richards odes

I Don’t Trust Theology

Many sermons start with prayers that their words may be right

And anything that’s not of God will fade right out of sight.

This is my prayer with all the odes I write and what is more

That God will give you guidance on what you should ignore!

I really love the bible and I know it’s God inspired

With prayer and contemplation we may know what God desired.

Some tales were passed by word of mouth for many, many years

The subtlety of tone and stress depends upon one’s ears.

Of course the ones who scribed it were merely mortal men

Subject both to error and bias now and then.

Some wrote in Aramaic and others wrote in Greek

And none of them were certain of the truth that we all seek.

Then they were translated more than once or twice

But by then the book translators could not ask them for advice!

Finally in English there’s more versions than enough

To say which one is better is very, very tough.

One thing is for certain they all have the same theme

But if you think they’re all the same you’re living in a dream.

You can choose the one you like, the one that suits your mind

To say you might be prejudiced would be most unkind!

Whichever version suits you they all need lots of prayer

All of them are God inspired so you should not care.

Faith is not a matter of finding solid proof

So do not quote the bible for I will stand aloof.

Your belief is personal, between you and your maker

Be you Jehovah’s Witnesses, C of E or Quaker.

The church’s theologians have argued from the first

And I hope that by this time they have done their worst!

They labelled those who disagreed as the devil’s breed

And death and persecution was what was then decreed.

Does this sound like Jesus’ way? Or sent by God above?

Did not our Saviour tell us God was a God of love?

I really love the bible and the stories it relates

Of a God who wants us all to enter heaven’s gates.

I say the creed with everyone and mostly I agree

But I must say that lots of it don’t matter much to me.

I cannot tell if some of it is either right or wrong

Luckily God knows the truth so I can play along.

When I get to meet him, God will put me right

And whatever others think, I will sleep at night!

God Bless you all.