I'm Posting This Backwards (Part 2-Cause) or "Don't Worry, I'm Taking It Back"

Before I go into the next topic I would like to add on a bit to my last blog due to a comment that was posted. This is for those of you who may have read the blog before Brad (yea right).
Here's what he said:
". . . You seem frustrated with the whole "Christian band" thing. I can relate. I think that far too often Christians share a bit too much of their personal convictions as THE Standard everyone else should live by, and yet still preach conditional "uncondiitional acceptance." Christians in bands get the brunt of this for some reason. You would think that more popular celebrities (I have a few movie stars and directors in mind) would get the most flack, but they're somehow given the most slack. But then, why should anyone have to be given "slack" in the first place? What happened to compassion for what that person might be going through? Knowing that you don't know a person's heart and intent by their actions? Not judging someone (mainly because you probably have plenty of things to judge yourself on, and besides, your not the judge!)? Unconditional love (which I believe is impossible for us in our egoism, but they still preach it!)? The list goes on and on. Churchianity has become a gang culture where everyone is right, holier-than-thou, and close-minded to anything that "God didn't tell them." I thank God that there are sincere and loving Christians out there, the ones that take time to seek out the character of God that Jesus talked about. Sadly, that seems to be the exception in church circles."
Now my response:
"Its not exactly the "Christian band" label that I'm tired of but the judgment that seems to come with it. If someone wants to call their band a Christian band then I'm all for it; as long as they know their place in what they do and where there hearts lay I'm cool with it. What I'm sick of hearing is what people think a Christian band should be and criticizing a band for their decisions whether in their music, on stage, or in their personal lives. Yes this all comes down to the "holier-than-thou" mentality alot of kids pick up at church and carry with them throughout their lives. What I'm slowly getting at (and what the topic of my next blog will deal with) is communication; something alot of people don't understand the concept of. Some people (including myself) judge others with little or nothing to base their opinions on because of searching and expanding the information they have they just inflate the little info they have gained in passing to make their arguments."

--And now we return to our original programming already in progress--

A while back I was in an on-line discussion forum and some kid was talking about religion and how there are so many negative things associated with the term "Christian"(as a noun) so from now on he was calling himself "a follower of Christ". But in the way he wrote he sounded just like all those people he was trying to separate himself from by changing what he called himself. It didn't make sense. If you followed this pattern into the future eventually people would hate the label "follower of Christ" and want to call them something else. My point in all this is What does it matter the label if whats inside is true? This is a really bad reference for this subject but in the movie Clerks II Randall started a campaign to turn the phrase "Porch Monkey" from a derogatory, racist term into just a regular derogatory phrase that could openly used in jest of one another. "Don't worry, I'm taking it back" is what he said. Well thats me right now. I'm a Christian. "Don't worry, I'm taking it back."

I'm not going into anything I wanted to talk about. I just don't feel like it right now. So I'll just dive right in. If someone were to come up to me and ask about my writing (band-wise) and ask what a certain song was about I most likely wouldn't tell them unless I really felt the need to. For example if they wanted to know the meaning behind As American As Apple Pie And Napalm I would tell them its about war or Prophecy I may give them the verse in Ezekiel. Because You Dance So Beautifully is a love song, 'nuff said. One thing I don't want is for our[The Burning Is Here] songs to be restrictive. I want everyone to get the most out of them. If someone want to know what a particular song is about I'll point them to the lyrics and ask what THEY think its about and if that works for them then it works for me (unless it i so totally off that it has a negative affect on someone, then I'll tell them.) I do the same with the band members though I may go into more detail as to why i wrote the song because they're my closest friends. But with songs like The Wait Is Over; I wrote that song after I was having trouble screaming when we first started the band. The literal reason that song was written was because I was having trouble projecting my voice. How many people do you think can directly relate to that and have a positive impact on their lives? But if they see the lyrics that say "How many must wait? Why's it so hard to share our faith? ... its[my heart] burning, my heart is surely turning/ I'll take it out and wipe it clean just to give it back to you ... I'm speechless, I'm voiceless, when will this end?" then they can relate that to their own lives. That may not have been the best song to use as an example (its definitely not the highlight of my writing ability). But its the easiest one to explain without divulging information thats more private. None of this at all seems to be related to what I originally wanted to write about but at the last minute I decided that this would be more appropriate than the other. As to where we[The Burning Is Here] stand in relation to the "Christian band" point of discussion I'm going to explain it once more as I have explained and discussed with several others based on questions I have been asked and some I ask myself to clarify my thought.
Do I Consider The Burning Is Here a Christian band? Yes but it depends on who's asking me. If a Christian comes up to me and asks I will say yes. If someone else does I may say otherwise BUT I won't leave out my faith and the faith of the rest of the band. I say this because the definition of a Christian band varies from person to person. Some believe it to mean that the band must play "praise and worship" music (which if everything we do is in God's creation then yes we technically play praise and worship though not in the style most Christians recognizes as praise and worship by having lyrics directly talking to God.) Others believe a Christian band plays entirely for a Christian audience. If that is the definition of a Christian band then I would say no, we are not a Christian band. I say this because many Christians have positive influences in their life and they don't necessarily need to hear our music to get closer to God even though it wouldn't be an entirely bad thing. Those who are not Christians though can look at us a true representation of the faith. Our primary audience isn't a Christian one even though one or two songs may be directed to Christians specifically. Some may say a Christian band is a band who's members are all Christians. Again, if that is the case then no we are not a Christian band. Some of us call ourselves Christians, others try to lean away from the negative things related to the term "Christian" and others are not Christians at all. But the one thing that does unite us all is our faith because no matter our differences we all believe in the same God who created the universe and we recognize that throughout our failures God has stuck with us with everlasting grace and forgiveness and that by sending his son he made a deeper connection with us and allowed for a sacrifice to be taken, his only son, so that we may live on another level for and with God. The names of our labels and religions cannot drive us apart as long as we have God with us together. Aaron Gillespie has a song on The Almost album called "Amazing Because It Is". It is pretty much the chorus to "Amazing Grace" with a few verses he had written. But the title of the song really hit home with me as a description of God's infinite grace as it applies to everyone. I can't remember if there was anything more I had to say but be sure that if I remember I'll be posting it here. Thanks for getting this far, I didn't mean for me to write so much but its just what has been on my mind the past few weeks.
-Justin D. Covey