{"id":732,"date":"2006-01-21T04:36:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-21T04:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2006\/01\/if-only.html"},"modified":"2006-01-21T04:36:00","modified_gmt":"2006-01-21T04:36:00","slug":"if-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2006\/01\/if-only.html","title":{"rendered":"If Only"},"content":{"rendered":"

I <\/p>\n

I would have dressed up,
Only it was too much trouble.<\/p>\n

I would have gone out,
Only it cost too much.<\/p>\n

I would have driven,
Only travel\u2019s dangerous.<\/p>\n

I would have eaten,
Only I weigh too much.<\/p>\n

I would have danced,
Only I didn\u2019t have a partner.<\/p>\n

I would have returned,
Only it brought back bad memories.<\/p>\n

II
I would have gone,
Only I didn\u2019t have time.<\/p>\n

I would have visited,
Only I wasn\u2019t wanted.<\/p>\n

I would have tried,
Only it was a waste of energy.<\/p>\n

I would have helped,
Only they didn\u2019t need me.
.
I would have cared,
Only I didn\u2019t feel like it.<\/p>\n

I would have cried,
Only I wasn\u2019t sorry.<\/p>\n

III
I would have volunteered,
Only I had better things to do.<\/p>\n

I would have voted,
Only it wouldn\u2019t have changed things.<\/p>\n

I would have donated,
Only they\u2019d made their quota.<\/p>\n

I would have spoken up,
Only I was afraid to.<\/p>\n

I would have acted,
Only others got there first.<\/p>\n

I would have felt sorry,
Only I didn\u2019t feel guilty.<\/p>\n

IV<\/p>\n

I would have prepared,
Only it was too much work.<\/p>\n

I would have studied,
Only I wouldn\u2019t have passed.<\/p>\n

I would have corrected it,
Only it was too late.<\/p>\n

I would have told the truth,
Only it would have offended.<\/p>\n

I would have graduated,
Only life intervened.<\/p>\n

I would have gotten the job,
Only they didn\u2019t like me.<\/p>\n

V<\/p>\n

I would have prayed,
Only God only knows.<\/p>\n

I would have worshipped,
Only I hate to sing.<\/p>\n

I would have fellowshipped
Only I didn\u2019t know them.<\/p>\n

I would have served,
Only I didn\u2019t have the calling.<\/p>\n

I would have loved,
Only it hurt too much.<\/p>\n

I would have lived,
If only.<\/p>\n

BW III<\/p>\n

Jan. 20th 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I I would have dressed up,Only it was too much trouble. I would have gone out,Only it cost too much. I would have driven,Only travel\u2019s dangerous. I would have eaten,Only I weigh too much. I would have danced,Only I didn\u2019t have a partner. I would have returned,Only it brought back bad memories. III would have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nIf Only - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2006\/01\/if-only.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If Only - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I I would have dressed up,Only it was too much trouble. I would have gone out,Only it cost too much. I would have driven,Only travel\u2019s dangerous. 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}