So many who long to be “used by God”
Are operating under the false impression
That this happens mostly on special assignments
And is separate from the mundane obligation
To live a godly life.
What they want, it seems,
Is to be proud—
The prospects of actual godliness
Being unsatisfying to them.
You may resist seeing it this way, but I observe that
Church is for many a sanctuary
From the righteous requirements of God—
A refuge from accountability—
A collective conspiracy to imagine
That he is other than who the scriptures say he is, and
That he has no high expectations of man after all,
And that it’s all just a big misunderstanding—
If not a contemptible act of satanic heresy—
That anyone would think he does.
One thing you should understand about
How humans handle fact and logic
Is that there are practical considerations
That are more important to many
Than are fact and logic.
He boldly declared that it is flat-out wrong
To have any rule that’s not in the Bible.
And I asked whether this would include
The very rule he was stating—as there is
No such rule to be found in the Bible.
It’s not generally considered in good taste
To speak honestly about stupid people—
Though I should note that speaking stupidly
About honest people is still in high fashion.
Though I certainly understand how it works,
I will never cease to be amazed at the dumb junk
A guy can make up on the spot
In order to keep from believing
Something he doesn’t like.
You will have to put on your thinking cap to understand me here—
And there are certainly those who would rather misunderstand
Than to put on their thinking caps. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
And yes, I know better, from years’ of bitter experience,
Than to think that this stern introduction will
Keep the dedicated nonthinker from misunderstanding.
But the fact of the matter is that the nonthinker is not
My target audience. So here goes.
This catchy song is so obscure that there is nothing to be discovered about it from an Internet search. I’m a choral composer and conductor and I want to set this song for my community choir, to be accompanied by a Bluegrass band. I’ve got a lot of it done already, but I’m missing the second section of the song, and only remember two of the words to it.
Continue readingIt is an amazing gift that man has the faculties
For observation and analysis,
And for drawing conclusions and sticking to them.
Jesus had told the man, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.”
And billions, who cannot agree on much else, have taken it as a fact.
“It must have happened,” they will tell you,
Whether any writer tells us after the fact that it did or not.
