Author Archives: jackpelham

She dutifully admits to error,But assumes it to beMuch smaller in scopeThan it is. And while she has an inkling of this,She cannot bring herselfTo see it As an error in its own right—As equally in needOf admissionAs the first.

The one man, Faced with the prospect of an existing God, Cannot help himself But to cast offIn a voyage of the imagination,As if to decide by fiat What this God must be like.

It is a make-believe love,In which he pretendsThat pretending to loveIs the actual essence Of loving itself.

Start it now! He is undoneIn his argumentBut too blind to see it. He has lost touch with this realityEven as he pounds away at others—His affect screamingThat reality mattersAnd that if they know what’s good for them,They had all … Continue reading →

Let us carefully choose From among theseMyriad gems of virtueBut a few tokens—That we might hollow them outTo a mere shell of what they were,So as to more easily carry them aboutWherever we go,As a signal to all that We … Continue reading →

Not all weirdness comes from messed-up church doctrine, but I’m having a hard time thinking of any messed-up church doctrine that doesn’t lead eventually to some sort of weird behavior, however large or small it may be.

There is in many an assumptionThat conversion to ChristIs but a short process,Involving little more Than the adoption Of a new axiom or two,Such as that Jesus is Lord—Or in the case of the particularly eager,Jesus is my personal Lord … Continue reading →

It is a pernicious mistake By which the one Wrongly assumes the blame For the faults of the other.

I’ve been thinking on this,And here’s the way I see it.So please listen while I make my case. Between your thorns and mine, How could we help but be pricked, Except by either removing our thornsOr keeping our distance? Think … Continue reading →

Jesus said so much into the recordThat sits there to this day,Untapped by Earth’s billions,And even by those in the very churchesUpon which his name has been affixed. And let us not fail to noticeThat he does not stamp his … Continue reading →