quote:
Originally posted by Fljotsdale:
Re-posted from Memnoch's thread on sarcasm.
Regarding sarcasm and personal attacks, I think the supreme authority for christians should be god, yes? Well, get a load of this:
from Job chapters 38, 39 (And remember Job was very ill, and down-and-out at the time. Furthermore, he had been placed in that position by god's permission and had been trying to defend both himself and GOD from the accusations of his 'comforters'.)
And YHVH (god, Jehovah) proceeded to answer Job out of the windstorm and say:
"Who is this that is obscuring counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins, please, like an able-bodied man, and let me question you and you inform me.
"Where did you happen to be when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you do know understanding...... (vss 1-4)
"Was it from your days onward that you commanded the morning? Did you cause the dawn to know its place?...... (vs 12)
"Have the gates of death been uncovered to you....? (vs 17)
"Have you intelligently considered the broad spaces of the earth? Tell, if you have come to know it all....... (vs 18)
Have you come to know because at that time you were being born and because in number your day are many? (vs21)
"Have you come to know the statutes of the heavens, or could you put its authority in the earth? (vs 33)
"Can you send forth lightnings so that they may go and say to you 'here we are!'? (vs 35)
"Is it owing to your understanding that the falcon soars up.....? Or is it at your order that an eagle flies upwards.....? (ch 39, vss 26, 27)
I could have quoted lots more, but I think the above makes the point. God himself is berating Job in terms of undiluted and highly effective sarcasm. At the end of it Job said "..I have become of little account.... I put my hand over my mouth..."
Anyway, if you are going to ban all sarcasm, you would be obliged to ban your god as well!
THINK ON IT! 
Fljotsdale, a rhetorical question and sarcasm are two different things.
The above biblical references are all the former.
An example of sarcasm could be to say:
"Well that was a bright thing to do!" When someone makes a mistake.
It is where the intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning, and often only discernable through tonal inflection and context.
Australians as a race are very very sarcastic.
I don't know what happened here, but I do know that picking a fight with a moderator is the possibly the best way to ensure longevity in a forum. (sarcasm, see?)
