i am no longer a fan of this band Options

[gotigrz]

in 1994 i heard a song and the radio that, in my mind, was one of the catchiest songs with a great back beat that i'd ever heard. my friend told me one night... "the name of that song is "selling the drama" but i don't know by who".... well, that's where it started and this is where it ends.

i've been a huge Live fan for about 12 years now, and i can't hide my feelings about this band any longer. and here's why: I am a Christian. if you are not a Christian then this band and their lyrics may not bother you, but if you are a Christian, then i don't see how they couldn't bother you. i've made excuse after excuse for Live, so that i could bring myself not to think about excatly what Ed is singing about and just enjoy the music. well, 12 years later... i can't do it any longer. i read some peoples thoughts on songs of Live's and i think a lot of people think they are singing about love between a man and a woman,..... and that is NOT what he's doin'.

i can not sit back and let some guy that cusses, drinks and i'm sure he's been drunk, and puff on doobie backstage, and anything else that is not "good"... talk about Jesus the way he does in his songs. esp. Selling the Drama, Operation Spirit, I alone, and i'm sure a bunch more cause that's all he sings about.

if anyone can tell my why i'm looking into his songs the wrong way.... please enlighten me, but if you can't, and i doubt you will...... i'm done w/ Live. and if there are any true Christians reading this... i hope you do the same.

so, before Live can be done with me.... i'm done with them.

[FishOutaWater]

I just listened to Throwing Copper in shuffle mode on my iPod this morning, getting pumped up for the Baltimore concert, and I heard Top and really listened to the lyrics. Now I know that some people here hate Top. But after hearing that song, I just had to revisit this thread. I think Top epitomizes the theme of MJ and TC that we have been discussing here. That is, we should not take truth from those who call themselves leaders. We can't be taught the truth. Especially not by those who wrap themselves in the robes of truth, only disguising the hypocracy underneath. We have the truth inside us waiting to be found, without statues and churches and men in robes. Just look at these lyrics. They are pure genius:

this is not helping me at all
what you are doing here
in the name of God and Love
it's the distribution of fear
pyramids, healing wines, analysts with fame
I haven't got your degree
and I forgot your name


this is not helping me at all
where did we get this plan?
that you could give to me
what I might already have
pyramids, healing wines, a musician's fame
I volunteered you my eyes
I place of facing me

oh Hitler, in a robe of truth
my emptiness has built your altar
and I've worshipped myself in you forever
until now!

I mean, WOW! The liberation in that last line! It's just like the line -- let's get it back together in Operation Spirit.

Selling the Drama, Beauty of Grey, Operation Spirit, Mirror Song, etc., etc... so many songs on these two albums pointing us toward one thing -- that the way to find God and truth and love is to find it ourselves, without the conditioning of our lives, without the past, without the beliefs and rituals and symbols. Just strip ourselves naked of all of these defiling influences and find the truth that is right there and has been there all along.

Shit that is amazing stuff! This is why I love Live! They could literally stuff terds in every cd cover they sell me from now until the day I die and I will still think they are the greatest band ever because of what they have done up until now.

There was another thread around here -- has Live changed your life. My answer is yes. My paradigm has been shifted. I have been exposed to new thought. And I won't be the same. This may sound crazy, but I am liberated from thinking of people and myself and God in terms of what I was taught by those I looked up to. Now I think for myself more than I used to, unobstructed, no longer improsoned by fear, unhindered by conditioning. I have discovered things about spirituality for myself, and within myself, and I see things differently than I used to. I don't think that I would have evolved to that level of independant thinking without taking Live's music to heart.

About Christianity -- I now see Jesus and his message and his essence in a very different way than I used to. And I've seen it in a way that can be integrated and consistent with other spiritual teachers like the Buddha. And I now actually believe that 95% of Christianity and Christians are very un-Christ-like in their actions, beliefs, and practices.

I think "salvation" is not doing good works and believing a set of facts about Jesus are true so that I can get myself into heaven. That's a pretty selfish motivation and a very ego-based framework for spirituality.

I think salvation is the personal transformation to recognize the oneness of all things and the universal love and compassion that connects all things. Loving others as yourself, forgiving, being humble, acting kind and compasionate, not judging -- that is all Jesus ever spoke about. The effort toward salvation involves practicing love and compassion and altruism, not for the sake one's self, but for the sake of all things, because we are all interconnected. we are all one in the image of God. After we realize that we are the same as our neighbor and our enemy, the only natural response is love and compassion. We should love all things and be kind to all things, not so we can get into heaven, but rather so that we act in a way that is true to our nature, that is by selflessly loving God and God's creation.

The "hitler in a robe of truth" once told me that anyone who does not believe that Jesus died so that my sins could be forgiven by God will burn in hell for all eternity -- but God loves them... That doesn't even pass the logic test let alone sound anything like a just and loving God. That is control by using fear. Teaching those things accrues power to the teacher. The emptiness of the flock of blind sheep who follow what they are taught have built those alters of gold. I think that every person has the ability and the obligation to their own spirit to question and consider the truth of the matter for themselves.