Song Blog 7 – Mystical
During my freshman year of college, I took a New Testament Survey class. It was one of the required courses for all students, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. We went through the entire New Testament of the Bible in a semester and touched on all the big ideas. It was very interesting, but, unfortunately, I haven’t retained as much of it as I’d have liked to.
There is one thing about the class that’s always stuck with me, though—our professor continually emphasized that, as 21st century, post-enlightenment Westerners, our frame of reference is very different from that of the New Testament’s original audience. Our political system is very different, as is our social structure, economy, and philosophy. We can’t read the Bible like it was written for someone in our exact situation. The truths are universal, but sometimes the way they are conveyed is more specific to an ancient Jewish resident of Asia Minor than anything else.
So how are we different from the Bible’s original intended audience? One thing that I have been struck by is how intellectual we’ve become. We have all kinds of books on theology that explain almost everything you could want explained in the Bible. Not to say there’s anything wrong with studying the Bible, but I think when we get too intellectual, we lose sight of just how mystical our faith really is.
God didn’t reveal himself to Moses by handing him a five-point essay with a unifying thesis. He lit a bush on fire, turned Moses’ walking stick into a cobra, and then gave him a skin disease. And when Moses asked God who He was so he could tell the Israelites who was pulling the strings, God didn’t respond with a name and an explanation of how he was preexistent in Trinitarian form. He just said, “I am who I am.”
Donald Miller makes a good observation in Searching for God Knows What when he mentions that when you look through the Bible, the vast majority of it isn’t systematic theology. It’s true—there aren’t bulleted outlines that tell us who God is and what he’s like. There are stories, though. There’s poetry, there’s trippy prophecy, and there’s even some ancient Jewish law. No bulleted outlines, though.
So why does all this matter? Shouldn’t it be a better thing that we understand God so well now? Isn’t it great that we have Him all figured out?
That’s the thing. The minute our theology tells us we have God figured out, we’re doing bad theology. I don’t believe in a God small enough to fit inside a 1,000 page Bible commentary. If we could understand everything about God, then He wouldn’t be God. We would.
So that’s about it for Mystical. As far as other news, it’s been a busy couple of months for me. That would be why I’m just now getting this month’s blog done. I just finished up one of my busiest semesters of college, so that ended up occupying a good chunk of my time. On top of that, there’s been a lot of cool stuff going on band-wise. The music video for Terrify Me is up on YouTube now, and I’m very pleased with how it came out. I’ve been super fortunate to have incredibly talented friends who are willing to do stuff for me free of charge. If you haven’t seen the video yet, I highly recommend you check it out. I’ll even embed it at the end of this post so you don’t have to search around for it online.
I also made the crazy decision that I was going to do a two-song Christmas album and get it posted before Christmas. That wouldn’t have been such a big deal if I’d started working hard on the album in, say, November. This was, unfortunately, not the case. Come December 18, just a week before Christmas, I only had one half-done Christmas carol. But I worked hard and managed to crank the beast out in a matter of three or four days. You can now listen to my Christmas EP if you go to my artist page. I also made a playlist on my user page that has those two tracks along with my cover of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen from Keeping the Demons at Bay. So if you were looking for a three-song playlist of synth pop Christmas carols, then you’re in luck.
I also hit 100 fans on Facebook. I know I shouldn’t be too elated, but I’m pretty pumped. So pumped that I finally made another vlog to celebrate. I’ll put that vlog at the end of this post, too.
As far as my current musical addiction goes, I’ve been bouncing around between three or four different CD’s, but the one I really like has been Imogen Heap’s Ellipse. Apparently it came out in late August, but I didn’t learn that until just a few weeks ago. I feel a little out of the loop, but I’m glad I finally got around to listening to it. It’s a great album if you like spacey electropop stuff, which I do quite a bit.
Well, that’s it for this month. Have a merry Christmas!
Here’s the music video for Terrify Me:
And the vlog:
-T.H.
-
Your word is a textbook
You’ve given us answers cut and dry
Our science and schooling
Have caused our pitiful faiths to die
We study and measure
We’re kissing Your mystery goodbye
But I just can’t do it
I’ll raise my head up and cry that
I believe
In a God who’s mystical
He’s beyond me
Put my faith
In things fantastical
And that faith has set me free
You’ve sunk to our level
Where logic can totally explain
We have to contain you
We’re terrified to proclaim, God
I believe
In a God who’s mystical
He’s beyond me
Put my faith
In things fantastical
And that faith has set me free
Now you’re in our image
We’ve taken away your otherness
Takes divine strokes to paint you
My brush is just rotting flesh, oh
I believe
In a God who’s mystical
He’s beyond me
Put my faith
In things fantastical
And that faith has set me free
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