Temptation

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TEMPTATION

(An Acrostic)

The world is full of things that tempt.

Even Saints are not exempt.

Money lures us into crime;

Passion beckons all the time.

Tantalising things we need

Are adding fuel to our greed.

Trouble often lies ahead

If we don't watch where we tread.

Only strength of will can win!

Never be tempted into sin!

*

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Originally Posted by Intricate Mystic 

The world would be a terrible place if everyone was an atheist. The contemporary world has been taken over by atheists resulting in work being produced that celebrates ugliness, hopelessness, denies our humanity, and denies the mystery that is present in the universe. ... It would be a bleak, hopeless world full of despair and longing for that "something" that people would know is missing in their lives.

TABOO

I wish to judge the above critique.

The arguments are utterly weak!

(The words in bold are not my idea;

I would like to make that clear.)

*

I've been an atheist since my youth,

I've had my own idea of truth;

But I've not lived in a 'terrible place'!

I've loved my time with the human race!

All the atheists that I know

Are reasonable people, so

If people like them are multiplied

It seems to me there'd be peace world-wide!

Religious fanatics cause the wars,

Not atheists without a cause.

Not only that but with 'just this life'

One rejects all forms of strife!

With no hope of Heaven and all that jazz

One makes the best of the heaven one has.

*

Do I 'celebrate ugliness'? What a suggestion!

Utterly stupid! Out of the question!

I celebrate beauty every day,

But not in a religious way.

Maybe because my parents said 

'Look! A sunset! A pretty red'

I was influenced to judge a scene,

A sky of blue, a field of green,

As being 'beautiful'. Who knows?

But when I see a lovely rose

'What a beautiful rose!' I say.

I'm 'celebrating' in a way.

As for ugliness it offends;

I hate some 'ugly' modern trends;

Injustice brings me close to tears

And ugly language scalds my ears.

*

Am I 'hopeless'.....in a way;

I think I only have today.

I have no hope of eternity

The future wont mean a thing to me.

I'll go to sleep, and I wont dream;

Blackness will be my colour-scheme.

But I have my little human hopes;

That's how anybody copes.

Hopes for fine weather or good health,

Hopes for more pleasure and more wealth.

But I am, not consumed by these,

So don't accuse me of avarice, please!

I'm sure the religious also yearn

For a little more earthly cash to burn.

But Hope itself, on a grander scale

Is certainly not my Holy Grail.

*

An atheist denying humanity!

A contradiction, it seems to me!

The miracle of evolution

That brought about our contribution

Is an accidental wonder!

What misconception are you under?

'Humanism' has appeal;

For human beings are much more real

Than angels and spirits in the sky,

And that's a fact you can't deny.

You'll pick-on 'miracle', (written before),

And say 'Well, that's from God' for sure!

But miracles indeed exist

Even for an atheist.

I'm full of wonder, as you are,

When I view a miraculous star.

But I don't feel the mystery's solved

By saying there's a god involved.

*

'Denying a mystery'.....how could I 

Say I understand the 'where' and 'why'.

The universes are so vast,

Mankind's brief tenure will be past

Before we learn the why and wherefore 

Of this Paradise we care for.

And maybe there is no mystery;

Maybe 'What was to be would be'.

You say with frequency and persistence

'God brought life into existence.'

I say 'If things must be 'created'

By a God, as you have stated

How did God himself appear

Out of nothing? To me it's clear.

God is a man-made fabrication,

Thought-up to explain a situation

Which is a mystery, I agree

But doesn't involve a deity.

*

'Bleak'..... now that's a deadly word;

One of the worst I've ever heard.

Has it been proved without a doubt

That atheists have to live without

Kindness, joy and imagination

And every pleasurable sensation?

Do they wake and think ' Oh no!

Another day of grief and woe!'

Of course, they're sad at times, not jolly,

Feeling a sense of melancholy.

Of course they feel regret and shame

And every horror one can name.

Of course they're living with bad debts

Consumed with bitterness and regrets.

But many a man who's praised the Lord,

Has subsequently gone overboard,

And many a Man of God has been

A child-molester and obscene!

No better and no worse are we

Than students of theology.

As for 'bleak', it's just not true;

We are as full of life as you.

*

'Despair and longing' complete the list

Of things endured by the atheist.

Yes, we do feel both emotions,

But one of the writer's oddest notions

Is that Believers are immune,

And that life is one long honeymoon!

'Despair' for my part I feel rarely,

So I am being judged unfairly,

But 'longing' I feel and introspection 

When thoughts are turned in that direction.

I love my life so much that I

Long for never having to die.

But Heaven, as it is depicted,

Sounds very boring and restricted

And everlasting life 'down here'

Means an endless round, year after year,

Of same old same for evermore,

So even that might prove a bore.

The lesser of all evils, death,

A swift cessation of my breath

Seems a choice that I would make.

But I still do feel a little ache

That all this glory will go on

When I am gone, when I am gone.

*

So I state my atheistic case

It's not Taboo or out of place.

I know that we are viewed askance

By people  who hate the thought of Chance.

But I belong to a silent band

Of atheists in every land,

And I hope for a world at last at peace

When all the world religions cease.

*