Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks

Subject: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: Marion
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 04:18 PM

Hi gang. I'm looking for lyrics for a song I heard in a song circle lately.

Each verse ended:

"Humans wrote the Bible,
G-dash-D wrote the rocks (the sea, the sky, etc.)."

The singer indicated that this was "the Orthodox Jewish version of the song", so I expect that the original song had something else instead of "G-dash-D".

Thanks, Marion

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 04:26 PM

I know it's also sung in filk circles. My sig-o has sung it at some unitarian services. I don't know if she has the words readily accesible or not. I'll check.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the roc
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 07:54 PM

That would be Catherine (Cat) Faber's "The Word of God". A filksinger and songwriter originally out of Oregon, now down near Knoxville, TN.

I'm amused by the comment about "the Orthodox-Jewish version of the song". I take it someone's folk processed it a bit (since Cat isn't Jewish). Actually, I'm curious just who sang it; I wonder if its someone from the Ontario filk community (in which case I probably know them!)

Subject: ADD: The Word of God (Cat Faber)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Nov 04 - 09:31 PM

Here are the lyrcs from Gary's link:

The Word of God

Lyrics and melody © 1994 by Catherine Faber

From desert cliff and mountaintop we trace the wide design,
Strike-slip fault and overthrust and syn and anticline. . .
We gaze upon creation where erosion makes it known,
And count the countless aeons in the banding of the stone.
Odd, long-vanished creatures and their tracks & shells are found;
Where truth has left its sketches on the slate below the ground.
The patient stone can speak, if we but listen when it talks.
Humans wrote the Bible; God wrote the rocks.

There are those who name the stars, who watch the sky by night,
Seeking out the darkest place, to better see the light.
Long ago, when torture broke the remnant of his will,
Galileo recanted, but the Earth is moving still.
High above the mountaintops, where only distance bars,
The truth has left its footprints in the dust between the stars.
We may watch and study or may shudder and deny,
Humans wrote the Bible; God wrote the sky.

By stem and root and branch we trace, by feather, fang and fur,
How the living things that are descend from things that were.
The moss, the kelp, the zebrafish, the very mice and flies,
These tiny, humble, wordless things---how shall they tell us lies?
We are kin to beasts; no other answer can we bring.
The truth has left its fingerprints on every living thing.
Remember, should you have to choose between them in the strife,
Humans wrote the Bible; God wrote life.

And we who listen to the stars, or walk the dusty grade,
Or break the very atoms down to see how they are made,
Or study cells, or living things, seek truth with open hand.
The profoundest act of worship is to try to understand.
Deep in flower and in flesh, in star and soil and seed,
The truth has left its living word for anyone to read.
So turn and look where best you think the story is unfurled.
Humans wrote the Bible; God wrote the world.

---

This song was inspired when a friend of mine complained to me about a run-in with some Creationists, and asked "what can you say to such people?" The first words that popped out of my mouth were "humans wrote the bible. God wrote the rocks."

The URL of the source page is http://www.echoschildren.org/CDlyrics/WORDGOD.HTML
It was created by Cat Faber and maintained by Arlene "Callie" Hills

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: BanjoRay
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 04:24 AM

That's beautiful - should be compulsory in churches, without insisting what God is.

Ray (mostly atheist as far as many ideas of God are concerned)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the roc
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 01:24 PM

Now, the sixty-four dollar question: Where can I find the tune?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 01:58 PM

Tie Wolfgang up by his heels and play it for him 8500 times...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 02:08 PM

Sheet music available on same site as words: Word of God.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: Cool Beans
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 05:09 PM

Then there was the Orthodox Jewish folkster who loved to sing
"I Didn't Know G-dash-D Made Honkytonk Angels."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: Marion
Date: 23 Nov 04 - 02:44 PM

Thanks everybody.

I definitely remember their being a verse that ended "God wrote the sea", so the singer must have added it. I'll try to get words for the new verse at some point, and post it here.

Cheers, Marion

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: GUEST,Bob
Date: 23 Nov 04 - 04:37 PM

Aho!Mitakuye Oyasin.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: frogprince
Date: 23 Nov 04 - 07:49 PM

This is what "Creationism" SHOULD mean, as opposed to the usual current definition.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Humans wrote Bible, God wrote the rocks
From: Mudlark
Date: 24 Nov 04 - 03:41 AM

What a great song--those lyrics even an agnostic could get behind. Wish I could read music as I, too, would like melody.