I Lit A Match

I lit a match

one bright day,

and failed to see cast light.

Its flame was feeble

in the glare,

and brought nothing to my sight.

I lit a match

one dark night,

and was astonished by its flare.

What things hidden

sprang to sight!

Never shall I despair.

The Call of Righteousness

Athiest, you are called by your Reason to righteousness;
Christian, you are called by your Lord.

Muslim, you are called by the prophet Mohamed;
Jew, you are called by Yahweh;

Bhuddist, you are called by your Teachers,
Hindu, you are called by your Gods;

Believers, of many diverse faiths
Called, one and all by one call.

Called to peace, the peace of the righteous;
Peace, without murder or war.

Peace, with freedom and justice abundant;
Peace, for ever and for all.

Germany

In the north lands, long ago
There stood a land of freedom;
Mythical though it may be,
I sing of ancient Germany.

"Of the people," Deutschland means;
And so the tribes did spread;
Across the forests, snows, and plains;
Often invaded, never conquered.

In Deutschland, all were mostly free,
Mothers were mostly honored;
Within each tribe all freely traded,
Courage and valor mattered.

So Deutschland stayed, in first version:
Repelling each Roman incursion,
Despoiling their eagles of war,
While worshiping the German Thor.

Until Rome decayed, and
In swept, or crept the German tribes,
to sit upon the ancient thrones,
and pillage what remained.

And so did Deutschland finally lose
Its freedoms held so dear;
By feasting on the dying beast,
It enlivened and became her.

This song in German tongue
Does mourn that mad temptation;
Sing it loud with heart and lung,
And warn of repetition.

Refrain:
Tho' Germany the free is lost,
Its children kept in chains:
May myths of captors be forgot,
May freedom live again.

About the OMG JC Musings

From now on, posts that do not fit neatly into the story line of UWBAAB will be collected under the link OMG JC Musings.  This stands for Open-Minded Germanic Judeo-Christian Musings (or if you prefer, the O My God Jesus Christ Musings).  I hope you find the musings interesting, edifying, and uplifting.

Posts in UWBAAB story line are collected under the UWBAAB link.

Stigmata And Other Signs

Asking for signs from God can be a tricky business.  It is not so simple as asking to see somebody's ID, which is a sort of sign.  A sign that the somebody is the person they claim to be.  This sort of thing won't work with God. ID always has an issuer.  Some authority that verifies peoples' identities.  If we trust the issuer, we trust the ID.  But who will verify God's identity?  Who has that authority?

Obviously, nobody.  If there were such an authority, God wouldn't be God, because there would be some higher power.  There's no asking God to show ID.  Everybody should know this, of course.  So when sensible people ask for signs, they usually ask to see something that only God could do.   Not necessarily something physically impossible, but just something real, that they wouldn't expect to happen naturally, and that correlates in some way to their inner experiences that caused them to want the sign in the first place.  These kinds of experiences can be very personal, and very powerful to those who believe.  But if you think about it, all the power of even the most incredible sign comes entirely from faith.  Faith, which to the skeptic is mere gullibility, or wishful thinking.

Ultimately, there's no sure way to prove that God has played any part in forming one's experiences, no matter how amazing.  Parting the Red Sea.  Raising the dead.  Predicting the future.  All of these things are conceptually possible without the involvement of an ultimate Deity.  Magicians and wizards might do them, or aliens possessing superior technology.   Thank God for that.  Signs are not useful for proving anything.  Proof is not the proper purpose of signs.

People are people all the same.  People have language.  They cannot really believe in a Deity that is mute.  How could a Creator God lack the power of language?   The proper purpose of divine signs is the same as language.  Communication.  From God's heart to yours, and back again.

It is written that the Messiah said, "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you shall find."  In keeping with this promise, some ask for signs, and are given them.  Some seek signs and find them.  Others are given signs they did not ask for, and find signs that they were not looking for.  These unexpected signs can be life changing.  Saul experienced such an unexpected sign on the road to Damascus, and became the Apostle Paul.  It was a sign he could not ignore -- or more precisely, choose not to ignore.  History, or history as it once was, is full of such examples.

Like it or not, we live in the age of SPU, not in the age of the apostles, and not in any age less comprehensively regulated and enlightened by experts than the present one.  In the age of SPU, theology is a licensed vocation, subjugating thoughts of more transcendent moralities to the humanitarian needs of SPU and its committees.   Idle writings about deities are illegal as soon as any authority or power of salvation is claimed.  The Board respects this reality, and claims no authority, knowledge or power of salvation.  Nor does it write fiction.  It writes instead of personal muses, day-dreams, hopes, beliefs, memories, reliable or not.  Not unlike a teenager scrawling "OMG" all over her diary -- the Board's writings of signs and miracles are just as meaningless and harmless, to the cool rational eyes of SPU's technicians.  No one could possibly take an interest in such folderol, let alone be swayed from faith in SPU because of it.

In the age of SPU, one would not expect to find stigmata, unless in the dungeon of some sadomasochist.  One would not expect to find stigmata as a supernatural sign from God.  The Board reports that stigmata and other signs can still be found. Smudge has testified to the Board, with a witness.  Details to follow, including selected banalities.

If Fiction Were Permitted, This Blog Would Be Purely Fictional

If writing fiction were a permissible activity, this blog would be purely fictional. But because the Public Communications Bureau has so wisely ruled that the writing of fiction is not permitted without a license, we must stick to the facts.  More exactly, the writing of unlicensed fiction is subject to essentially the same penalties as unapproved writings of any kind:  the destruction and purging of all disapproved content, and for the incorrigible sowers of dissent, fines, ejection from access to network services, confiscation of homes and other assets, compulsory re-education; perhaps a late night, no-knock visit by well-armed gang of costumed men accompanied by a considerable risk of a hail of bullets or death by Taser, a tortuous interrogation ending in a tragic death, or some other unnatural fate.  This being what it is, the Board always navigates that undiscernable line between fact masquerading as fiction, and fiction masquerading as fact.  Read at your own risk, and let not your mind be darkened.

Fact:  Prior to the Great Emancipation, the minds of hapless people were darkened by socially harmful ideas cleverly inserted in fictional tales distributed for diversion and entertainment. 

Fact: The Great Emancipation liberated the hapless people from purposeless fiction that lacked any socially acceptable purpose approved by the Public Communications Bureau.

Fact: The truth remains true, whether or not knowledge of it is extinguished by lies.

Fact: What remains true is capable of discovery.

Fact:  Today's announcement is made for a socially beneficial purpose, and is based entirely on facts.