames. We didn't change our e-mails. We came clean by the end of the day. If someone is truly concerned about something we did, they pm us and we talk it out with them. The same as with our usernames this last April 1.

Edit: You're right in the we have to take care with what we do and how we say it, but also as others have said, it is good clean fun.

Well, there are no small children here and if there are, they lied to us to join the forum. Everyone knows what April Fools is about and they come on sites like NarniaWeb to find goofy fake news stories. No one is hurt by it and everyone has a lot of fun with it. I think you're making a huge deal out of something very trivial.

The direction of discussion in this thread is suited more for the Christianity, Religion, and Philosophy thread, and so with that this thread will shut down.