Tag: faith

NaPoWriMo Day 22

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Personal, Poetry, Religion, Self AwarenessLeave a comment

No real idea where this came from. Just started putting words down and let them take the shape they wanted. It’s no less true for all that.

 

My Truth

There must be some comfort in faith,

in knowing what is true.

In knowing if you walk the line,

good things will come to you.

To live a life of surety,

that in the end you’ll win.

If you just follow all the rules,

renounce your every sin.

I lack that faith can’t claim a space,

that’s reserved just for me.

Can’t claim to know the will of God,

I’ll have to wait and see.

So I live life the best I can,

and try to do what’s right.

I do not claim to know the truth,

pray sometimes late at night.

If something’s there, whatever’s there,

may hear my prayers or not.

The truth is this for me at least,

Sometimes I feel forgot.

I speak into the dark and wait,

and then make up my mind.

No answer ever came to me,

my own path I did find.

But maybe that was God’s great plan,

that I should figure out.

What’s right or wrong all on my own,

and overcome my doubt.

So I still talk into the dark,

think maybe something’s there,

But I still choose the path I walk,

and my own choices bear.

 

Cheers, Winston

Fundamentalist Yes, Christian; Not So Much

On By WinstonIn Personal, Politics, Religion, Society7 Comments

Welcome Brethren, Sisters, one and all. Are you confused by all the people claiming to do God’s will? Do you look at what they are doing and wonder if you misunderstood it all like they claim? Do you feel the call of the Fundamentalists? Well, worry no more. I am here to help!

Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Good citizens of the blogosphere! Welcome to Brother Win’s Traveling Miracle Tent And Christian Values Revival! Step inside and I will reveal to you: The TRUTH! That’s right folks. They claim it, I’ve got it. Have a seat right up front here, we’ve got plenty of room.

When a sitting US senator says that homosexuals and unwed mothers shouldn’t be allowed to teach, they talk about Christian Values. When people want to cut social programs, they talk about Christian Values. Others say non-Christians shouldn’t hold public office, or that the debt crisis is God’s punishment for (you guessed it) declining Christian Values. All these people talk about Faith and how God hates this group or that group, and they quote the Bible. That must mean they’re right, right? Wrong!

They are absolutely wrong, and I’ll tell you why. They are slow readers. That’s the whole of it. They’ve been reading that Book for years, but they’ve never got more than half way through it. They read the part where it says an adulteress should be stoned to death. They never got to the second half of the Bible. That’s where Jesus says, “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” They read the bit about unclean acts, but they missed the chapters on forgiveness in the second half.

That’s right folks, everyone who talks about hate totally missed the New Testament. Well not totally, they just skipped ahead to Revelations. All of them read Revelations. Do you want to know why? The answer my friends is fear. That’s what the Old Testament has in common with Revelations, they are all about fear. Their message is, “Do what we say. Or else.”. That’s the perfect message for people who hate. It’s perfect for people who want power. People who like to tell others what to do, they love that message of fear. But it’s not what Jesus taught!

Jesus taught people not to fear. He taught people to hope. His message wasn’t one of fear, but of love. I can hear what the “Fundamentalists” are saying right now. “Jesus said He didn’t come to change the Law.” That’s absolutely true. He didn’t come to change it, He came to take our punishment for every sin we could ever commit. The Old Testament was a huge list of “Do”s” and “Don’t”s. The list in the New Testament list is a little shorter. “Believe in me and you shall be saved.” That’s it. One simple rule. Do this, and you’re in. Regardless.

There are a couple more of his teachings that I’ve always liked. When Texas Governor Rick Perry rented a football stadium for his blatantly political Day of Prayer he definitely hadn’t gotten to the second half of the Bible. If he had, he might have remembered this line. “Be not like the Pharisees and the Sadducees who pray loudly in the streets. Go instead into a dark room, lock the door and pray there. In context it means, stop trying to look righteous and start being righteous. That’s not something Gov. Perry or ANY of those like him want to hear. If people can’t see them being “righteous” there’s not much point for them. People aren’t going to go along with your hate-fueled personal agenda if they don’t see how “righteous” you are.

Then there’s my personal favorite. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one and other. Even as I have loved you, that you also love one and other.”. If you follow this one rule, the other ten are automatic.

The other day, a man named Jack Layton passed away. He wasn’t a mass murderer, or a brutal despot. Still, a person of “Faith” posted this when wishing his friend a happy birthday. “Jack Layton died… Great Birthday present.”. I guess they didn’t get more than halfway through either.

Now you know The TRUTH! Next time someone tells you that God Hates this, or God Hates that, feel free to tell them The TRUTH. “God so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON to die for our sins.” They won’t hear you, but don’t let that stop you. If we don’t speak up, people will only hear their voices.

Now rise up my Brothers and Sisters! Leave my humble tent and go out into the world. Take The TRUTH with you, for it Shall make you free.

Cheers, Winston