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The Here and Now

from iTom 1​.​0: And So It Begins by Tom Smith

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There has been a lot of noise the past several years about religion, on many different fronts. What it seems to boil down to is, those who believe very devoutly can't abide the thought of the rest of the world not sharing their faith, or at least being subject to its rules, and those who do not believe can't abide the thought of having what they consider to be a superstition forced upon them.

I am in the latter camp. I was raised Lutheran, then Methodist (my lame joke about it is that I worship ways to kill Superman)... but I was a reader and a science-lover, and my Sunday School teacher could never explain why dinosaurs weren't in the Bible. A nine-year-old kid invoking carbon-14 dating really threw her off.

As I've grown older, I've gone through various degrees of hostility towards organized religion. Right now, I'm actually in a fairly benign phase, as long as no one mentions attempts to curtail reproductive rights because Jesus Loves Babies. But, awhile back, this song hit. Can't remember what particular news item set me off, probably something again about attempts to legislate "intelligent design" into science classrooms. But, when I started writing it, I almost immediately discarded the idea of being... well, mean about it all. So this is my attempt to explain politely -- as in, to my mother -- how I feel about the rational world vs. the existence of God, and more importantly how you don't need God to be a good person.

lyrics

God made the world, so they say,
And he did it in only seven days,
But they can't tell you if those days were short... or... long,
And they think their God is threatened if the dates... are... wrong.

God made Adam, God made Eve,
Kicked 'em out of Eden 'cause they were deceived (hiss that snake),
They had children, one was good... one... scum,
Cain killed Abel, then got married -- where'd his wife... come... from?

There's all those little problems where the story doesn't jibe,
If God created all of us, why single out one tribe?
Why weren't there any dinosaurs on Noah's floating zoo?
Why tell us all these fairy tales when we've got stuff to do?

We've got the world (we've got the world), the here and now (the here and now),
Things happen, it's only natural to ask how (ask... how)
But there's no reason to trust mytho...lo...gy,
The world right here and now's enough for me.


God made Commandments, God made rules,
God said "to build a better life, these are the tools",
He said the first four... are to wor...ship... me,
If you don't, you will be tortured for eter...ni...ty.

But what if this world is all there is,
What if, when you die, there ain't no final quiz,
No hell or heaven? Well, that's all right... with... me...
We'll make it heaven here on earth, just wait... and... see.

Why punish us forever for an arbitrary rule?
Why set us up for failure? Does God have to be so cruel?
Why give us all these instincts for committing mortal sins?
Why give us all these ways to lose before the game begins?

We've got the world (we've got the world), the here and now (the here and now),
There may be nothing, al-Akhirah, or the Tao (eternal Tao)
But I've got present responsibi...li...ty,
The world right here and now's enough for me.


We've got the world (we've got the world), the here and now (the here and now),
And you know we're gonna make it somehow (some... how)
But I ain't countin' on eter...ni...ty,
The world right here and now's enough for me.


There may be God, and there may not
The world we're livin' in might just be all we've got
That ain't no problem, 'cause, whether spawned... or... made,
The only way to live is not to be... a...fraid.

We've got our minds, we've got our hearts,
We've got our souls and they're the most important parts,
We don't need threatenin' to tell what's right... from... wrong
Just mind your business, clean things up, and get a... long.

The world is filled with wonderment and beauty near and far,
And trying to understand it is just being who we are,
If there's a God, he told us that the world he made was ours,
We're almost done exploring here, the next stop is the stars.

We've got the world (we've got the world), the here and now (the here and now),
And we're gonna reach the heavens somehow (some... how)
It's up to us to fulfill our des...ti...ny,
The world right here and now's enough for me (enough for me).

We've got the world (we've got the world), the here and now (the here and now),
And you know we're gonna make it somehow (some... how)
Find God within you -- the rest comes na...tura...lly,
The world right here and now's enough for me.
I say, the world right here and now's enough for me.
That's right, the world right here and now's enough for me.
Ohhhhh... yeahhhh!

credits

from iTom 1​.​0: And So It Begins, released October 26, 2006

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Tom Smith Ann Arbor

Weird Al with more books, JoCo with more jokes, Carlin with more Cthulhu. Since 1985, Tom Smith has been breaking hearts, minds, and laws of propriety and physics with his insane blend of sf/fantasy, Life With Computers, pop culture, politics, and puns. More than twenty albums later, he maintains the best is yet to come. ... more

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