Member Poem

These are epigrams I have written over the years about God, religion, the Bible and Christianity. The first epigram is the first poem I remember writing as a boy. 

Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch

If God
is good,
half the Bible
is libel.

I wrote the epigram above sometime between age eleven and thirteen, after having read the Bible from cover to cover and wondering how anyone could possibly consider the biblical "god" to be "good."

Bible libel (ii)
by michael r. burch

ur savior’s a cad
—he’s as bad as his dad—
according to your horrible Bible.

demanding belief
or he’ll bring u to grief?
he’s worse than his horn-sprouting rival!

was the man ever good
before being made “god”?
if so, half your Bible is libel!

Here "being made god" can be read two ways. Jesus was a man "made god" but he was equated with Jehovah, a mythical being also "made god." This is a follow-up poem to my childhood poem "Bible Libel."

Redefinitions

Faith: falling into the same old claptrap.—Michael R. Burch
Religion: the ties that blind.—Michael R. Burch
Baseball: occasional hittin’ with immeasurable spittin’.—Michael R. Burch
Trickle down economics: an especially pungent golden shower.—Michael R. Burch
Poetry: the art of finding the right word at the right time.—Michael R. Burch
 

The Church Gets the Burch Rod

How can the Bible be "infallible" when from Genesis to Revelation slavery is commanded and condoned, but never condemned?—Michael R. Burch

To fall an inch short of infinity is to fall infinitely short.—Michael R. Burch

How can infinite Love conceive of hell, or into any life where hell is possible?—Michael R. Burch

I have my doubts about your God and his “love”:
If one screams below, what the hell is “Above”?
—Michael R. Burch

Have Christians underestimated their God’s love, or his power to save, or both?—Michael R. Burch

A barbaric witchdoctor could dream up bloody sacrifices and hell, but an Enlightened Being? As Saint Paul was wont to say, Heaven forbid!—Michael R. Burch

Most Christians make God seem like the Devil. Atheists and agnostics at least give him the "benefit of the doubt."—Michael R. Burch

The best tonic for other people's bad ideas is to think for oneself.—Michael R. Burch

An ideal that cannot be realized is, in the end, just wishful thinking.—Michael R. Burch

Hell hath no fury like a fundamentalist whose God condemned him for having "impure thoughts."—Michael R. Burch

Religion is the difficult process of choosing the least malevolent invisible friends.—Michael R. Burch

If God has the cattle on a thousand hills,
why does he need my tithes to pay his bills?
—Michael R. Burch

God and his "profits" could never agree
on any gospel acceptable to an intelligent flea.
—Michael R. Burch

since GOD created u so gullible
how did u conclude HE’s so lovable?
—Michael R. Burch
 

Keywords/Tags: God, religion, Bible, Jesus Christ, Christianity, heaven, hell, salvation, damnation