Jack Pelham

When you think about it,
It makes perfect sense
That there are so many
Hypocrites in the churches,
Since they do not generally
Run them off.

If that’s what floats your boat,
What better place could you be?

Can anyone really fathom
Just how different would be
A world in which there were no greed?

When you really understand something,
It makes more sense—
Like how some of the stuff you only
Thought you understood before didn’t—
Except that this is the opposite of that.

It was said that
He was a good man,
And then it was said that
Everybody liked him.
And it was at that point
That I knew that
At least one of these things
Must be false,
For even Jesus—
As good as he was—
Was despised and
Rejected by many.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

jOHN 15:18-19. esv

Wonder is the telltale sign
That a heart cares about
What it does not know.

When he wrote proverbs, not only did he
Have the form down quite nicely,
But he never held back as others might
When finding it difficult to put a finger
On the actual truth of a matter.

The story can feed the active mind,
Whether heard or read—
And whether it really happened or not.

This is an interesting question that’s not very well addressed in the Bible. I don’t intend to expound on the question here, but merely to mention those passages in the various writings that might seem to address this question. As of today, 21 May 2023, I know of three passages that seem to apply. Here they are:

It may burst your bubble to come too near
To this prickly truth I’m about to tell you, friend,
But I am under no obligation to become
A conspirator in your self-deceit.

It had been the simplest of commands—
You can eat all this, but not that.