June 18, 2023 – A

Step into any theological/doctrinal/dogmatic debate
with only one question
and you will be the last one standing
when all the others have left the room.

"Who says so?"
Is all you need ask,
and keep asking.

"The Bible says..."
"Who says the Bible knows what it is talking about?"
"All of Christendom throughout the ages!"
"Who says all of Christendom knows what it is talking about?"
"The saints on high! The angels and the very Mother of God!"
"Who says the saints on high...?"
Etc. for on and on.

And at the end of the process the only response left is,
"I say so! I declare it to be so! I am the one who knows!"
"And how do you know?"
"I take it on faith!"
"Which means you don't know.
And all of the pomp and bluster through time
is groundless wishful thinking
passed along by those who don't know
to those who don't know,
And everyone is their own authority
which has to pass the test of its power
to meet the burdens of life head-on
and sustain those possessing it
through all of their trials
on the strength of their own ability
to face their lot
and to do what needs to be done with it.

And if it won't do that,
then we have bet everything
on the wrong horse,
and have nothing but the ragged tatters
of a tale not worth being told.

So, we better have a tale worthy of us
as we step into our life 
with what we say by virtue of our own authority
is valid and able to sustain us
through the long nights and endless days
of the Sisyphean task of meeting 
one situation after another,
and doing in each one
what needs to be done,
when/where/how it needs to be done--
without hesitation or delay--
because WE SAY SO! 

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