Credo in nullum Deum: Blasphemy warning to believers an atheist perspective

[Frank E Gibbard]

Credo in nullum Deum

 

I believe in what I can perceive of

And things which I can believe in

I believe in the science of evolution

It will suffice as one solution to life

That otherwise has no explanation

To me it underpins life’s mutability

Beats the thick family’s gilded tome

I do not believe old tales of creation

Or superstitions of native populations

Conscious perceptions not speculations

Are preferable to meet my predilection

I have but one faith one ism my nihilism

[Larsen M. Callirhoe]

frank an interesting poem. it flows and explains your belief.

 

i wish you could explain my 21 near death experiences when i was out of my body and talking to spirits about the future and my life. these spirits do exist. i also know there is life on other planets. it is not a belief system but religion is a joke. i am spiritual. god forgives you and what you wrote is how you feel because you have had no proof that god or a god or gods exist. you didn't write anything that sounded blasphemous to me frank. it is your belief. im not knocking it. but i do think you are ignorant for ruling out the possibility of other dimensions and realities. i am a seer. but psychiatrists think i hallucinate. all these meds do is make me see and hear better into the spirit world.

 

larse

[Frank E Gibbard]

Hello Larse, thank you for engaging with my deliberate overt "blasphemy" as I believe it would be perceived by some. My latinising, I hope to be correct in its language, translates (I hope) as "I believe in no God" and is a pointed contravention of the text of the Nicine Creed and its opening line: "credo in unum Deum," some again could consider such use offensive.

It is not my business to upset my internet friends, hence the warning, and certainly yourself Larse as we have crossed paths before in this territory. I have to say with my Darwinian hat on there is a scientific medical theory about experiences such as my own mother had - seeing her dead family beckoning her towards a golden light. Being majorly devout to her faith Mum too was convinced the experience was spiritual. Later, Frank.

[pawn shop]

Line 8 is my favorite...as if it was a Grimm Brothers composition

[dr_con]

Nice Frank- Clean, well written- best nice! I did my my Non Serviam, badly in my poem

Skin, so worry not about translations;-)

 

As to the tension between the believers and not: To poorly paraphrase the Bard: The world is far stranger than can be dreamt of in yours/mine/ours philosophy-period- If we knew everything, we wouldn't be poets-

 

“The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer -- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.”

- Ken Kesey

 

Talking about my faith in science or a dry pair of socks should never constitute an offense- On the other hand there are some so called poetry sites, where the hint of rationality is frowned upon, tsk...

 

Raise a glass to The Mystery one and all!

 

;-)

 

DC

[Tinker]

Hi Frank, I liked the directness and simplicy in this poem. There was nothing blasphmous about it. I found it honest. What more can one ask of a poet?

 

~~Tink

[tonyv]

Well, Frank, you do qualify this with To me. And at least you're consistent:

I do not believe old tales of creation

Or superstitions of native populations ...

I also noticed in your reply to Victor that you mentioned a scientific theory. So, as an "atheist," you do differentiate between theories and facts. I wonder, is it considered scientific to deny the existence of God if His existence has not been expressly disproved? Perhaps you are an agnostic rather than an atheist? I'm just musing, since the focus of the discussion seems to be on the poem's content in lieu of its form. Of course, I also understand that the narrator may or may not even be you. And I certainly mean no offense. None taken either.

 

Tony

[rhymeguy]

Hi Frank,

 

Let me first say that I consider myself to be agnostic. It has taken me a long time to finally settle on a comfortable definition for my belief system or lack thereof. I am as comfortable with this definition as one can be in a preconceived ( or is it "ie"?) pegion hole. It is not my responsibilty to incourage or discourage the belief systems of other; only to accept the rights of others to have them.

 

I have read this several times and I find your work herein to be delightful. It is well structured and easily read. Your beliefs are concisely presented and honest. What more can one ask for. As always, I enjoyed your work.

 

rg