{"id":1418,"date":"2014-03-23T13:21:23","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T18:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2014-03-23T13:21:23","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T18:21:23","slug":"poem-guarding-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/23\/poem-guarding-god\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Guarding God"},"content":{"rendered":"

He stoutly guarded God<\/span>
\nFrom an unruly world<\/span>
\nAn unreveling creation<\/span>
\nAnd in such earnest<\/span>
\nHe, and millions others, were<\/span>
\nRelieved of their doody<\/span>
\nPerhaps only a small relief<\/span>
\nFor God above<\/span>
\nYet for such bellow<\/span>
\nRefuse-ing<\/span>
\nTo be passed so easy<\/span>
\nAs some foul gag<\/span>
\nUnyielding unearth<\/span>
\nAs unheavin’<\/span>
\nA feudal gesture<\/span>
\nIn such an unholy rupture<\/span>
\nLeaving behind<\/span>
\nAll the crap in religion<\/span>
\nUntil vomit us<\/span><\/p>\n

Does God need guards or protectors?\u00a0 Is God unable to fend for God’s self?\u00a0 Can God create such a mess so big that even God can’t clean it up?<\/p>\n

It seems to me that God and godliness are incarnated by our lives reflecting what is good, as opposed to enforcing precepts or ideas\/beliefs.\u00a0 I view means and ends as inextricably linked.\u00a0 How else could it be?\u00a0 Love begets love.\u00a0 And God is love.\u00a0 Violence begets violence.\u00a0 And while many might be skeptical of love, of God, few doubt that “means” lead to “ends.”\u00a0 It strikes me that the separation from living in the foundational nature of God, that is unconditional love, is the beginning of sin.\u00a0 Similarly, trying to take\u00a0 shortcuts to God’s reign by “enforcement” strikes me as the birth of idolatry, wanting to lord over others.\u00a0 This approach strikes me as feudal!\u00a0 This approach is futile in the same way that expecting violence will end violence is foolish.\u00a0 Both our materialist and spiritualist aspects can unite around this necessary order.\u00a0 Unless your view of reality is wholly absurd, there is lawful order in the universe — certain things lead to other certain things.\u00a0 Now, not everything is certain.\u00a0 But uncertainty is not a license to ignore those things which are certain.\u00a0 For example, you can ignore the law of gravity, but, quite predictably, this will not serve you or others well.\u00a0 Likewise, you can ignore the laws of love, or violence, but don’t pretend that such lawlessness will bring greater order and harmony in the world.<\/p>\n

Back to this poem’s theme of “all the crap in religion.”\u00a0 Organizing love can be a perilously backwards approach, since love is the prime mover.\u00a0 Trying to franchise God — that is, franchise love — will fail inasmuch as: 1) love is not what we preach, and 2) we don’t practice what we preach (regardless of what it is that we preach).\u00a0 The first is being on mark with the purpose of religion.\u00a0 There is plenty of disagreement here, on what love means.\u00a0 The second is about authenticity and authority.\u00a0 Authority is undermined inasmuch as you preach one set of rules and live by another.\u00a0 This perilous law is where law-giving and law-preaching most commonly fail.\u00a0 Preaching lawfulness while practicing lawlessness, well, just doesn’t do much for lawfulness.\u00a0 The Lord of all has authority because God’s nature is unconditional love, manifest in grace, generosity, mercy, patience, and joyful freedom.\u00a0 In Christianity, Jesus is lifted up because he came as a servant leader.\u00a0 Jesus is the way inasmuch as Jesus melded the sacred nature of God as unconditional love fully into his way of living.\u00a0 That’s the kind of leader worth emulating.\u00a0 And all who stand against this, will fail.\u00a0 But like gravity, the law of love seems weak and slow, particularly in narrow contexts and short time horizons.\u00a0 Still, gravity, as love, will work its way, its purpose, in a sure and steady way.\u00a0 Ignore such laws at your own peril.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He stoutly guarded God From an unruly world An unreveling creation And in such earnest He, and millions others, were Relieved of their doody Perhaps only a small relief For God above Yet for such bellow Refuse-ing To be passed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[398,434,25,262,574,460,115,415,65,263,446,127,24,79,157,273,645,596,379,387,658,94,601,83,600,128,30,529,487,163,203,380],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-authenticity","tag-authority","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-creation","tag-foolish","tag-freedom","tag-generosity","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-harmony","tag-idolatry","tag-jesus","tag-joy","tag-law","tag-love","tag-materialist","tag-mercy","tag-nature","tag-patience","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-reality","tag-religion","tag-rules","tag-sacred","tag-spiritual","tag-time","tag-universe","tag-violence","tag-war","tag-work"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Guarding God | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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