Forget Your Problems

 

 

Forget your problems!

Who can do that?

How is that possible, I ask,

Give me the facts.

 

I heard this at church

Just recently

But I’ve heard it in the past

Fairly frequently.

 

Forget your problems!

Who does that?

Tell me of anyone you know;

Let’s have a chat.

 

Try to forget a problem

And it comes to the fore

Thus, rather than forgetting,

You recall it more.

 

Problems, it’s suggested,

Hinder free worship

And forgetting our problems

Does the trick.

 

And “trick” it must be

Because it is not factual

That forgetting one’s problems

Can be actual.

 

At best it’s delusional

And therefore, can’t be real,

Trying to forget my problems

Is bound to fail.

 

As a matter of fact

I would not even try

For we are a total package:

My problems and I.

 

Stewart Russell © January 13, 2025

 

Hope or Hoax?

 

 

How confusing it is

To hear a God-believing cleric

Publicly denounce the Bible

And be a vociferous critic!

 

Proclaimed as delusional:

That is, the Word of God,

On the airwaves and television

This was spread abroad.

 

If Christianity is a hoax

Then what does he believe?

What does he really teach

Or coax people to receive?

 

If the first 11 chapters

Of the Holy Bible are mythical

Then please tell me my dear cleric

What in there is believable?

 

If creation falls down,

On what can we rely?

Surely the whole Bible becomes

A colossal lie!

 

 

No Adam and Eve,

No Noah or Abraham,

No Moses and no Exodus

And no redemptive plan.

 

No Christ and no Gospel

No dying or resurrection,

No ascension or coming again

And definitely no salvation!

 

No creation and no Creator

It is all a huge scam!

All this preaching about eternity

And a salvation plan.

 

 

Hope or Hoax?

The latter it must be

When even leading church clerics

Preach such heresy.

 

No wonder the world

Appears “going to the dogs”
For the church the world sees

Denies its very God.

 

This is an indictment

On leaders like the noted cleric

That propagate so-called sermons

That are without merit.

 

 

If the Bible’s first 11 chapters

Are to be considered as mythical,

There’s no hope beyond death

For all of earth’s people.

 

Then nothing is absolute

And a man’s truth is only his own

And this augurs well

Once he stays in his zone.

 

However, such is impossible

For social beings,

They must of necessity interact

As their survival deems.

 

So that all who believe the lie

As propagated by this cleric

Are on their way to hell

For heaven they will forfeit.

 

Anyone who comes to God

Must believe that He exists

And without faith in God’s Word

Eternal life he will miss.

 

For if creation is a tale

Then the whole Bible is a myth

And Christ must be denounced

As being the Father’s Gift.

 

There is no Word of God

And there is no Holy Spirit

And ultimately no eternal hope

As implied by this cleric.

  

What is he really doing then

As he stands in the pulpit

When much of what he preaches

He doesn’t even believe it.

 

Stewart Russell © February 24, 2022

 

Nihilism

 
 

 

There are some beliefs

I find especially incredible

Like that particular understanding

That nothing is visible.

 

For example: what one sees

Is not really there,

It is what the mind perceives

Let the viewer beware!

 

An introduction to lawlessness

Insanity at the least,

A sort of: you really ate nothing,

You thought you had a feast.

 

A denial of objective reality

A sense that everything is unreal

Like taking mail from the postman

But there’s no postman or mail.

 

It’s like living out a dream

Where one never comes awake

And events whether good or bad

Are all illusory and faked.

 

A doctrine that is no doctrine

Since nothing in the world exists,

In fact, there is no world at all

So, strike that off your list.

 

No pain, no grief, no loss

Such illusions are of the mind,

A mind that has never existed

Not now or at any time.

 

 

This belief is ultra-amazing

And it actually has a name,

A name that is just as delusional

As its philosophical claims.

 

Nihilism is a psychotic belief

That knows no boundary or law,

Everything that is does not exist

Surely you can see the flaw.

 

Hence, there is no authority

Established or otherwise,

Its advocates can do as they please

No need to even disguise.

 

The emperor had to be a nihilist

Convinced he was wearing clothes

When in fact he was naked

From his head down to his toes.

 

A dangerous doctrine and belief

Nihilism would have to be

And any devoted nihilist

Would have to be too blind to see.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2, 2021

 

Surefooted or Dim-witted

 

 

Be careful what you say

When dealing with your wife,

You may regret it later

Maybe for the rest of your life.

 

Surefooted or dim-witted?

That is the question I ask myself

Since I incurred this injury

That put me on the shelf.

 

I had a feeling about my feet,

I thought I was surefooted

But while having a conversation

My wife came up with dim-witted.

 

 

That is how I feel sometimes

When on my injury I reflect,

I felt I was surely surefooted

Hence, the fall I did not expect.

 

When you get around my age

The brain and the body disagree,

There are somethings you want to do

And the body says, “No, not me.”

 

At times brain doesn’t understand

What the body is trying to say

So brain urges on the body

But the body falls by the way.

 

 

Surefooted was a present delusion

 Though a past reality of long ago,

The body understands that well

The brain doesn’t seem to know.

 

That makes the brain dim-witted

And hence, that person too,

To ascertain whether this is you

Here is what you can do.

 

When next you attempt

To do something without thinking,

That is being dim-witted

Like a man that has been drinking.

 

A drunk is never surefooted

Just watch the way he walks,

He is dim-witted without a doubt

Listen to the folly that he talks.

 

 

Like any young person could

I felt that I could still run,

That was dim-witted in abundance

But surefooted-ness: none.

 

My recent history bears out that point

And consequently, my injury too,

Surefooted-ness: that is false

Dim-witted-ness: definitely true.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019