Faith is a gift eagerly received
when you believe in a loving god -
not the one held together by fear
left over from the Spanish Inquisition
you're forced to accept faith or die on a rack,
dipped in hot oil, or whipped until
you call out for mercy, asking god to stop
the pain while you quietly succumb.
Conversion - avoiding death
through submission -
isn’t faith at all.
Imagine how everything you love
is distorted by that kind of relationship.
It would explain earthly suffering
and severe punishment for disobedience.
Some think it is better to be killed
by a loving hand than to be allowed
to come under the influence of evil
in all its incarnations:
transgressions of the flesh,
lust for power or insatiable pride.
The two greatest sins: first, not loving
god with your whole heart the second,
not loving others as yourself
but how can you love yourself
or god if you deserve to be
punished so severely?
The message of the Old Testament
is transformed with the teachings in the New,
a liturgy of the miraculous,
a litany for absolution,
forgiveness again and again
seven times seventy
and through this unwavering love
when you discover yourself lovable
maybe you can give love with the same
generosity it has been given to you.
Wherever the good news is proclaimed
extraordinary adoration follows.
not only towards one another
but to a loving god up above.
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