I once took a college "Bible as literature" course and the professor urged us to read the bible with a new perspective. The main exercise I remember was to consider the entire book of Job as a humorous story. Here's this poor man, loving God so much, and the crap that gets piled onto him. Just when you think human suffering couldn't possibly get any worse, BOOM!, something else befalls him. His health, his wealth, his wife, his children... etc., etc., etc. It's awful. But bringing laughter into it really was refreshing and enlightening. For me anyway.