Kootenai Church Sunday School: Christian Ethics

Is a dirty joke automatically a sin, and is all humor off-limits for Christians? Lesson 36 wraps up the study of the third commandment with three practical topics: filthy talk, humor, and irreverence.
Teacher Dave Rich works through the Greek behind Paul's lists of prohibited speech in Ephesians 4 and 5 and Colossians 3, unwholesome, filthy, foolish talk, and coarse jesting, and shows from several Old and New Testament examples that the Bible itself uses blunt, even bathroom language when it serves truth and clarity. The real issue is not the word itself but whether speech is truthful, loving, edifying, and appropriate.
Rich then turns to humor, arguing from Scripture's own use of absurd and funny illustrations, gnats and camels, a sluggard too lazy to feed himself, that laughter and wit are not inherently sinful and can even be commanded by God.
The lesson closes back at the heart of the third commandment, irreverence, whether in worship songs, careless prayer, casual preaching, or common phrases borrowed from sacred biblical language. Rich challenges listeners to speak, sing, and pray with a settled awareness that they live and speak in the presence of God.
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Creators and Guests

Host
Dave Rich
Teacher, Kootenai Community Church

What is Kootenai Church Sunday School: Christian Ethics?

This comprehensive Christian Ethics series provides believers with a biblical framework for navigating moral questions in contemporary life. Through systematic teaching, the series explores meta-ethics, normative ethics, and practical applications grounded in Scripture. Topics include the authority of God's Word, the relationship between law and gospel, and identity in Christ as the foundation for ethical living. The series addresses modern ethical dilemmas, including technology ethics, artificial intelligence, social media, business ethics, sexual ethics, and racism. Listeners will gain clarity on controversial topics such as Sabbath-keeping, images of Jesus, and the conscience's role in decision-making while avoiding ethical ditches like legalism and antinomianism.