February 12, 1997 – November 17, 2018

up!  Up!  UP!

up from the slime where we were born

on through the years in  varied form

time and chance their will to work

on and on our past to shirk

up

on we grow through countless ages

leaving behind forgotten pages

we come, we come, we go, we go

hither, thither, we cannot know

up

Up

up from the mire and through the goo

up through the fin and fur and shoe

up through gases and solids and carbon

up until we choose to have garb on

up

Up

UP

till at last our journey’s run

we lie here basking in the sun

faces aglow and eyes alight

there's nothing left to give us a fright

up!

Up

UP

and still we grow and change our world

and all about us flags are curled

and we and ours we search and scan

and claim we are but beast called man

up!

Up!

UP

we have our thoughts we know our mind

we're far improved on what's left behind

our kin-folk with this world we share

but we are here and they are there

up!

Up!

UP!

the chasm between us can't be surmounted

and how we got here can't be accounted

but here we are and here we’ll stay

and since we're here it's as we say

up?

Up!

UP!

but one confounding thought remains

after all this time, how do our brains

wrap around a thought and build

until all opposing thoughts are killed

up?

Up?

UP!

and another, more troubling still,

how do our minds conceive a will

develop concepts, either right or wrong,

or write a word, or sing a song

up?

Up?

UP?

if it's true that from the beasts I differ,

or from that distant green conifer,

by the thoughts that course within my head

how am I here, why aren't I dead

up?

Up?

for in a realm derived by chance

moral thought bears not a glance

all is wrong and all is right

whether love, or talk, or fight

up?

the very morals I possess

deny the past that many guess

if I can think either good or bad

by my thought the dream's been had

if a fish had lungs but had no air

he couldn't breathe, he wouldn't dare

thus if some deed begins my cryin'

it must truly be by some design

my righteous mind cannot remain

where time and chance have their domain

there'd be no use, it'd all be madness

my grief, my joy, and all my sadness

I can't express philosophic joy

and not remain my Creator's boy

if I can think and say and feel

I must bear on me the stamp and seal

of He who is and stands alone

before the world and all its stone

it can’t be aught as He has made it

for by its thought my mind betrayed it

“...the fool says in his heart

‘There is no God!’....” “for

since the creation of the world

God’s invisible qualities...

...have been clearly seen,

being understood from what has been made”

by Him

I was reading tonight (February 12, 1997) from

"Whatever Happened to the Human Race?"

by Francis A. Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop

and felt that I should write this.

Regarding the fish/lungs/air thing:

If a fish had lungs but had no air

would that be a step up or down?

F.A.S. and C.E.K. make the point,

I appreciated it and put it here.

Scripture from:

Psalm 14:1

Romans 1:20

After Posting “up! Up! UP!” on Facebook

February 21, 2014

Reader - "Terrible poetry, but acceptable theology. But I still say that it's not necessary to believe in a 6 day creation as we understand days to praise the Creator for the wonderful universe He created."

..

Writer - "Terrible poetry? Perhaps, but I like it. Acceptable theology? No, but I'm not trying to be merely acceptable in my theology, I'm trying to be right. No arrogance is intended, I'm only saying that if I'm going to believe in God I want to do it to the best of my ability. Necessary to believe in six days of creation to praise the Creator? No, even the mountains will praise Him and they believe nothing. Necessary to believe in six days of creation to show that one takes God at His word? Yes, because if I start to doubt what God says about creation why should I believe Him about salvation?"

..

Writer - "Also, in this poem I wasn't only trying to say only that six day creation was theologically correct but that it is an inescapable truth. Once we start to ponder our origin we've already proven that we are created. Once we are created the need for countless ages disappears."

..

Reader - "Just as your poetry is not a novel or an essay, so not all parts of the Bible are straight narrative. Most Biblical scholars recognize the literary aspect of the beginning of Genesis as not straight narrative."

..

Writer - "Just as my poem states truth, despite its not being a novel or an essay, so the parts of the Bible that are not novel or essay also speak truth. Whether something is narrative or not is not an indicator of its ability to tell truth - otherwise every love song ever written says nothing and no hymn we sing in church has any meaning."

..

Reader - "No more comments."