Frightened by God

 

He was a father, they said, "Thee" Father with a capital Eff.

The Father of all fathers, the Mother of all fathers.

And if you did good, the right thing, you would get heaven,

Eternal comfort and happiness.

If you did bad, failure, you would get hell,

Eternal pain and terror.

 

Not just loneliness, kept locked in a dark, silent room;

Real pain, the worst conceivable pain,

The pain of your flesh burning,

Smoke rising from your arms, and hands, and face,

My body melting, turning to tar and then ash,

But continuous, never ending, divine torture.

 

This was the Creator, the father who loved

Us all with a love greater than any love

That an ordinary human could offer.

The God of Fear; the Fear of God.

 

Doesn't take much to see this is a grim viewpoint

On the human character.

Suggests you and I are so intractably selfish and evil

That the only reason we would do something kind

Or helpful is because we are terrified,

All but paralyzed by fear.

At least half of all human emotions are dangerous:

Anger, jealousy, desire, pride, ambition.

Might as well kill me now, before I make a mistake.

 

                       John G. Medeiros, September 2019