# Clever Christian stuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 17, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969 "2016-05-17T06:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/1 "2016-05-17T06:05:00Z")
A Christian shared this on Facebook. At first I thought it wasn’t completely true regarding my atheism but in the end I thought it was very clever. **An Atheist’s View On Life** > [@](#): > > I will live my life according to these beliefs > > God does not exist > > It is just foolish to think > > That there is a God with a cosmic plan > > That an all-powerful God brings purpose to the pain and suffering in the world > > It’s a comforting thought however > > Is only wishful thinking > > People can do as they please without eternal consequences > > The idea that > > I am deserving of Hell > > Because of sin > > Is a lie meant to make me a slave to those in power > > The more you have the happier you will be > > Our existence has no grand meaning or purpose > > In a world with no God > > There is freedom to be who I want to be > > But with God > > Everything is fine > > It is ridiculous to think > > I am lost and in need of saving **A Christian’s View On Life** (read this bottom to top) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/2 "2016-05-17T06:23:19Z")
I’ve seen this sort of construction before with a poem about mental health (which in all honesty, was better than this one). If it’s meant to portray some sort of atheist statement when read from top to bottom, the last few lines don’t make sense. This bit: > [@](#): > > Our existence has no grand meaning or purpose > > In a world with no God > > There is freedom to be who I want to be > > But with God > > Everything is fine ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/3 "2016-05-17T06:29:06Z")
Atheists believe that “the more you have the happier you will be”? Since when? ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/4 "2016-05-17T06:29:38Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’ve seen this sort of construction before with a poem about mental health (which in all honesty, was better than this one). Could you share it here? > [@](#): > > If it’s meant to portray some sort of atheist statement when read from top to bottom, the last few lines don’t make sense. This bit: Yeah I didn’t think the first part was completely true but then I forgot about that when I was reading it backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/5 "2016-05-17T07:19:33Z")
I think it was this one: > **[Depression vs. Hope; Reverse poem | Teen Ink](https://www.teenink.com/poetry/all/article/571456/Depression-vs-Hope-Reverse-poem)** > > Our world is drowning in sorrow. It is wrong to believe that We have something to live for. It is evident that Nothing matters anymore. It is wrong to believe that Something exists in this world besides pain and grief. I know We can’t re There’s also this one, about xenophobia: > **[This Poem About Refugees Takes On A Whole New Meaning When You Read It...](https://www.her.ie/life/this-poem-about-refugees-takes-on-a-whole-new-meaning-when-you-read-it-backwards-284361?cacheTtl=5&cacheKey=request-browser-httpswwwherielifethis-poem-about-refugees-takes-on-a-whole-new-meaning-when-you-read-it-backwards284361)** > > Food for thought. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/6 "2016-05-17T07:22:06Z")
Yeah, I think that the entire premise that atheists don’t/can’t believe in some greater scheme is the big flaw here. It’s certainly more clever than a lot of memes, but my quibble: I don’t believe in God. I do believe that I have a duty to my fellow man, and future generations. My actions today won’t earn me anything in some afterlife in heaven. But it’s my ethical duty to be kind, and to do the things in my power to sustain the earth. I don’t need a list of shalls and shall nots and the threat of hell nor the promise of heaven to goad me into kindness. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/7 "2016-05-17T09:53:35Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Yeah, I think that the entire premise that atheists don’t/can’t believe in some greater scheme is the big flaw here. It’s certainly more clever than a lot of memes, but my quibble: > > I don’t believe in God. I do believe that I have a duty to my fellow man, and future generations. My actions today won’t earn me anything in some afterlife in heaven. But it’s my ethical duty to be kind, and to do the things in my power to sustain the earth. I don’t need a list of shalls and shall nots and the threat of hell nor the promise of heaven to goad me into kindness. ^^ This. I feel a lot like this. Being kind to people, respecting different beliefs, helping those who need some help is how we should live regardless of what our faith-- or lack of-- tells us. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/8 "2016-05-17T12:47:00Z")
“Clever Christian Stuff” is an oxymoron. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/9 "2016-05-17T12:51:03Z")
I thought the story about the flood and the helicopter and boat was clever the first time I heard it. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/10 "2016-05-17T12:57:52Z")
A local church on my way to work had a sign that read “exposure to the Son may prevent burning”. I thought it was pretty damn clever, specially here in FL. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/11 "2016-05-17T13:49:36Z")
It’s moderately clever that it can be coherent when read either forwards and backwards but as Mangetout says the last few lines don’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/12 "2016-05-17T13:59:58Z")
If you don’t find the [Jesus YMCA](https://www.fugly.com/pictures/12762/ymca_jesus.html) clever, I pity you. I recently showed it to my Jewish Boss, and he cracked up. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/13 "2016-05-17T14:39:11Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > “Clever Christian Stuff” is an oxymoron. Clever Christian stuff = Glurge all too often. ETA: **Annie-Xmas** ; now _that’s_ funny. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/14 "2016-05-17T15:37:05Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > “Clever Christian Stuff” is an oxymoron. That Samson riddle could be considered clever, for some definition of clever. _I_ think it’s a cheat but then, I’m a godless heathen. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/15 "2016-05-17T15:53:45Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Yeah, I think that the entire premise that atheists don’t/can’t believe in some greater scheme is the big flaw here. It’s certainly more clever than a lot of memes, but my quibble: > > I don’t believe in God. I do believe that I have a duty to my fellow man, and future generations. My actions today won’t earn me anything in some afterlife in heaven. But it’s my ethical duty to be kind, and to do the things in my power to sustain the earth. I don’t need a list of shalls and shall nots and the threat of hell nor the promise of heaven to goad me into kindness. +2. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-christian-stuff/754969/16 "2016-05-17T16:24:26Z")
If you concatenate such a poem and its reversal, you get a line palindrome poem, in which a message of despair may change to a message of hope (or vice versa). I mentioned one at SDMB in an earlier thread: > [@Like a palindrome, but not](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-a-palindrome-but-not/618830/5): > > There’s a famous line palindrome which reverses meaning backward despite that each line is the same. If you’ve never seen it, [“The lost generation poem - you can reverse it”](https://web.archive.org/web/20120408025458/http://www.thoughts.com/ThomasYong/the-lost-generation-peom-you-can-reverse-it) might be worth a look. [I’ve replaced the earlier link to a link to the Wayback Machine’s copy.] > > [Here’s a Youtube of several young people reading the poem.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWSYPDh7O5Q) [Here’s another line palindrome poem.](http://www.museworld.com/archives/001265.html)