Friday, April 17, 2015

God And Evil

God And Evil
Surazeus
2015 04 17

David kneels down by hospital bed
where his kind, generous, loving wife Arlene
lies broken after a car accident"
"I am glad you came, Michael, when I called.
Police tell me another man, enraged
she was driving too slow for his desire,
shot her while she drove a car full of children.
"Lord Jesus, God who created this world,
please, heal my wife and bring her back to life.
I know you are all-powerful and good,
and whatever happens in our lives
happens according to your divine plan,
and I must accept your will in all things.
Please, heal my wife and bring her back to life.
Just because I do not understand well
your plans for why we must suffer bad things,
does not mean that you are not at my side,
so guide me well according to your will.
Please, heal my wife and bring her back to life.
You are everywhere, watching over us,
so you were at her side inside her car,
watching over her when you let that man
shoot bullets at her, which caused her to crash.
Please, heal my wife and bring her back to life.
My life is not going the way I planned,
but I know it is going the way you planned.
I know you must have bigger plans for me
than I have for myself, so calm my heart
with confidence that you, Jesus, know best.
Please, heal my wife and bring her back to life.
Prayer is powerful, and you answer all,
but I must remember with patient faith
that you work on your own timing, not mine,
so help me understand why you allowed
my sweet loving wife to get shot and crash.
Please, heal my wife and bring her back to life.
I know there is a reason for closed doors,
unanswered prayers, blocked roads, and altered plans.
If my plans do not work out as I wish,
it is because you have better plans for me.
Please, heal my wife and bring her back to life.
You choose not to answer my prayer, Lord Jesus,
and now my wife is dead from accident.
I know you are taking her soul to heaven,
so now she is with you in paradise,
and I will her join her at my time to go."
David stands and stares down at his sweet wife
whose pretty blue eyes stare at nothing blank.
Michael places hand on shoulder of his brother.
"Jesus did not cause your wife to be killed,
nor did he take her soul to live in heaven.
Your wife died because an evil angry man
fired a gun at her, causing her to crash.
This accident was a random event,
and not part of some divine cosmic plan.
You say this world was created by God.
Remember wise paradox of Epicurus
about disparity between God and evil.
You say God is omnipotent and benevolent.
Yet this world is bloody from evil deeds
when people enslave and kill other people.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then we cannot say God is omnipotent.
Is God able to prevent evil, but not willing?
Then we must say God is malevolent.
Is God both able and willing to prevent evil?
Then why is evil rampant in our world?
Is God neither able nor willing to prevent evil?
Then God is not omnipotent nor benevolent.
If he is neither, then why call him God?
I must conclude your God does not exist.
While death of your kind loving wife is tragic,
no benevolent god caused her to die."
David weeps over body of his wife.
"I wanted you to be happy and live.
Everything I believed in disappears,
and my worldview based on God falls apart.
My faith in a good and all-powerful god
dies with your death, so now I am reborn
as if I wake from nightmare of belief.
Now I can believe in nothing but love,
for love alone can guide us through this world."

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Quantum Dice Of Fickle Fate

Quantum Dice Of Fickle Fate
© Surazeus
2015 04 16

Skating on thin ice in wild hockey game
of political ambition to play
king of the world, I gamble with your truth
by tossing quantum dice of fickle fate
with hope that I will win ten thousand minds,
so toss your quantum dice of fickle fate
to see if you can win eternal life.

Leaping high on rocket sandals of Hermes,
I soar on angel wings of righteous rage
into nether reaches of outer space
and preach salvation of eternal life
when Horus walks the crystal sky of stars,
so toss your quantum dice of fickle fate
to see if you can win eternal life.

Two billion people here on Planet Earth
believe some man two thousand years ago
will resurrect their bodies from blank death
and they will sing forever in paradise
but first have to buy the stairway to heaven,
so toss your quantum dice of fickle fate
to see if you can win eternal life.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Imagine You Are

Imagine You Are
© Surazeus
2015 04 14

Imagine you are alive without soul
and you are a cloud of mist in Steel City
and you hold in your hands an angry gun
and nobody cares about your beliefs
though God called you to be prophet of truth
as you run through maze of accomplishment
on sacred quest for salvation and truth.

Imagine your taut skin is every color
from white to pink to orange to brown to black,
your eyes are blue and green and brown and black,
your hair is blond and red and brown and black,
and you are male and female, both and neither,
as you walk past yourself on city streets,
exchanging smiles and frowns and neutral stares.

Imagine you are standing on high stage
before ten million faces watching you
and you speak spells in silver microphone
that amplifies your voice in echo chamber
and we all join in your heavenly choir
and sing together in false paradise
as you express our thoughts in jokes and poems
in universal church of faith in truth.

Imagine you are poet, rock star, clown,
and politician trying to win our votes
by preaching loud on street corner and stage
sacred visions you are sure came from God
and then you raise your microphone wand high,
lead us from slavery to the Promised Land,
and strike the rock to make sweet fountains flow,
as you parade after your flight to the moon
when we crown you emperor with no clothes.

Imagine you are risen from the dead
and glide on wings of light to paradise
where you rebel against authority
and fall nine days and nights back down to Earth
where we must meet in coffee shop at dawn
and talk about philosophy all day
as you watch cat videos on your cell phone
then we sing with the new Bob Dylan song.

Imagine you are human and robot,
and born again in the blood of the lamb,
and wear glass mask of actor you despise,
but when you pluck the apple of desire
and hide behind the rotten tree of life
remember who you are before you die.