A Goody From Woody

Goody from Woody
April 7, 2010


Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943), was a famous American poet. One of his most famous works is as follows:

"First Dentistry was Painless”
First dentistry was painless;
Then bicycles were chainless
And carriages were horseless
And many laws, enforceless.
Next, cookery was fireless,
Telegraphy was wireless,
Cigars were nicotineless
And coffee, caffeineless.
Soon oranges were seedless,
The putting green was weedless,
The college boy hatless,
The proper diet, fatless,
Now motor roads are dustless,
The latest steel is rustless,
Our tennis courts are sodless,
Our new religions, godless.


Did you see that last line, “Our new religions, godless”? Now before you say he was wrong, think about Friedrick Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900), the European philosopher who declared, “Gott ist tot!”—German for “God is dead”. Nietzsche attended one semester of seminary training but dropped out and said he had lost his faith. (His father was a Lutheran pastor, and his mother a school teacher.) What prompted this loss of faith and later declaring “God is dead”? I believe it might have been his reading of David Strauss’s Life of Jesus. The author Strauss had argued that Jesus was human but not divine. Ideas have consequences.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century. Two years ago, at Easter time, Gretta Vosper, a United Church of Canada pastor released her book, With or Without God—Why the Way We Live Is More Important Than What We Believe. This postmodern liberal theologian contends for the idea of the removal of authority and symbols in Christianity. She removed the cross from the worship center in her church, and she took the bible and its stand off the communion table. The communion table with the words, “Do this in Remembrance of Me”, was turned around so you could not read the words.

This Canadian pastor is trying to create a community that is non-exclusive.

But even Nietzsche knew that without God there is no morality.

What’s the point? We are living in an age where even, in some churches, language, symbols, the Bible and authority are being rejected.

I believe the poet Guiterman was a prophet: “Our new religions, godless.” Today we call this the Emergent Church (or postmodern theology).

Jesus talked about these people in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are plundering wolves” and in Matthew 24:11, “And many false prophets will be raised and will cause many to err.”

How do you guard against false prophets (religious leaders)?