I listen to very... interesting music. It's only a step (from a pedantic standpoint) from not being music, and its message is often antithetical to what the perception of the genre assumes it to be. To be more straightforward, I listen to Christian metalcore. Yeah, the stuff where you can barely scratch out the lyrics from the gargles coming from the throat of the lead vomitter. All jokes aside, the genre is home to some very expressive, honest bands willing to voice their faith and dedication in unique and powerful ways. Oh, Sleeper is a upcoming leader in this genre (taking 1st on the iTunes metal chart and 23rd in the overall charts with their latest release, Children of Fire), and delivers potent theological messages through their albums.
Their freshman release was When I am God, an edgily title album that probably made more than a couple Christian shoppers wonder what it was doing in Christian stores and music displays. However, the full line (When I am God, this church is unsound) provides much more accurate insight into the band's true meaning. The album begins with an intense display of emotion on Vices like Vipers, a song detailing the dangers of vices and the wisdom of God. The Charlatan's Host is a powerful song about hypocrisy with strong resemblance to the story of David and Uriah (also known as David and Bathsheba). Later, the Color Theft is a call to live life the right way, even if it becomes difficult, because a life of mediocrity is like a world without color. The End of a Dark Campaign is the final song on the album, and talks of mercy and redemption.
Attempting to improve upon an excellent first release, their sophomore release is a tale of the war between God and the devil in plain words. The first track, The Son of the Morning (also the album's title) is the devil's take on the battle, a proud, arrogant stance that defies the mercy of God and brags of his presumed might. Then the album is packed with songs that deal with the battle for the human soul: The New Breed proclaims that we are all saved through Christ, urging this generation to find salvation ("If you are the new breed, scream 'I am Immortal in You'"). In All Honesty is an account of the evil that lurks in the heart of man, tangibly portrayed as a monster, killing then running "faster than guilt could ever", followed by a rejection of mercy because of the idea of self-worthlessness. Breathing Blood is a track with vivid imagery, with the contrast of breathing the blood of fallen enemies, but only drowning in the insufficiency of the slaughter, or accepting the mercy of the blood of Jesus. World Without a Sun is a potent track about fearing evil; the lyrics proclaim "I fear a world without the sun, but never who wished it gone", meaning that while we as Christians fear for the absence of salvation (for the souls that are lost), we never fear the forces that seek to destroy or corrupt. The Fire Dawn is a rousing song with a sharp edge, proclaiming that through the strength given by God, we can stand against any force of evil thrown against us. Finally, the Finisher is an account of the ultimate victory of God, destroying the Son of the Morning by cutting off his horns (hence the album art, a "broken" pentagram, symbolizing the devil with his horns cut off, defeated).
Children of Fire, the band's most recent release (though hopefully not their last) deals with the what if scenario of humanity trying to survive after the final battle. How do we act, now that there is no devil? How do we follow a God we cannot find? (The lyrics for the album are scarce, so I'll fix any inaccuracies in this post when the final lyrics come out, because my hearing can be a bit suggestive.) A key theme of the album is the premise of justice. Endseekers establishes the premise of the song, following the final battle, with the captain (God) leaving humanity to grow ("'So long all you children'
Don't go! We're almost there! 'Your road is not yet coming to an end'"). Shed Your Soul is a track about the rejection of morality, justice, and faith. The song proclaims "
We're on our own!" and continues to reject God. Fortunately, the album doesn't end there. The Marriage of Steel and Skin talks about the hijackers, the followers who enforce an overly violent justice in the bleakness of a world without God. The man stands for the victims and hunts down their murderers, avenging his daughter's honor. Hush Yael is a song that has great potency in or out of context. Out of context, it is simply a call for action regarding a terrorist that killed most of an Israeli family ("The 22nd day of the 4th month, 1979 warrants a judgement Because he came and he saw And this coward conquered a family asleep in their home"). However, in context, the song also develops how to do justice: standing up beyond the spite and hatred to resist evil, while keeping memory of the fallen and holding people accountable for their actions, even to their graves if necessary. The Conscience Speaks is a powerful followup, proclaiming "You shed his blood in my name To cover up the messes that he made. Will you please let it go? I helped you shed in their name But can't you see our wounds still remain? Will you please let it go". The meaning of this passage is that we need to stop blaming God for the actions of men (the Crusades, witch trials, etc.) and our own hypocrisy (such as the vices that the church proclaims is bad being about equally prevalent inside the church, and the idea that God needs to fix our problems or He is somehow derelict in His duties). In The Wake Of Pigs deals with hypocrisy in the church in more depth, crying for a pure voice that will urge us to climb, contrasted to the voices preaching for profit. The track Chewing the Stitch deals with the nature of man and the need for community and accountability to grow ("We are monsters on our own, banded together we'll overcome") and calling the Church to stand even when the world wants us to be quiet ("Don't expect us to apologize, Rebel dogs in the spotlight. We want no truce, No truce or compromise.) in order to witness as we are called, even if it makes people uncomfortable or displeased.
This is just a brief summary of the points in Oh, Sleeper's first three albums. Hopefully I can append this post when the next album comes out, and this post helps you find the meaning behind the lyrics.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Death of Honesty
Today, truth is a commodity for sale. Media machines spin the news to support their views. Earlier today I was reading a NYT article, which essentially critiqued the UN for taking a pro-Israel stance on the issue of the West Gaza blockade. The article focused heavily on the admonitions over the commando raid on a boat, but barely mentioned that the issue was not the raid but the force used (though armed men on a non-military vessel are breaching maritime law and are technically pirates, see Wikipedia link for the original incident) was excessive. They went so far as to imply that "the report takes a broadly sympathetic view of Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza", implying that the UN was somehow wrong or emotionally motivated. This stand alone sentence serves to make the reader feel that the UN was unwise in their decision, but provides no rational basis. On NPR, a full paragraph of a five paragraph article states (and poorly, since there is a typo changing a word (legal) to a word that means the opposite (illegal)) Pakistan's stance, and then blatantly lies, saying that Israel does not want to apologize (which is incorrect- Israel's stance (according to the NYT article that actually addressed the topic in depth, if slantingly) was of regret and willingness to make reparations, but not of full apology, a significant difference. Also, none of the news sources reference the "three other ships, [on which] activists showed passive resistance, which [were] suppressed by Israeli forces without deaths or severe injuries, and two other boats were taken without incident. The ships were subsequently towed to Israel, where all people aboard were detained awaiting deportation."
Admittedly, I've only focused on one issue and a few news sources, but these cases are widespread and rampant. Next time you read the news, try to find phrases and paragraphs that support yellow journalism, and you'll find that a lot of the facts that the media machine declares are not really true at all, but rather the opinion of the editors, authors, or outlets that publish them. I'm not saying not to read the news, but I'm saying don't be misled, because every article I've found in recent history has had a bias in one direction or another. Fortunately, some of these have been editorials, but the line between opinion and news has been blurred too far lately.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/09/01/140125112/u-n-panel-finds-israels-naval-blockade-legal-but-flotilla-raid-excessive?ft=1&f=1001
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/world/middleeast/02flotilla.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=UN&st=cse
Edits are for grammar, feel free to check the articles for context.
Admittedly, I've only focused on one issue and a few news sources, but these cases are widespread and rampant. Next time you read the news, try to find phrases and paragraphs that support yellow journalism, and you'll find that a lot of the facts that the media machine declares are not really true at all, but rather the opinion of the editors, authors, or outlets that publish them. I'm not saying not to read the news, but I'm saying don't be misled, because every article I've found in recent history has had a bias in one direction or another. Fortunately, some of these have been editorials, but the line between opinion and news has been blurred too far lately.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/09/01/140125112/u-n-panel-finds-israels-naval-blockade-legal-but-flotilla-raid-excessive?ft=1&f=1001
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/world/middleeast/02flotilla.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=UN&st=cse
Edits are for grammar, feel free to check the articles for context.
The Nature of the Trinity
The Trinity consists of three distinct entities, but yet is one single entity. This is a difficult concept to grasp, but is easier to understand through a division of the three, and then the idea that they operate with a common purpose, motivation, and essence/power that makes them one entity at the core (though Christ and the Father have expressed different, though not conflicting, opinions.) However, the easiest way I've found to explain this is through the idea of a three-role God.
The first role is Deliverer- the role of the Father, who uses his power in order to actively intervene, and seems at many times to be the sole acting force of the Trinity (though that would be inaccurate, as the Son and the Spirit have unique roles). The Deliverer role manifests through a concept of power, doing things that we would call miraculous, or by setting up events to happen, or through a variety of factors (there are more in-depth studies of the way God works, and I'm not particularly familiar with that sort of literature). The Deliverer is also the Judge, determining what is right and wrong and serving as the ultimate King.
The second role is Redeemer- the role of the Son, who uses his life as a sacrifice for our sin. As a perfect individual (at least morally), His sacrifice is the only way to permanently atone for all sin (notably, this hypothetically invalidates traditional sacrifice as a rejection of God's plan from a Christian viewpoint, but if you don't believe in Christ, you don't believe in the Son and would reject the Christian viewpoint from which I am writing anyway). The Redeemer needs not possess "supernatural" powers, merely invoking the Father, but may (I wasn't there, okay?) and certainly fulfills His part of the Trinity by providing a shield for humanity, allowing the wrath of God to be averted by covering imperfection with the sacrifice of perfection.
The third role is Truth- the Holy Spirit, who functions as a semi-tangible presence of God after the desertion of the temple and the death and ascent of Christ. Since Christ represents a new era of faith, with God being not only actively involved, but actively guiding (previously, God established rules, and enforced them, but Christ provides for mercy) and shaping community in order to make the church function in the way that it ought in order to best serve society and to protect and spread Truth. Many "churches" operate without true spiritual guidance because they fail to recognize the importance of adherence to scriptural Truth, but also without any form of the Holy Spirit (a difficult explanation to someone who has never experience the Holy Spirit's guidance. It's not like a seizure of control, but more a gradual shift where things that God finds abhorrent become abhorrent to you, and things that please God become pleasing to you. It's really a subtle change, and not only difficult to recognize as spiritual, but also easy to deny as maturing or becoming morally adjusted. My growth was marked by when I began to read the Bible every day which made a shift, but did not drastically change my habits or personality), making it difficult to remain centered in scriptural accuracy. Sorry Rob Bell, but you can't simply make scripture change to suit your needs. When we assume human inerrancy, we eliminate all room for the holy spirit to act.
To conclude, the Trinity is a set of three roles that fulfill different purposes (sorry for the poor explanation of the Spirit), but most importantly one unified body that functions with one purpose. Congress is made up of many individuals, but they are one corporate body, and while God is not hindered by party politics, the analogy is, if marred by humanity's perspective, appropriate.
The first role is Deliverer- the role of the Father, who uses his power in order to actively intervene, and seems at many times to be the sole acting force of the Trinity (though that would be inaccurate, as the Son and the Spirit have unique roles). The Deliverer role manifests through a concept of power, doing things that we would call miraculous, or by setting up events to happen, or through a variety of factors (there are more in-depth studies of the way God works, and I'm not particularly familiar with that sort of literature). The Deliverer is also the Judge, determining what is right and wrong and serving as the ultimate King.
The second role is Redeemer- the role of the Son, who uses his life as a sacrifice for our sin. As a perfect individual (at least morally), His sacrifice is the only way to permanently atone for all sin (notably, this hypothetically invalidates traditional sacrifice as a rejection of God's plan from a Christian viewpoint, but if you don't believe in Christ, you don't believe in the Son and would reject the Christian viewpoint from which I am writing anyway). The Redeemer needs not possess "supernatural" powers, merely invoking the Father, but may (I wasn't there, okay?) and certainly fulfills His part of the Trinity by providing a shield for humanity, allowing the wrath of God to be averted by covering imperfection with the sacrifice of perfection.
The third role is Truth- the Holy Spirit, who functions as a semi-tangible presence of God after the desertion of the temple and the death and ascent of Christ. Since Christ represents a new era of faith, with God being not only actively involved, but actively guiding (previously, God established rules, and enforced them, but Christ provides for mercy) and shaping community in order to make the church function in the way that it ought in order to best serve society and to protect and spread Truth. Many "churches" operate without true spiritual guidance because they fail to recognize the importance of adherence to scriptural Truth, but also without any form of the Holy Spirit (a difficult explanation to someone who has never experience the Holy Spirit's guidance. It's not like a seizure of control, but more a gradual shift where things that God finds abhorrent become abhorrent to you, and things that please God become pleasing to you. It's really a subtle change, and not only difficult to recognize as spiritual, but also easy to deny as maturing or becoming morally adjusted. My growth was marked by when I began to read the Bible every day which made a shift, but did not drastically change my habits or personality), making it difficult to remain centered in scriptural accuracy. Sorry Rob Bell, but you can't simply make scripture change to suit your needs. When we assume human inerrancy, we eliminate all room for the holy spirit to act.
To conclude, the Trinity is a set of three roles that fulfill different purposes (sorry for the poor explanation of the Spirit), but most importantly one unified body that functions with one purpose. Congress is made up of many individuals, but they are one corporate body, and while God is not hindered by party politics, the analogy is, if marred by humanity's perspective, appropriate.
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