Another response to Brian McLaren, this time to his comment that conservative Christians often find themselves on the wrong side of truth.
The billy-goats gruff had to move,
And oh! how they feared that troll.
But when you're on the wrong side of that wooden bridge,
Get a move on: you could lose it all.
Galileo gazed into the sky,
And oh! how some churchmen raged.
But those who thought the Sun was whizzing round the Earth
Are a footnote in history's page.
Charles Darwin saw how Nature worked,
And oh! how some churchmen laughed.
But saying apes can't climb down from their family tree
Isn't big or clever — just plain daft.
Some people make the Bible God,
And oh! how they turn and twist.
But if you treat a poem like a science book
You'll never know just what you've missed.
The troll says we should stay put.
And oh! how we fear his voice.
But God is on the far side of that wooden bridge
and truth is the braver choice.
Alternative last verse:
The troll says we should stay put.
And oh! how we fear his voice.
But God calls us to cross that wooden bridge,
and truth is the braver choice.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Just great. Can I send this to a few people?
ReplyDeleteYes, do.
ReplyDeleteHope you don't mind a comment in verse?
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What is truth? He asked, Pilate couldn't say.
I know sunrises; two plus two make four,
But facts are true or false, truth lies elsewhere
Where I know love and nothing else for sure.
And if truth is love and love is the way,
And such love has no width nor depth or height,
How can you get to the otherside of everywhere?
How can you be "in" the wrong or "in" the right?
I'll have to think about this. McLaren was talking about the Christians who did see truth as facts, and chose to side with the wrong ones: the sun revolving around the world, the world being 6000 years old and so on. The truth that is love is of a different order, and may be found on both sides of the bridge, but I still think we need to love God not only with our heart and strength, but also with our minds. Oh, I love having a comment in verse — thank you.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair the title of the poem as much as it's content, got me pondering and what I wrote is as much a result of that thinking and not necessarily a response or counter to what you have written. Complimentary perhaps.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a God of the Gaps type theology is doomed as the gaps are narrowing, if not shut, but I also think that we all get exhausted and bruised by struggling to get to a high ground of truth, or the other side of the bridge, when i think actually truth is something quite different which we have to search for with heart and mind and soul. Which I believe is what Jesus was getting at, although I might not be right.
I have not read any McLaren, but I love Henri Nouwen...
Aha! Sitting here with dog and iPad and leisurely cup of coffee, and iPad tells me that there is a new comment! Excellent. I have thought some more, and I see that there is a danger in the imagery of the poem. If it suggests that God is only on the side of those who get 'the truth' and not the die-hard fundamentalists, then it is clearly wrong. God=love is at work among all, and loves all. However, I do think there are ideas and practices which can (partially) separate us from God - after all, isn't that what sin does? And while I am not equating sin with intellectual ludditism, I do think that abandoning the silly attempt to justify young world Creationism and other nonsenses liberates people and allows them to walk more closely with God.
ReplyDeleteSee my amended last verse, just posted.
ReplyDelete