This One Thing Intuitively I Know

They say You made us us to test,

And that so we must do our 'best'

(That is, believe just as they do

And to do just they tell us to)

In the time that You have lent

On Earth where us You’ve sent,

And that in this test if we do well,

In Your Heaven above we'll dwell,

There to pass forever days and nights

Savouring all manner of delights,

But if in the test we happen to fail,

In Hell’s fires we’ll be sent to wail

And burn, punished for ever more.

Of this they claim they're fully sure.

For a while I felt they might be right,

For I then lacked my own insight,

But later on, this thought came to me:

That what they said just couldn’t be.

For which sane parent would birth a child,

A little infant, helpless, gentle and mild,

Merely to test it so that they could see

How it would then turn out to be,

And if it somehow failed their test,

They would, driven by perverse zest,

Fling it into a fire, where it’d never die,

And gleefully watch it flail and cry,

Deriving thereby a sadistic pleasure,

Enjoying it far beyond all measure?

Have You, please tell me, ever heard

Anything that's more evil and absurd?

If this no sane parent would dare do,

Could such a thing be done by You?

I refuse to consider that this can be

(If I'm wrong here, please tell me).

That's why I’m certain that all along

These folks have got it all wrong

When they say that us You've sent

To Earth with this one clear intent:

To put us to test and then decide

Where after death we're to reside

For all time to come, for eternity,

Which our eternal home must be,

Heaven or Hell, as You might say,

Declaring this on some ‘Judgment Day’.

No! No! I insist this just can’t be so.

This one thing intuitively I know!