Categories
General

Truth

Featured song: The Truth Will Set You Free, by Dion DiMucci, from his 1980 album, Inside Job.

QuestionsIn my last post, I discussed “love” as it was sought for by the generation that came out of the 1960s, and what they were seeking. Another thing that they were looking for was truth.

The problem with a search for “truth” is that the definition differs from one person to another. This is unfortunate, because it leads people to believe in “relative truth”, that truth changes under differing circumstances or with different people.

So, what exactly is truth? It does not have to do with preferences, where one person likes Italian food, but his friend likes Japanese food instead. It might have to do with a political alignment, depending on what that party is advocating. It certainly can apply to clearly reproducible scientific principles (gravity, mass, velocity, etc.)

Why should “truth” be a matter of debate? Shouldn’t it be self-evident? If that were the case, there would be much less conflict in the world, from the levels of country versus country all the way down to husband versus wife. The nature of truth has been an issue since the very day that Adam and Eve chose to listen to a voice other than God’s, and acted on what sounded like a “better” truth than what they had already been told.

The “truth” that you choose to follow has an impact on your entire life. If my personal interpretation of traffic laws means that “55 MPH” is a suggestion rather than the law (or truth), then I will have a conflict with the officer who pulls me over for going 75.

There are also truths that are true whether or not anyone believes them. The truth of gravity is in effect even if  I choose to not to accept it. I will fall to the ground when I jump off the roof, even if I think that I am able to fly.

Going back to the people of my generation, those who were becoming disillusioned with the truth of “free love” and “free your mind”: Many discovered that this freedom from the rules of society, from the rules of their parents, tended to bind them to other problems. And, at the end of the day, after they had lived with their new truth, the emptiness of life still faced them.

Discovery of the truth of Jesus results in a kind of freedom unknown to the unsurrendered heart. His truth directs me away from focusing on doing “my own thing” and instead pulls me to learn to do His “thing”.

In John 8:31-32, Jesus said to those to whom He was speaking, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  The song I share today from Dion DiMucci speaks of the truth told to a young man by his father, the truth about Jesus, the truth that can set a person truly free.

Down the dirty city street
Blacktop sneakers on my feet
I raced through early teenage years
And dealt with all those nameless fears

Waiting as the school bell rang
To drop my books and join the gang
And alley fights and stickball games
The passing girls wore dirty names

Over my shoulder and back through the years
I can see my father’s eyes in my memory
“Jesus died upon the cross
All was won and nothing lost”
And how the Truth will set you free, yeah
And how the Truth will set you free

I turned my collar, I combed my hair
I’d hide all the confusion there
When two dimes made my pockets ring
I was a wealthy New York king

Being cool by the candy store
I knew my world, yet wanted more
My high school colors of black and blue
They would disturb my point of view

And over my shoulder and back through the years
I could see my father’s eyes in my memory
Saying, “My Jesus died upon the cross
All was won and nothing lost”
How the Truth will set you free, yeah
Son, the Truth will set you free

You know, our candy store’s turned shopping mall
Huh, two dimes won’t buy you much at all
Boy Caruso on the street
Is a father now in slippered feet

Who tells his son as years go by
How God’s the Truth, hate’s a lie
It’s not what’s in your pocket, son
But what’s in your heart that makes us one

Oh, over your shoulder and back through the years
You will see your father’s eyes in your memory
Telling you, “Jesus died upon the cross
All was won and nothing lost”
And how the Truth will set you free, yeah
And son, the Truth will set you free

Truth will set you
Truth will set you free

Truth will set you
Truth will set you free

You are free
You are free
That’s the truth, son
That’s the truth, son

Truth will set you
Truth will set you free

Inside Job, Dion DiMucci, 1980
Categories
Life

The Poet

Featured song: Annie The Poet, by Michael Omartian, from his 1976 album, Adam Again.

I grew up during the 1960s, and began to pay attention to the phenomenon of rock & roll music by the middle of the decade. I remember many summer afternoons swimming at the community pool down the street from our home, with the background of current pop music playing over the loudspeakers. When I hear the songs “Sunshine Superman” by Donovan, or “Summer In The City” by The Loving Spoonful, it makes me think of that pool (and also identifies it as the summer of 1966).

This was further brought to my recollection as I listened to The History Of Rock & Roll “rockumentary” recently. Those who identified with the music of the 60s saw a change in the worldview presented as the decade progressed. It started with a focus on love, cars, and fun, and by the end of the decade the music was dealing with more weighty subjects and introspection about the Vietnam war and uncertainty about life itself. There were still “fun” songs, but many were more concerned about the realities of life and the world.

Not only were songwriters paying attention to these issues, but some of them were also thinking about spiritual matters. Beatle George Harrison stated in an interview:

The main thing that I felt from the 60s thing that happened was the realization that all the goodness and all the strength and things that can support life, is all coming out of love. And not just as simple … as one guy saying to a chick “I love you”, you know, as a personal, as an emotional kind of a thing, that is. But the love … just real love which is like unconditional love. [Because] so often we say, “I love you if“, you know; “I love you when“, “I love you but“. And that’s not real love. You know, I don’t want to just hear the word, I want to feel it and see it and be it.

Harrison had the right idea about the selflessness necessary for real love, but he sadly was unaware of the true Source of that love. His former bandmate John Lennon later voiced some of his philosophy in his song Imagine: Imagine there’s no heaven, no hell below, no religion, no possessions. His rejection of True Spirituality caused him to turn his eyes away from those aspects of spiritual reality to what he thought was the truth. In actuality, he also had cut himself away from Truth.

Like these poets of the 60s, many at that time who had no firm spiritual anchor found themselves pulled and pushed by the social and metaphysical tides and storms of the decade. Some found themselves washed ashore with sadness, hopelessness, or worse. And many wondered if there was anything better to look forward to. Pop and rock music was not the cause of this state of mind, but was rather a reflection of it. The music forced many to face the realities of life.

Music affects people on so many levels: emotionally, intellectually, and sometimes physically. For people like me, the greatest effect has been the impact of the lyrics; that’s why on the posts I’ve made on this blog, I’ve wanted very much to illustrate the value of songs through their words. The quality of the music dresses up the words, just as icing on a cake makes it perfect.

Those words can have a profound impact on the heart of an open listener, for better or worse. Searchers for truth in the late 1960s and early 1970s would immediately jump on the words being sung, if it provided a glimpse into that truth. Today’s song relates the desire of the writer, Michael Omartian, to get beyond the superficial things that people say, and dive into the feelings in their hearts. And the “poet” that he was encouraging the listener to hear was, in reality, Annie Herring of the 2nd Chapter Of Acts. Listen to Omartian’s words, and then go and pull out some of songs from Annie’s group to deepen your heart.

I don’t wanna hear about your conquests
Or your casual affairs
Each one a great new story,
But who cares?

I wanna know about your feelings
Or the ache in your heart
The thoughts that make you what you are
That set you apart.
‘Cause maybe I’ve had them, too

I come to where you’re playing often
And you know why I do
‘Cause maybe you will sing about
What I have felt, too

Of things I’ve never told a soul
Because of my pride
And long time fears that keep it hidden
Way down inside
And I’ll know what you mean

And I’ll say, Go hear Annie the poet
She sings of something she’s lost
Mistakes that were made in her childhood
And the price that they’ve cost
Well I have lost that, too

And I’ll say, Go see Annie the poet
She sings of something she’s found
I don’t see that in my own life
When I look around
I want to find that, too
I want to find that, too

The rich man hears the word of truth
And doesn’t care
The poor man sees his prospects
Scattered everywhere

Well I’m a poor man
Looking to get rich upon your words
So lift my heavy spirit
With the truth you’ve heard
And I’ll know what you mean

And I’ll say, Go hear Annie the poet
She sings of something she’s lost
Mistakes that were made in her childhood
And the price that they’ve cost
Well I have lost that, too

And I’ll say, Go see Annie the poet
She sings of something she’s found
I don’t see that in my own life
When I look around
I want to find that, too
I want to find that, too

Adam Again, 1976, Michael Omartian
Categories
Life

Made Up

RunnerThere are some who look upon Christians as those who have given up their rational minds in order to believe something that is a legend, unproven, entirely based on emotions. Clearly, they would state, science has told us all we need to know about the life, the universe and everything else, and anything that science cannot fully explain today is simply waiting to be discovered and explained tomorrow. To cling to an old religion is to turn one’s back on those obvious truths and decide to follow fairy tales. 

And yet, regardless of how much science ultimately learns about how things work, it will never be able to fully understand that part of people that makes them act the way they do. The reason I make that statement is that science looks for a biochemical abnormality that might explain why one man hates or kills another, or a behavioral model that gives statistical prediction about it. But raw, “unbiased” science (if such a thing actually exists) cannot explain why one person kills, and why another will give his own life to save another. 

Belief can come out of something that is seen and experienced. I step off the roof, and I will fall. A fact, provable and reproducible. But belief (or “faith”, if you will) can also rise from the degree of trust one places in those sources that teach about that truth. This is especially needed when the truth is something that cannot be observed or reproduced. If the evidence presented about that truth is valid, or those who were first-hand witnesses are trustworthy, then even a truth that cannot be seen with my own eyes can be believed. 

I had to take that stand years ago, when I took my child-like belief in Jesus, and made it an adult decision to live that faith. I found the evidence presented was trustworthy, and the experiences of life since that time have only strengthened that belief. I cannot build a time machine to see and observe the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, any more than I can use that machine to know that Alexander the Great existed and conquered half the world, many years ago. The evidence is solid, the eye witnesses are believable. In short, I have made up my mind to believe in a truth I cannot touch with my five senses, but which I know nonetheless to be true.

This song by Morgan Cryar is called Made Up Mind, from his 1984 album Keep No Secrets. As I listen to it, I wish I had the ability to create a video to accompany it. The consistent beat is that of a runner, training for his race to win his prize. He runs with the sound of a coming storm in the background, lightening at times illuminating his path. As he runs, he has the certainty that he has made the right choice, that he has no regrets or doubts. Listen, and run that race yourself!

There is a choice we have to make
It’s like a leap we all must take
We must decide for heaven’s sake
While we still have time

I’m choosing Jesus here and now
And see, my hand is on the plow
No looking back is needed now
I have a made up mind

You take a made up mind
You take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

You take a made up mind
You take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

So gird your mind with all that’s true
Take a stand and see it through
Why not burn a bridge or two
And leave the old behind

So this is faith, the great divide
The final fence we cannot ride
And so I choose the righteous side
I have a made up mind

You take a made up mind
Take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

Take a made up mind
Take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

We make up our beds
We make up our face
When we’re late we make up for lost time
We make up a story
While we’re making our case
So i know I can make up my mind

You take a made up mind
Take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

You take a made up mind
Take a steady hand
Take a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

It takes a made up mind
I have a made up mind
I have a steady hand
I have a sure foundation
Then you take a stand

It takes a made up mind
It takes a made up mind
It takes a made up mind
I have a made up mind!

Keep No Secrets, Morgan Cryar, 1984