Dear, Søren Your philosophy is like a bridge between Nihilism and Transcendentalism. For there are two great forces working in the world today, that of nihilism and transcendentalism. And by your reckoning, life is about making a choice between the two. The Bible, being the object of faith, is not as important as the faith itself---or the relationship with our Creator. While I accept as true every word the Good Book proclaims, I'm skeptical of convincing atheists of it. Because what's important is their belief in one miracle, and one miracle alone. And that is Christ Jesus' burial and resurrection. If one is confident of that, one will be saved. Whether Noah built an ark or Eve was literally formed by the rib of Adam---I believe it wholly, but I also have knowledge only very few do---it's inconsequential to the greater miracle of Christ's burial, death and resurrection. The Virgin Birth must be believed too, and that Christ was God Made into Human Flesh. These three revelations are the three miracles by which all Christians must believe to be saved. Greater knowledge comes when you accept the others, greater faith, greater relationship with God. But, I do not pretend to convince an Atheist that the world were flat, why would I pretense to convince him that evolution were not true? Especially since it is irrevocably observed, and as cannon to science as any other truth? We ought not argue about it. Rather, the Bible should be accepted on the merit of faith that the Bible is true. Because its morality is true. Greater than whether Noah existed---which he most certainly did---is the knowledge that he was not Gilgamesh, a warrior, firebrand, nor did he fight heathens off his ship. He was a farmer, the only man of faith in the world, humble, and possibly preaching to all that the flood would come, yet none would listen to him. Happy he would have been to have anyone on his ship, but God shut the ears of the world around him, and thought only to save his three sons and daughter in laws. And that's the importance of the story, which even Christians forget. We, often, want to shut the door to the world, and pretend like we are greater in our efforts. That we ought to be like Gilgamesh, fighting with the sword and punishing the Heathen. Yet Christ says, "He who slays with the sword must be slain by the sword." In no uncertain terms, Christ says, "Judge not lest you be judged." Rather, if we are like Noah, we are beckoning an unbelieving world to come join us in the ark, but none will take the call, or they think we're lunatics until the torrential rains come. I understand that a lot of Christians will be angry at me, but faith is understanding the story. It's not literally believing the story---though, that can just as easily be a condition for true faith. As the miracle we ought to believe, wholly, is that Christ died for our sins, and resurrected. We need not believe in demons, ghosts, fairies, aliens, angels, djinni or otherwise anything, though some of it may be true. We need to have faith in Christ and Christ alone, that He, in bodily flesh, suffered and died and is the LORD. That God Himself died for our sins. I'm not even sure one ought to believe in hell, but one must surely believe in heaven. As, true belief in Christ will cause one to obey the moral teachings of scripture, to understand that they are true. Such things as Noah's example with the ark. Greater spiritual awareness will cause one to understand the rest is true, but that granule of a miracle is all a Christian needs to convince anyone of. Telling people the world were flat, evolution isn't true, and that the Earth is only six thousand years old is harder than passing a camel through the eye of a needle. And I don't mean the walls of Jerusalem, as Christians in their lack of faith believe that is what Jesus was referring to. It can be done, with God's help. But by our own power, we ought to preserve the unbeliever's soul with one teaching, and that is Christ preeminent. If you can believe in that one small miracle, the life and teachings, and death and resurrection of Christ, then you can be saved. I've seen men like Tolstoy believe that, and even doubt the miraculous healings of Christ, but I'm confident he was saved. As salvation is a willingness to do what is right under all circumstances, through riches or poverty, through persecution or praise. And it is spiritually enabled in the Christian's heart to follow based proportionally to their commitment to the truths in the Bible. For some men, this is a stumbling block and I adjure them to continue in their faith. But, I worry about them stumbling over their faith when some great catastrophe happens in the name of science, where some form otherworldly is discovered. As I understand they are demonic---but in order to ensure we never face those questions in our lifetime, it is best we evangelize with Christ Preeminent, come in the Flesh. Jesus Christ is Come in the Flesh, and we need to preach that truth before any other can be accepted. And that truth means changing out behavior to fit the model Christ set for us, and not abandoning it. As one can believe all the Bible Stories they want, if they don't believe in grace it's all for naught. And believing in grace means the accompanying of action. Not simply setting our light under a basket.
Tag: Uncategoried
Prose Poem
I bought a little book of prose poems, which were all offensive to my ears. Every gaudy little line, every tacky little phrase, every grandiloquent little flowery line. One I read didn't like Hosea, who condemned adulterers to death. I think to myself, "We all deserve to die, you hypocrite." They talk about environmentalism. Offensive, draught, drivel, burning in my ears are these parasitic ostriches, and simplistic metaphors. That such would even be published, that such would even be brought to this mind nurtured and succored on the ancient belles-lettres of the past. I hate it. Yet, I would have it never burned, for everyone can have their say. For the only offense it has committed against me, is that it is published and I am not. Should my writing be among the principle letters read for generations, this angst would be sufficed, and I would be at peace. Yet, it is the simplicity of this book which causes people to misunderstand the great art form of Poetry. It is like a puzzle, which entails listening for an hour's time to a few hundred words. But, no one will give my poetry the time because simple poems have dominated the market. So I burn with jealousy; and if I should burn in this unrequited passion, I still should not throw the book into the blaze. For, though hot, and angry, and fuming, it will help me understand someone else. And with that is wisdom worth the twenty-four dollars I spent on it.
The Empress Wears No Clothes; My Retelling
The Empress Shi Wu was extraordinarily beautiful.
Her bosom was supple,
Her face like a well sculpted diamond,
Her stomach like a sack of wheat
With four precious stones,
Her legs were thighs of strength
And her feet were like sparrows.
Her hair was that of a frame
Which framed beauty incarnate.
At the beginning of her reign
She saw the people were poor.
So, she began by making the people richer
By adding tin to their silver coin.
This, by reason,
Made the coin much more plenteous.
The people became poor.
Then, she began to build the merchant guilds.
These guilds she would cause to make merchandise for the poor.
The merchants built and made much merchandise,
So Shi Wu put more coin into the land to buy merchandise.
But, the merchants ended up with all the coin,
And would melt them to make pure silver,
Buying the poor’s merchandise with the dross.
Shi Wu then began to become rich by the merchants
Who supplied her treasury with great merchandise,
Even from greater Persia all the way from the other china.
Shi Wu became exceedingly rich.
The people became poor.
The people had traditions,
The people had great science.
Their science said the world was round
That God created the world through nature
And that men were made up of smaller parts.
Shi Wu then saw this.
She said, “Tell the people there is no God
“And that their traditions are worthless.
“That their God says the earth is flat
“And that God did not use nature to make the earth.
“This way, they must buy more.
“Make enriching me their religion.”
So, she did.
The people had tin
And not silver,
And a shekel of tin was worth a grain of wheat.
The people became poor.
But Shi Wu, they heard,
Said that their traditions were stupid.
So, the people began to believe that the earth was flat
Rather than believe Shi Wu.
Obviously, if the earth were flat,
It would explain the lie of Shi Wu.
The people also believed that people
Were not made of smaller parts…
Rather, the people were just one whole
Flesh of writhing sinew.
Their traditions, they thought,
Were correct, so when Shi Wu said
The traditions of the ancestors were that men were sinew
And that the world were flat,
The people began to believe their traditions
Instead of Shi Wu.
This angered Shi Wu,
So she began to tax the people.
For, their traditions held that the earth was flat
And now the people believed the Earth was flat
Because of their traditions
Which Shi Wu said were not good.
Thus, Shi Wu in one last act of defiance
Disrobed, and called in every male within the borders of her country
To come and view her.
Lusty she was,
She did obscene things before their very eyes
Just to humiliate the traditions of their ancestors.
She said, “See! Is not my beauty sufficient?
“You all can have Shi Wu who wants her!”
But, there began a rumor saying,
“The Emperor wears no clothes.”
This angered Shi Wu,
So she said, “Anyone who says, ‘The Emperor wears no clothes,’
“This man, woman or child shall be put to death.”
But, the people, all having seen her shame
Did not believe her, though many were put to death.
For the traditions of the ancestors were stronger
Than the tradition of Shi Wu.
The Empress Wears No Clothes; My Retelling
The Empress Shi Wu was extraordinarily beautiful.
Her bosom was supple,
Her face like a well sculpted diamond,
Her stomach like a sack of wheat
With four precious stones,
Her legs were thighs of strength
And her feet were like sparrows.
Her hair was that of a frame
Which framed beauty incarnate.
At the beginning of her reign
She saw the people were poor.
So, she began by making the people richer
By adding tin to their silver coin.
This, by reason,
Made the coin much more plenteous.
The people became poor.
Then, she began to build the merchant guilds.
These guilds she would cause to make merchandise for the poor.
The merchants built and made much merchandise,
So Shi Wu put more coin into the land to buy merchandise.
But, the merchants ended up with all the coin,
And would melt them to make pure silver,
Buying the poor’s merchandise with the dross.
Shi Wu then began to become rich by the merchants
Who supplied her treasury with great merchandise,
Even from greater Persia all the way from the other china.
Shi Wu became exceedingly rich.
The people became poor.
The people had traditions,
The people had great science.
Their science said the world was round
That God created the world through nature
And that men were made up of smaller parts.
Shi Wu then saw this.
She said, “Tell the people there is no God
“And that their traditions are worthless.
“That their God says the earth is flat
“And that God did not use nature to make the earth.
“This way, they must buy more.
“Make enriching me their religion.”
So, she did.
The people had tin
And not silver,
And a shekel of tin was worth a grain of wheat.
The people became poor.
But Shi Wu, they heard,
Said that their traditions were stupid.
So, the people began to believe that the earth was flat
Rather than believe Shi Wu.
Obviously, if the earth were flat,
It would explain the lie of Shi Wu.
The people also believed that people
Were not made of smaller parts…
Rather, the people were just one whole
Flesh of writhing sinew.
Their traditions, they thought,
Were correct, so when Shi Wu said
The traditions of the ancestors were that men were sinew
And that the world were flat,
The people began to believe their traditions
Instead of Shi Wu.
This angered Shi Wu,
So she began to tax the people.
For, their traditions held that the earth was flat
And now the people believed the Earth was flat
Because of their traditions
Which Shi Wu said were not good.
Thus, Shi Wu in one last act of defiance
Disrobed, and called in every male within the borders of her country
To come and view her.
Lusty she was,
She did obscene things before their very eyes
Just to humiliate the traditions of their ancestors.
She said, “See! Is not my beauty sufficient?
“You all can have Shi Wu who wants her!”
But, there began a rumor saying,
“The Emperor wears no clothes.”
This angered Shi Wu,
So she said, “Anyone who says, ‘The Emperor wears no clothes,’
“This man, woman or child shall be put to death.”
But, the people, all having seen her shame
Did not believe her, though many were put to death.
For the traditions of the ancestors were stronger
Than the tradition of Shi Wu.
B. K. Neifert 