Okay. So I'm writing this song and PP has given it a killer tune. Perhaps our best yet. The chorus is beautiful. It's for emu's up and coming kids cd. I wanted to put a demo up for you to have a listen to, but PP's a bit self conscious about his voice - so you'll have to wait.
Anyway the issue is, what do the first couple of lines of the chorus mean? I thought it was pretty obvious and theologically fine. Can anyone spot any potential issues?
A hundred years
There is a world where love is true
A world where no-one lies
Where hate and anger are unknown
and friends don't say goodbye
A world with Jesus on his throne
And when I'm there, his child, his own
Nothing else will matter at all.
There is a world with shadows gone
A world with no more night
The sun will shine through every day
and turn our wrongs to right
All sin and darkness cast away
Forgiven, free, I know I'll stay
Nothing else will matter at all.
A hundred years is worth the wait
A thousand years will seem a day
A flash of time compared with what's to come
We'll touch, we'll hear, we'll taste, we'll see
The wonders of eternity
and then we'll know our world for what it is.
Our houses, money, dreams and plans
are mist and nothing more
Like grass without the summer rain
They'll pass away for sure
But Christ forever is the same
And when I hear him call my name
Nothing else will matter at all
sar 2009
The only problem I can see is in V2 with "and turn our wrongs to right" coming after "The sun will shine through every day" grammatically has the sun turning our wrongs to right, rather than the Son doing so.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I'm looking forward to hearing it. :-)
Will kids take it literally that they have to wait one hundred years before they are allowed to go to heaven? ie. That there's a criteria for getting into heaven is that they have to be a christian for 100 years.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys.
ReplyDeleteLaetitia, I don't mind keeping the sun/son thing vague. When its heard you can't tell the difference. I like the fluid movement from sun to son.
Mel. That might be an issue if it were for little kids. Target here is older kids - 10-12 year olds (and adults actually. I like this one!) but perhaps they'd think that too. hmm.
Can you work out what I am actually trying to say in those lines?
Given I'm not expecting to live to a thousand, I thought it obvious that it's God who's waiting - and when the time comes, we'll not think anything of however long we've had to wait.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anthony. That's starting to head in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteNo one can stiff any pre-mill craziness, can they?
Or purgatory?
Just a couple of things we're trying to avoid...
The meaning of the first 2 lines to me is: it may seem like a long time until we get to experience heaven, from our earthly perspective, but when we think about it from the perspective of eternity, it won't/doesn't seem long at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't detect any pre-mill craziness as the verses are related to our experience after that whole period has happened.
I also agree that the whole literal interpretation issue shouldn't be as big a concern for older kids/adults, but I also agree with you that it still might be for some.
And I didn't think of purgatory (until you mentioned it) because you don't mention anything about dying first. You are just comparing our earthly life and heavenly life.
Yay! Thanks Mel. Spot on.
ReplyDeleteStill have emu's theological police to get past (I got pulled up for writing something that sounded pre-mill a couple of years ago) but I'm feeling more confident now.
I love it.
ReplyDeleteit gave me shivers.
I am hopeless at looking for flaws - I just assume the best.
Nicky Fort I assume?
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting! Hope you are all well.
Shivers are good. Can't wait till its all produced up nicely!
Oh...millennial issues. Now that you implant the idea, I can see why you asked. I suspect if you asked a pre-milliner (just coined this, but I like it), they might read their own theology into it. But then, they would probably read it into 2 Peter 3:8 too, so let the Emu police get around that!
ReplyDeleteIn other words, it's clearly biblical language, so it shouldn't be red-flagged.
Great. I'm really un-keen to do a rewrite.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, do I know you - not that it matters - we went to mtc... would we have met there?