Posting more lyrics from Downhere, my new favorite band. Listen to the song here on YouTube or here on Spotify.
There’s got to be some reason for all this misery
A secret evil corporation somewhere overseas
They’re pulling strings, arranging things, it’s a conspiracy
What about the ones who shape the course of history?
What if we petitioned for one grand apology?
I’ll write to my prime minister, you write your president
Well some would say the devil and his legions
They’ve put us in a headlock of submission
They lost all power over me, a long long time ago
And since I was a kid, you know, I’ve caused a lot of hurt
But no one taught me how to put myself first
It came so very naturally, I’m not a prodigy
Everybody’s wondering how the world could get this way
If God is good, then how it could be filled with so much pain
It’s not the age old mystery we’ve made it out to be
There’s a problem with the world
The problem with the world is me
So I will look no further than a mirror
That’s where the offender hides
So great is my need for a redeemer
I cannot trust myself
So I’ll trust in someone else
I fell for this song at once, simply because it’s message is so close to my favorite Jacques Ellul quote:
If the time comes when despair sees violence as the only possible way, it is because Christians were not what they should have been. If violence is unleashed anywhere at all, the Christians are always to blame. This is the criterion, as it were, of the confession of sin. Always, it is because Christians have not been concerned for the poor, have not defended the cause of the poor before the powerful, have not unswervingly fought the fight for justice, that violence breaks out.
The underlying meaning of the confession that I read aloud every sunday then is this; The problem with the world is me.
Shame, shame, shame…
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010I wouldn’t normally care to comment on this, infact I wouldn’t have noticed it unless my friend told me about it yesterday.
There is a swedish “christian” blog that published a good scoop about a certain prominent pastor in sweden that, lo and behold, has a rusty staty of Mary the mother of Jesus in his garden. What is so terrifying is that this pastor leads the biggest evangelical (I guess it is) church in sweden, and this supposedly proves that he has sworn loyalty to the pope and the devil, leading his flock astray!
I’m trying really hard not to ridicule too much, because while I feel like laughing at it, the whole thing also fills me with great sadness and fear. My hope is that the lyrics in these two song can explain why. If you have spotify or find them on youtube, then do listen. They’re awesome songs.
First out is Derek Webb with What Matters More (unfortunatly not on spotify, I’ve posted his video before though):
You say you always treat people like you’d like to be
I guess you love being hated for your sexuality
You love when people put words in your mouth
About what you believe, make you sound like a freak
Because if you really believe what you say you believe
You wouldn’t be so damn reckless with the words you speak
Wouldn’t silence your concern when the liars speak
Denying all the dying or the remedy
If I can tell what’s in your heart by what comes out of your mouth
Then it sure looks to me like being straights is all it’s all about
Yeah, it looks like being hated for all the wrong things
And chasing the wind while the pendulum swings
We can talk and debate it till we’re blue in the face
About the language and tradition that He’s coming to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don’t give a shit
About fifty-thousand people who are dying today
Tell me, brother, what matters more to you?
Tell me, sister, what matters more to you?
The second song comes from Relient K’s second album, and is titled Down in Flames:
Christians, we’re all afraid of fire
We prefer to suck on pacifiers
Baby pacifists, we’re throwing fits
We don’t shake hands, we shake our fists
We’re cannibals, we watch our brothers fall
We eat our own, the bones and all
Finally fell asleep on the plane
to wake to see we’re going down in flames
We’re going down, down, down in flames
We’re gonna drown, drown, drown insane
We see the problem and the risk, but nothing’s solved
We just say, “Tisk, tisk, tisk,” and “Shame, shame, shame”
Finally fell asleep on the plane
to wake to see we’re going down in flames
Christians, we mourn, the thorn is stuck
In the side of the body watch it self-destruct
The enemy is much ignored
When we fight this Christian civil war
Let me pause to clarify
Because I’m sure you’re asking, “Why?”
I stand before you and proudly claim
To belong to what this song complains
I’m part of the problem, I confess,
But I gotta get this off my chest
Let’s extinguish the anguish
For which we’re to blame
And save the world from going down in flames
Some other people have commented on this, and their level-headedness is relieving. There are some that still think. Unfortunatly, Aletheia still don’t get it. Even stranger, they start attacking Emanuel, who galantly defends himself.
Posted by dafydd in Uncategorized
Tags: Christianity, Commentary, Derek Webb, RelientK
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