Faith in Nothing

 

 

 

Faith in nothing

Rather than faith in God

Is a moronic belief acknowledgement

I can’t help but appal.

 

And to base such

On the scholarship of science

Is to climb to the dizzying heights

Of appalling nonsense.

 

When did nothing

Stop becoming something

And start reproducing itself

As simply nothing?

 

Faith in nothing

Rather than faith in God

Does not make any kind of sense

At all, at all, at all.

 

And more incredibly,

Scientists actually believe this

And often frown on theists

And God dismiss!  

 

The heavens declare

And scientists should see

That nothing could not be credited

For this reality.

 

Faith in something

However nonsensical it may be

Has considerably more going for it

Than a nothing reality.

 

 

When nothing is the matter

Then anything can be

And when everything is nothing

This is insanity.

 

Need I say more

Regarding faith in nothing?

No, not until such faith adherents show

Nothing producing something.

 

Faith in nothing?

Rather than faith in God

Is like a self-made computer

Built from nothing at all.

 

Stewart Russell © May 23, 2024

 

Science and Scientists

 

 

We oft confuse the two

And the two conflate

And we set store by the latter

Especially if he is great.

 

Like a Nobel Prize winner

He has to be right!

Thus, in his name

Science we must rewrite.

 

It’s about scholarship

And tested in a test tube,

What better way I ask you

Can we origins prove?

 

 

It must be testable

And observed over time

And it must be so achieved

By a great scientific mind.

 

Like a Darwin for example

Or an Einstein,

Throw a Newton in there

Or another great find.

 

A Richard Dawkins, for sure

In his “The God Delusion”

Of illusions and disillusions

And utter confusion.

 

Scientists study science

And come up with a view,

They are really no different

From me and you.

 

But carried on a name

And associated with a view

It’s us who should know better

That conflate the two.

 

 

Similarly with the Bible

And Bible commentators,

We treat to some of these

Like John the Revelator.

 

Take Jacobus Arminius

Or the great John Calvin,

Their know-how of salvation

Is the be-all of doctrine.

 

Diametrically opposed

Their adherents fiercely contend:

Armenians and Calvinists

One another stem.

 

With the Bible as their basis

For two opposing views,

Both views are argued as correct

And therefore, also true.

 

The Bible and Commentators

Science and scientists,

When we conflate these twosomes

So much we miss.

 

 

It’s like using blinders

To limit the race horse’s view

Such that focusing on the finish

Is all that it can do.

 

Thus, our focus on science

Is a scientist’s view,

Now you see how easy it is

To conflate the two.

 

Science and scientists

Are not one and the same,

It’s time we separate the science

From a scientist’s name.

 

No Nobel Prize winner

Can ever be that great,

Only God, the Almighty Creator

Can such glory take.

 

 

Drink your primordial soup

And chase with Campbell’s

But know it is the supreme God

That made science possible.

 

Stewart Russell © April 19, 2024

It Is So Sad

 

It is so sad…

The state of our world,

And what some are fighting for

Seems so absurd.

 

Intelligent they are

And well credentialed

But their decisions and endeavours

Are so non-sensical.

 

They say it’s science

As if science is to blame

But I say, it is sad;

Such scientists are insane.

 

Male and female:

How much do they amount?

The so-called intelligent

Has now lost count.

 

Do not discriminate,

This is viewed as hate

And we all live in this world

However sad its state.

 

It is so sad…

The state of our world,

And what some are fighting for

Seems so absurd.

 

The Bible is vilified

Morning, noon and night

As what used to be dead wrong

Is now seen as right.

 

AI is on the rise

And IQ is on the slide

And we wage war to attain peace

With all we despise.

 

Don’t punish wrong

Instead reward it,

This kind of reverse psychology

Should do the trick.

 

Life is a game

We play all day long,

We must play our cards smart

If our hand isn’t strong.

 

Outsmart the poor

In order to get rich

And if something doesn’t belong

Try a force-fit.

 

Remember, it’s the end,

By whatever means:

At times it’s collateral damage,

Occasionally it’s the team.

 

Nothing is too much

To satisfy for one’s dream

And sometimes it may be necessary

To sacrifice the team.

 

It is so sad…

The state of our world,

And what some are fighting for

Seems so absurd.

 

Absurdity has become

Something to go after

And if such were not so tragic

It could bring laughter.

 

But alas, it is so sad

Though many may deny

And while the insane laugh

The hurting cry.

 

Mirth to the insane

Is death to the humane

And while the apathetic sleeps

It occurs again and again.

 

It is so sad

How the Bible is reduced

To an assortment of fairy tales

Some authors produced.

 

It is no different

From any other book,

Just do not take it too seriously;

Have a casual look.

 

It can be gripping

And mighty convicting

And the serious reader may feel

That something is missing.

 

Don’t take the chance

You may be changed

And then everything in your life

Will be rearranged.

 

Priorities will change

But for the better

And the sad state of the world

Will not ultimately matter.

 

It is so sad…

The state of our world,

And what some are fighting for

Seems so absurd.

 

Called to be salt

And called to be light

The believer’s responsibility

Is to exemplify the right.

 

Stewart Russell © November 25, 2024

 

Faith and Science

 

Faith and Science!

What have they in common

And is their assumed contrast

Just one’s imagination?

 

The assumed perception

That they don’t go together:

Science is rational and natural,

Faith is another matter.

 

Faith is irrational

A construct of the mind

And cannot truly be trusted

At any given time.

 

Science has an answer

For everything that exists,

Scientism as this is called

Surely tops the list.

 

It’s observable and testable

Its evidence is clear

And over time uncertainties

Must gradually disappear.

 

Faith on the other hand

Is frustratingly uncertain

Causing its adherents to differ

Over many questions.

 

 

But it appears to me

That both are aimed at truth

And must therefore be verified

By evidence and proof.

 

On this basis let me start

With a truth before science

And suggest in this first cause

This truth is self-reliant.

 

For it surely must be

There is an uncaused cause

Or else there can never ever be

Any order or natural laws.

 

Such as gravity I mean

And of energy and the like,

Be it that of natural sources

Or of artificial light.

 

I would rather believe

Science and faith dovetail

And together furnish answers

On what is actually real.

 

 

If truth and reality

Is the removal of all doubt

Then reality must be what is left

When all else is weeded out.

 

Think of a garden bed

With all the weeds removed

Leaving a picturesque splendour

That the gardener approves.

 

Think of back in Eden

That evolutionists call a myth,

Faith on the other hand determines

It was really God’s gift.

 

A habitat for humans

Prepared for Adam and Eve

But the willy and cunning serpent

Had Eve deceived.

 

Adam followed suit

In solidarity with his wife

And out their sin of disobedience

Came disorder and strife.

 

I’ve always wondered why

Weeds grow so easily,

Crops and flowers would struggle

But bush would have a spree.

 

 

 

Genesis 3 verse 17

Tells of the curse of the ground

In which thorns and thistles

Are always around.

 

Unlike the valued plants

Weeds do not need any care,

Once there is the slightest neglect

They will abundantly appear.

 

It is an evidential reality

This is the nature of things

And science is not the explanation

But the Genesis beginnings.

 

“The heavens declare!”

Speaks to the powerful witness

Of Almighty God’s creative power,

His glory and awesomeness.

 

Faith is not irrational

But rather a reasonable belief

Derived from a truthful reality,

Oh, what blessed relief!

 

It is God’s omniscience

That scientists can do science

With minds fine-tuned for order

With results that are reliant.

 

No wonder most early scientists

Were by this captivated

Unlike others whose experiments

Were prevaricated.

 

Science answers some things

But definitely not all

For morality and love and justice

Are due to an all-wise God.

 

Faith and science complement,

They are not at odds

And where science invariably fails

Right at this point is God.

 

It requires language

To express the truths of science

And the thought humans engage

Speaks of God’s existence.

 

Created in God’s own image

Humans are one of a kind,

Faith is facilitated in their DNA

Via Almighty God’s design.

 

 

Created with a capacity

To engage reality and truth

God Himself, as the Creator of all,

Supplying the essential proof.

 

Creation reveals His design

In all we see and observe

And this is made even clearer

In the advent of the Word.

 

Jesus, the incarnate Word

And the embodiment of truth

Whether of faith or of science

Jesus is the proof.

 

 

 

Truth is essentially a person

Synonymous with the Word

The Lord Christ, God’s only Son,

That came into the world

 

By him all things were made

And of him they consist

Yet the Lord Christ transcends then all

Though in him they exist.

 

He is above and beyond

Anything that science can tell

And this same Creator God causes

Faith and science to gel.

 

Stewart Russell © April 25, 2024

 

Not Enough Faith

 

“Not enough faith!”

Of this many are accused

And it’s like, suit yourself:

Accept or refuse.

 

“Faith is a choice”

Is the impression I get,

You can turn it on or off

Or its time limit set.

 

I choose to believe

Or I choose to doubt

And when I get tired of it

I’ll throw it out.

 

One day I believe

The next day, no way

And so, my faith fluctuates

From day to day.

 

Nothing is constant

Except for change

And so, my faith is evolving,

Don’t think me strange.

 

While this may be so

For some I know,

A faith that is reasonable

Is the way to go.

 

This is the backdrop

That I wish to paint

As I flesh out the above

I find rather quaint.

 

This from a believer?

You may be stunned

But hear me out a little

Before off you run.

 

 

Not enough faith

To believe there’s no God

And that all that is, just happened,

I absolutely appall.

 

Not enough faith

To believe in evolution,

Something from nothing

Is an illusion.

 

When magicians do it

It is entertaining,

When scientists conjure up it

It is misinforming.

 

It takes far more faith

To believe such nonsense,

A design without a designer

Lacks commonsense.

 

 

Not enough faith

To believe like atheists do,

If there is no God

Then there is no you.

 

Thank God for faith

To believe that He exists

And that I do not qualify

To be an atheist.

 

If you’ve read this far

You now understand

Of atheism and evolution

I am not a fan.

 

It takes too much faith

To believe such

And “O me of little faith!”

I don’t have much.

 

Thank God it’s enough

To believe in Him

And to believe that in Jesus

I am saved from sin.

 

Not enough faith

To believe in evolution

But more than enough faith

To accept salvation.

 

Stewart Russell © April 16, 2024

God and Reasoning

 

 

 

God and Reasoning

 

Do these two go together?

Do they oppose?

Are they interdependent?

Are they foes?

 

Two camps exist:

Here is what one chose;

God and reasoning, they say,

Are diametrically opposed.

 

The other disagree

And to this end they proffer:

God is the reason we can reason

And here is His offer…

 

“Come let us reason”

His invitation to both sides

And hopefully within reason

They can decide.

 

God is the reason

Scientists can do science,

He is the only wise God

And self-existent.

 

He is the only cause

Without a first cause

And for everything that exists

He is the first cause.

 

He is the only being

That did not come to be

Thus, the question who made God

Is not thinking sensibly.

 

Trust God

And use your reasoning,

Not the other way around,

For…

Trusting your reasoning

And using God

Is not profound.

 

Stewart Russell © April 18, 2022  

Before the Beginning

 

 

Before the beginning

There was not nothing

And since God cannot not be

There had to be a being.

 

Without a being

There can be no beginning

And without a beginning

There is nothing.

 

The fact there is something

Speaks to a beginning

And so, before the beginning

There has to be a being.

 

This is not pre-ramble

Or wandering willy-nilly,

This is trying to grasp the idea

Of an eternity.

 

Most scientists will agree

The Universe came to be,

That it had to have a beginning

They can clearly see.

 

It was not its own cause

Such would be an impossibility,

It would have to have a cause

That did not come to be.

 

Everything that came to be

Had to have a beginning

Thus, indicative of the reality

Of an eternal being.

 

One before the beginning

Self-existent and uncaused,

Independent and transcendent

Before the beginning, God…

 

 

God in the beginning

Yet before the beginning

Transcending the beginning

Creating the beginning.

 

First cause without a cause

The Creator of it all,

In and before the beginning

The Creator God.

 

Given all of time

Since the Genesis creation

Evolution dissipates with a big bang

And is its own cremation.

 

Before the beginning,

God!

And in the beginning,

First Cause!

 

Stewart Russell © December 8, 2021