The Church was ne'er a structure seen
With men that "lord" and choirs that sing;
With folk that sit back in the pews,
And give out money as they chuse.
Where all troupe off to Sunday School
To learn at least the "Golden Rule"!
And children learn sweet nurs'ry rhymes....
...How "Jesus Loves Me" all the time.
Where when the folk take to the pews,
They learn you're God's when you so choose;
With music, antics, flesh to please....
To bring the heathen in to see.
Where men persuade folk to be saved:
Perhaps by fear of unseen fate;
Perhaps 'cuz God is all alone....
"Please pity all His suff'ring, folks!"'
No! men of flesh and blood HE saved,
Caused by Himself and by His grace
T'live by HIS faith, nor walk by sight.....
THEY are His Church. They are His bride.
HE is the LORD. HE did them choose.
His Spirit in them to will and do;
The "Golden Rule"....their flesh denied.....
His love, His cross, His Word their Life.
His Word and HIS terror persuades;
By HIMSELF HE the heathen saves.
As for on earth what men do see?
They hate all those who Him do please.
-
Author:
Chic George (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: January 30th, 2011 00:04
- Comment from author about the poem: There are that say I am opinionated..... I know, I should talk, right? Ah, to be saved....not talk.
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 29
Offline)
Comments1
Sounds like words and feelings coming out from years spent in the environment you describe here. Not your typical religious poem. Not many who believe would admit to the fear factor so prevalent in Christianity.
I would respectfully take exception to the hate mentioned in the last verse, though. I don't hate believers. Hate is the most honest feeling; it cannot be faked. They say love is the most powerful feeling in the world? Well, one can fake love, but not hate.
However, it is also too strong a feeling to be used against people you don't even know personally, and in my opinion, not worthy of being used at all.
Well written.
Well, I am unfortunately, when not humbly(rarely) severely grieved, exceedingly disgusted with the gospel propounded by modern Christianity.
As for your respectful exception, I do not personally accuse anyone of the hatred....'tis simply, seriously only what the Lord Himself said IS verily the case. He says the world hates Him and all His people. Conversely He warns that the world loves its own and if it loves those who seem to be His, they are not truly His.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read and seriously comment...I feared 'twas a piece none would touch....thank you very much for your input and opinion.
It's difficult, if not impossible to hate someone you don't even believe exists...
Ah...you mean God?
Indeed. I must admit I do not believe in the God portrayed in the Christian Bible. Too vengeful and jealous. A human parent would not condemn his own children to eternal damnation no matter what the cause. Why would a loving God send his children to hell?
If I don't believe in you, don't take me to heaven, but what's the point of hell? To show me that truly God isn't love? I find that very difficult to accept.
....but then we prove His case...that indeed we do hate Him. He does not lie, and He says we do. We think we know better than Him indeed, and contrariwise He says His thoughts and ways are higher than ours and out of sight. So when we talk thus, we speak ignorantly and indeed hatefully. But we believe in Him only because He gives us to believe. We all perish because we are sinners and that is the wages for our sins. If He saves us, then we serve Him now and forever....
You can only hate him if you believe he exists. Personally I do not; not in the way the Bible describes him. As for lies... there are so many contradictions in the Bible, which is supposed to be the word of God...
For example, did you know Jesus' genealogy through Joseph his earthly father is described differently in two different books of the Bible and the only common ancestor between the two descriptions is David?
Or that Judas' death is described in two very different ways depending on which epistle you read? The Bible is full of inconsistencies of this kind, which only leads one to believe it can't be the word of a God. Not of a perfect God.
I'm not trying to make a significant point here; just to describe why I can't believe everything that is in that book.
LOVE...
And thank you very much for the discussion....it is a dangerous thing to embark on impetuously, since I am no improvement on anyone else, so am thereby virtually bound to trip up sooner or later...
As to the oft-mentioned seeming "inconsistencies" of the Word of God, presently I think they are not so much inconsistencies as mysteries to be searched out, possibly similar to what He says "..it is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."
For your examples....in Matthew it is apparently the line of Joseph, the husband of Mary, who bore the Lord Jesus Christ, the line of which was cursed, in I think the prophet Jeremiah, to never henceforth have a ruling heir, being the line of Solomon the son of David previously/originally made the ruling line, Joseph's lineage can never reign. Christ being not the seed of Joseph, but only his son by virtue of Joseph being Mary's husband, it therefore does not affect Christ's ability to reign over Israel, of whom He is rightful king....in the line of David. For the genealogy then given in the book of Luke it is postulated to be Mary's line by her father, again from David's sons, and further, a son of Bathsheba--his son Nathan--which then confirms God's promise to David that his seed would indeed reign over Israel forever, Mary, like Joseph, of the seed of David and the person God used to bring forth His Son the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh.
For Judas' death....looking it up...what are you referring to?...who purchased the field? In that case, I presently would say, apparently the Lord holds Judas ultimately responsible for the purchase of it, probably owing to the blood money used in the purchase, which fulfilled His prophecy by His prophet Jeremiah.
I do not desire to accuse you or anyone, for not believing, so please excuse me if I at all seem to, for that is not my intent.
As I said earlier, we believe because He has given it to us to believe, which is not my opinion, but His words. So I do not hold you responsible for disbelief, God is the Judge of all, to Whom we plead and to Whom alone mercy belongs since He renders to us according to our works, which in the case of His saints, are wrought by Him in them.
Thanks again for the discussion. I hope I have somewhat answered you and not contentiously or antagonistically.
I wrote something in reply, but not sure it made it through; maybe too long. I read all those explanations before. I grew up in the church and I was very interested in learning the bible and about it. All I can say is speculation. Bible says they're both Joseph's ancestries so when Joe Smith or Dick Johnson says it might be Mary's he's contradicting the word of God. Same thing for Judas': the bile said he did those things. tossed the money and hanged. Then he didn't really tossed it but bought a field himself and fell down and split open. Not that he hanged himself and then fell down.. I'm sure the hanging would have been mentioned; it's pretty significant. Beside, human bodies don't really fall and split open; that's sci-fi.
Be weary of people trying to explain the bible with things that not only aren't in there but are against what the bible says. That's not the word of God, right?
Like i said, I believe most of that book just not the living inside a fish for 3 days, people turning into salt pillars, city walls falling at the sound of a voice, water turning into wine, dead people in state of putrefaction (Lazarus) reviving, etc. These things don't happen in real life and one can never explain them with the same logic you and I use on a daily basis. If I have to suspend logic to believe them I can only derive they want me stupid in order to believe.
This is getting rather amusing, and all the more enjoyable as it progresses....seems to me something of a byproduct of the lies they(the "church") have been feeding us for some decades or centuries now. I like that,... "Be weary of people trying to explain the bible with things that not only aren't in there but are against what the bible says. That's not the word of God, right?"....agreed...of course not.
Then again, it goes without saying that if they are normal occurrences then they are no longer miracles. And we cannot explain how this world and our ancestors came to be, for any argument postulated requires belief in something miraculous, for amoebas have never been documented to produce anything other than their kind, nor have apes come from anything other than apes, and no frogs have been proven to produce anything other than something related to frogs, nor have explosions produced anything constructive. So, happily we do believe the miracle of creation, as presented in Genesis 1 and 2.
What do you do with His statement that "..the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned..."?
Yet, I cannot think we are to suspend logic in believing the veracity of the Bible, for the Lord says.."Come and let us reason together..." yet the rest of that sentence is rather against our reasoning...for it finishes, "..though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool..." which is not logical really, according to us....He says our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, saying if we keep the law it will be our righteousness, so says by His apostle Paul, "..not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith...." and of the Jews given the law, and keeping it for their righteousness He says "...they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
Your concluding sentence that "they" want us to be stupid and suspend logic in order to believe, lays the burden on the "church" which so far as I can see, has been feeding bunk and lies to its folk for some many years now. But that ignorance and false teaching He already prophesied would be the case, so it only fulfills His Word anyway. What we each believe about the Bible is between us and God....nobody other than the Lord Jesus Christ will stand before Him for us, whether we follow them or not, you know?
Well, I have been enjoying this discussion. Hope what I said was at least half logical and not blasphemous.
I, too enjoyed you comments on this topic.
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