Bad Poetry

On Misplaced Grace

Posted on August 4, 2010. Filed under: Atheism, Bad Poetry, Personal, Religion |

At the risk of turning this blog into George’s Poetry Corner, here is an explanation of my blog title.

It comes from a poem that I wrote several years ago.  I hate the poem, I find it goes all over the place and is slightly sloppy.  I don’t like all those bible references in the poem, but I suppose they reflected where I was at back then.  It is a religiously infused atheist poem, or about becoming “nearly atheist”.  I did however, love the concept of  “Misplaced Grace”, which I stole to give a title to this blog.

An explanation follows the poem:

Misplaced Grace

You sought me out in earnest

who,

when searching for my Truth

did place my hand upon Your Word

and look to it for proof

I left not thine commandments

I made them my daily bread

the burden placed

Your Misplaced Grace

to place Him in my stead.

Jesus to World: "I'm kind of a big deal"

I sought you out for answers

when,

I kicked against the goads

my knees were never grounded

though I travelled many roads

Though I left not thine commandments

when my heart began to lurch

I saw no trace

of your Misplaced Grace

to aid me in my search

You left me in the desert

Lord,

to find my own way home

and in those forty days I walked

no mercy was I shown

I left there Thine commandments

in those countless grains of sand

the resting place

for my Misplaced Grace

I hope You understand……

That was the last real religiously themed poem I wrote.  I consider it one of my weaker works.  I sometimes consider re-writing it and keeping the title but trashing the rest but at the same time I keep every poem I write to remind me of where I was at that place in time.

Misplaced Grace holds a double entendre for me.  Originally it was a pun on its own redundancy, as by my Christian definition of grace it is by its nature misplaced or undeserving.  I liked to use the expression frequently in my religious days.

Abject Confusion- We've got an app for that.

When I started to “bend with the breeze” I also liked this term for its conjuring of the bible verses in Eph. 2:8 and Gal. 1:15 where we are afforded grace by God and charged with faith and works.  These verses are the basis for the doctrine of Sola Gratia, and I like the idea that I have misplaced my grace afforded by God.

I also felt at the time that Grace was a reciprocal relationship, in that by our taking of the faith we afford to God our grace- and as an atheist I would argue that grace afforded to God is misplaced as well.  No reasonable person should read the bible and arrive at the conclusion that grace to God is warranted.

So now you know how bad poetry and bad apologetics can lead to a kick-ass blog name.