You Have Heard It Said by Eira Quinn

The following poem “You Have Heard it Said,” a friend shared with me, and I thought it a powerful piece that challenges traditional theology. This may offend some, and speak to others.

You Have Heard It Said by Eira Quinn

They told me about Noah, but not the bodies.

Not the screaming beneath rising water,

or the mothers who begged God for mercy

as he watched from the clouds and said nothing.

I heard about Job, but they skipped the bet.

The part where God let the Devil ruin a man’s life just to prove a point.

Killed his children. Stripped his skin and called it a righteous testing.

They told me about Abraham’s faith, but not Isaac’s trauma.

Not what it does to a boy to see his father raise a knife

with heaven’s approval. Not the silence that follows

when you survive a god who wanted you dead.

No one mentioned the concubines,

the raped, the forgotten wives, the daughters sold

for the price of land or peace or power.

They didn’t talk about stoning disobedient sons, or killing gay lovers,

or what to do if a woman is not a virgin on her wedding night.

They said Jesus died for us,

but not that God could’ve chosen forgiveness without blood.

That maybe the crucifixion wasn’t salvation, but spectacle.

They said “trust the Word,” but they handed me a censored book

and a list of acceptable questions.

And when I asked about the rest, they said “have faith.”

But faith without truth is just fear in nicer clothing.

And now that I’ve read what they skipped—

now that I’ve seen what they hid—

I can’t go back to coloring pages and quiet amens.

The god they taught me was edited.

Redacted. Rebranded. But the truth?

The truth was always there. In the margins. In the footnotes. In the blood.