Category Archives: Philosophy, Politics and Religion

Poems whose theme relates to politics, philosophy or religion

Science & Religion – Friends or Foes?

 

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Science and Religion – Friends or Foes?

 

For those who take some time to muse on issues which perplex
The interplay twixt science and faith can seem to be complex
And those who claim that science is the only truthful view
The path of daily faith and trust they often may eschew

But others take a different stance and feel no contradiction
Science may indeed reveal clear fact, faith nonetheless no fiction
The saints of old and humble hearts in every generation
Have trusted in the God of Love who cares for every nation

As time progressed the quest of science each year grew ever stronger
Ignorance about our world acceptable no longer
The mighty powers that drive the earth needed understanding
Magnetic force and gravity proved to be all commanding

Science challenged faith which claimed to offer certain hope
The distant stars were soon brought near when came the telescope
No longer true the long held view of our earth at the centre
God maker of the cosmos our great divine inventor

Church leaders closing ranks, to these ‘heresies’ objected
Such challenge to their power must clearly be rejected
But some were ready for new truth and kept an open mind
Unlike the bigots, and those whose eyes continued to be blind

Science of the earth – the study of geology
Contradicted early views in realms of theology
Biblical, five thousand years to tell the whole world’s history
Science claims 5 billion years – surely this a mystery

The story of creation from Adam and his Eve
A tale like this too hard for some to easily believe
Darwin’s view that all today – the result of evolution
Sparked in his time in men of science a thinking revolution

More recently the science of modern genetics
Caused theologians debate not any less frenetic
Theories are advanced without the least apology
In social science, in medicine, and every kind of ‘ology’

So under the weight of such onslaught and hanging by a rope
What can religion offer us that still provides us hope?
The answer I believe is not to be overwhelmed
The realm of faith if given thought we honestly defend

First of all, as those who trust we must not from truth hide
Rejecting science and casting all its gains aside
Our modern lives, our comfort and our health
Science gave us much of this, per’aps even more, our wealth

But the life we have, the freedom we inherit
From the example of our Master’s life we learn the Christian merit
Of course our faith is not without emotion
Love for each other surely shown because of faith’s devotion

The realm of faith speaks to the soul and to those deepest needs
For meaning, beauty, love and care for which our heart can bleed
And while we rejoice in all of science’s gains
Faith can for us bring hope when nothing else remains

So is it true that faith and science must then forever vie
No concord to be found no matter how they try?
We live our lives with science and faith each helping to sustain
A life to live, a love to show, that all around may gain

Of course we would not willingly the boon of science reject
Thus losing all that has been gained including its respect
But for the trusting heart then faith provides the Way,
The truth, the life, and new meaning to each day

Ken Fisher

 

 

Ken Fisher

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Beyond, Yet in the Midst

Beyond, Yet in the Midst

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Beyond, Yet in the Midst

 

Can we find God’s presence in our living every day?
Hear His voice to guide, to challenge, and console
Some will claim God knows each person by their name
They also claim knowledge of the One who surely saves

 

Others feel that God cannot thus be apprehended
Words cannot fully grasp His all-pervading essence
The nature of God too mystical to easily define
The creator thus beyond the limits of creation

 

Our awareness of God revealed to us in holy scripture
Provides mere knowledge of His worldly mission
Despite the testimony of Christ’s ministry here on earth
Can we ever grasp the divine nature of his Father, God?

 

We conclude the Godhead is beyond all definition
No adequate words found to justify description
All attempts at speculation eventually abandoned
God still remains beyond, yet in the midst of all that is.

 

 

Ken Fisher

 

Remembrance

Remembrance

This poem was posted at the same time last year.
We hope that this year we might still remain
optimistic about the future
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Today’s a time for remembering
Thinking back to those dark days of war
When life was uncertain for all
And for some, death was an imminent prospect

But few living today have much memory
Of the years of conflict when hostilities raged
And although warfare still encircles the world
Our experience of it is mediated by TV images

And yet we have an uncomfortable feeling
That despite efforts to unite the nations
There is a persistent climate of arm-wrestling
Between the great powers who eyeball each other

The Cold War brought with it the four-minute-warning
Not long to compose our minds for oblivion!
But presently, although we hope our future might stretch for decades,
We cannot quite eliminate the nagging uncertainty for our destiny

However, for today, we give thanks
For all those who bought our freedom
And pledge to strive to maintain
Such fragile peace as we possess

Ken Fisher

Ex Nihilo

Ex Nihilo [Out of Nothing]

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It is a miracle beyond our reach or understanding

That all there is in this great wondrous world

The glories of earth and sea and all that live therein

The plants and every creature dominated by mankind

Began from nothing, only a vast and silent empty void

Can this be so when we reflect on the wonder of creation?

Its infinite variety from tiny insect to mighty behemoth

From oceans’ plankton through to basking whales

From tiny seed to lofty trees and golden harvests

And humankind with all its power and ingenuity

Of course Darwin traced the evolution ever onward

Of this great cavalcade of progress down the years

And now the notion of the Big Bang as prime mover

Provides for some the answer of how indeed all things began

But what was there before the Big Bang? I hear you ask

NOTHING, of course.  It all came from NOTHING

EX NIHILO

[Or could it be that GOD existed before time, and HE created  time?]

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

 

How should we live? What star to guide? What precept, rule, or adage?

To show the way, to guide our steps, to grant to all advantage

Philosophers have wrestled with such thoughts since the very dawn of time

Theologians on this too did meditate in their visions quite sublime

Religions, which in many things have views widely diverse

Nonetheless in this respect appear to here converge

The Golden Rule, its woven thread, reflects a note of concord

Its warp and weft unites these faiths, bound by this central cord

What is that Rule whose words contain this universal truth?

Its maxim undisputed requiring no more proof

It’s simple guidance clear to all who will to it give ear

Its blessings gained by all who willingly adhere

To reciprocate is of the Rule its very essence

Mutual love and kindly deeds in it find coalescence

How e’r we act to all around must truly thus reflect

The love from them we hope to find as they us too respect

And so in the creeds of ancient faiths we find it universal

That we should love and in that love discover its reversal

So why not now that ancient Rule make central to our living?

And all our deeds and words reflect a life of generous giving

Obedience to the Rule thus made our paradigm

Following in the footsteps of our dear Lord divine

Thus as each day we seek to live preferring one another

And in return find due regard from sister and from brother

Ken Fisher

Make A Difference

Make A Difference

Looking out at this enormous world so vast

Seven point two billion bodies and rising by the hour

Problems facing every nation and each single soul

Economic challenge, climate change and poverty unbound

Pollution, epidemics, religious wars and internecine strife

Discrimination, corruption, flood, famine and disease

Is there no end to this long litany of woes?

And much of this distress caused by our own ungracious hearts

Our selfishness and greed shouts down all pleadings

Of those who find themselves on the wrong side

Of the health and prosperity divide that cleaves our world

The rich nations determined to secure their gain

Turn an eye that’s blind an ear that’s deaf

To that which they refuse to recognize

So what’s the point, can one benighted soul

Make any difference in the face of such distress?

Better simply to bury one’s head and conclude that

Amidst such overwhelming angst

The safer course, all simply to ignore

Maintain one’s own composure

and let the rest go hang!

But some inner voice, perhaps an echo of the past

Cannot let us rest content without response

Surely one tiny candle can help dispel the dark

If we cannot cure the world’s great ills

Perhaps a loving act, a kindly word

Might bring relief to those around

A blessing to our kin and to our neighbour

And just as the mustard seed can burgeon

If cultivated and garnered by creative hands

So too might each of us become the catalyst

In the alchemy of re-creation

Which in due time might yield regeneration

Beyond all our modest yearnings and our hopes

So what is needed is simply the determination

To take that first step along the road of hope

And by our own unswerving resolution

To become the force that initiates new life

And as we fix our eyes on the horizon

Our puny efforts might yet gain momentum

That difference surely in due time thus manifest

Ken Fisher

Ghostly Moon

Ghostly Moon

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Suspended in the sky

Spectral adumbration

Éminence grise

In a haze opaque

Rendered faintly menacing

Motives indeterminate

Rebellious against the lens

That tracks a sharper focus

Like our own observations

Of the world around

Yielding no clear image

To direct our aims,

Or purposes, or outcomes

Impenetrable mist obscures

The way ahead

Left to trust our intuition

Ken Fisher

The Nature Of Reality

The Nature Of Reality

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Isn’t it enough that things are as they are?

But do we really know what we mean by “are”

The world we claim to know is that which we perceive

But we realise that our senses might easily deceive

 

Cosmologists claim the Big Bang was the start

Of all that followed on, it was the very heart

Our universe began from that fireball’s brilliant shine

This primordial event began all things in space-time

 

Through 13.7 billion years that blast outwards extended

The cosmic soup swirled as dust and gas were blended

Eventually the stars formed and in galaxies they ranged

That explosion kept in check by gravitation’s force unchanged

 

And now we scan the celestial sphere to understand what’s real

We apprehend the Baryonic stuff, the rest is quite surreal

Dark Matter and Dark Energy theoretically essential

And with their help this explanation might yet have potential!

 

 

Ken Fisher

Sunday Morning

                   Sunday Morning

 

Not a working day, historically a “day of rest”

A day made sacred by the opportunity to worship

That illusive God, hidden, yet deists say all-pervasive

Perhaps in the peace today we might discover Him

At the appointed hour the remnant of adherents

To the faith of old, gather in their sanctuary

Not really full of expectation, but hope still rises

Perhaps somehow the Presence will be manifested

Why do they still gather, why follow this threadbare custom

Why not clothe their lives with a newer vision?

Because not only habit dies hard, but deeper longing

For comfort, for peace, for forgiveness still lingers

Forgiveness for what? For their sins, of course

Do these fragile bodies bear the scars of carnal sin?

Have they not lived out their lives in love and service?

Yes indeed, but echoes of Augustine’s doctrine still haunt

All have sinned, even these kindly souls, and in their hearts

They must confess, and seek reconciliation with their God

Surely they will find blessedness and comfort

As they open their hearts in prayer and confession

But they come together not only to expiate

They gather to bring their worship and adoration

On the lips of young, but mainly old throughout this land

Praise still rises from lips to that God who loves each one

And the hour of worship affords us time to hear again

The reading of the ancient scriptures, the wisdom,

the poetry, the stories of God’s peoples down the years

And the message of His sacrifice and saving grace for each and all

And as the time of worship draws to a close

We bless each other in the benediction

And the calm order of the service gives way

As we commune in joy with tea and cakes!

KEN FISHER