Ph: Faith: The Flood, Christ's Death Poem by Brian Johnston

(Necessary, Sufficient - Why? How?)

Was the ‘Death of Christ' needful? Can ‘Mind of God' change?
Might the rainbow then signal ‘Repentance, ' a sign
God does grow and responds too, to changes wrath wrought?
Were there souls saved by Christ's death, once cursed and in Hell,
when men's lives weren't yet covered by Grace (still to come) ?
Compensation's de rigueur (if this is the case?)
and One IS we'd call ‘Just God' (where ‘Wisdom' prevailed!)

Do I show disrespect, or is virtue assailed
if I wrestle with God here! Did Jacob (1) , disgrace
the Almighty somehow, or desire God succumb
to some truth that's not TRUTH? The creator, I fell,
and I'm not hurt a bit? Let me not be distraught
(‘Red Badge! ' (2) , Injured for ‘Justice! ') , it's God who's ‘Divine'
and deserving of ‘LOVE' that I would not shortchange!


How can God be ‘I AM' if God can't change ‘God's Mind, '
if God's Mind can't know change in the service of ‘LOVE? '
That could cause one to fear more, not love God at all!
Might pure sacrilege be that some ‘crave' old fixed rules?
Is it God or ‘God's Truth' for whom we ‘Bend the Knee? '
Might we all wish for ‘more' IF God made a mistake?
Does God ask us to live in Christ's shadow or light?

Did God's Son not desire as the cross loomed in sight,
to skip ‘drink from this cup? ' He still chose to partake,
did not slip off God's yoke, or, worse yet, try to flee.
With the heart of a man, unencumbered by fools
or temptations of Satan, did He seek to stall
or deny this life's ending? No window for dove,
Christ just shouldered His cross and with God's heart aligned.

 
One idea is Grace was God's plan all along!
It's true few will grok Truth the same way that God does
for we see life through lenses, glass colored by fear
and our straightforward answers gain weight as we do.
Are there blue skies because God just willed it one day
or because of diffraction, where bending of light,
grokked by math (and God's role, perhaps glimpsed)shows His hand.

Still, most don't ask or see; they count sheep, grains of sand
as lives slip through an hourglass; home port (smells alright)
they were born in or drink. They don't work hard or play
if it takes too much thought. A good job's where they poo
and the friend who hangs close by is one they call dear.
If you ask if they love God, their answer's ‘becuz! '
their folks did (or they didn't) . For most, that's not wrong.


Both the Old and New God seems to side with the poor!
New strikes landowner dead who builds barn to store wealth
as his pride grows grotesque! Old turns Lot's wife to salt,
her last look at lost home (Lot impregnates his girls
and survives to old age) ? And Old ends life on earth
but for those on the ark (and ALL fish in the sea) .
Was sea life then so saintly that ALL got to live?

Still not clear on this concept: could OLD God revive;
is New Testament God, now the God we will see
for all time (days Saints long more for OLD, not in mirth) ?
Can real heaven exist, while bald EVIL (that swirls
with its wig worn by pig)has a voice! Christ's Grace fault
that earth's villains now wed? Buy and eat brides for health?
May Christ's true bride be home when Love's Groom finds Church door!


Brian Johnston
25th of July in 2020
Poet's Notes:
(1)Jacob also wrestled with God and even ‘pinned' Him but walked with a limp after that!
(2)Red Badge of Courage - The idea that one who has not been wounded by life is likely
a coward.