My New Favorite Song
A New Law
by Derek Webb
(vs. 1)
don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for
don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music
don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law
i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me
i want a new law
i want a new law
gimme that new law
(vs. 2)
don’t teach me about moderation and liberty
i prefer a shot of grape juice
don’t teach me about loving my enemies
don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit
just give me a new law
i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me
i want a new law
i want a new law
gimme that new law
(bridge)
what’s the use in trading a law you can never keep
for one you can that cannot get you anything
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
Thoughts? Opinions? Questions? Comments? Snide remarks?
posted by Ian @ 6:20 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
AHH! My new Derek Webb cd has been in the mail forever! Can't wait to get it! Caedmons just released a single off their new album - coming in March!
It's a very intriguing album. Musically, it's fantastic; the song structure, instrumentation, etc., follows more on the line of his last album than on his first (although there are elements of the more blue grass, folky stuff on it). Lyrically and thematicaly, it has, so far, required many careful listenings. There's a lot going on with contexts and points of view, etc., that I'm not to sure about yet. Overall, it's a great listen. Pleasing to the ear, and it makes you think.
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Wow, whatever that last comment was about... I finally got the cd - and I have to admit I'm not a big fan. Easy to listen to, yes - but I'm not a big fan of the new style. Now Sandra McCracken's new album - that one is great!!!!
Ian,
This might interest you:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode47/usc_sec_47_00000223----000-.html
It appears that anonymous harassment via the interenet is a crime.
You'd hope that knowing this would make people think twice about posting anonymous rants on your site.
ahhh, i love this song. I was going to post about this or another song on the album, but haven't gotten around to it. there are a few things that I don't necessarily agree with, but I like hearing it. but this song is all about discernment and how difficult it is for us to live a life that asks us to discern everything rather than just telling us what to do. good stuff.
Tim,
Thanks for commenting. Discernment is definitely an aspect of this song (people being content to be spoonfed rather than actually commiting to their faith and striving to know what and why they believe what they say they believe), but would you see the song to also go deeper, addressing the tendancy/practice of saying, "We are no longer under the Law!", but then placing ourselves under our own "New Law"? There's another song on the album called "Rich Young Ruler" (another great song) in which Derek sings :
so what must we do
here in the west we want to follow you
we speak the language and we keep all the rules
even a few we made up
The false/misguided piety of the Church seems to be one of the major themes of this album.
Also, which things in the song don't you agree with?
Ian
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Funny you should mention this. I was just talking with someone about Romans 6 last night and it also ties into an interesting book I'm currently reading, "Why Bother Being Good?" by John Hare, a Philosophy prof. at Calvin (he postulates whether you can have morality without God, then proves that you can't). The development of the Mishna gave a list of laws they were ABLE to keep, unlike the REAL biblical Law which they could NOT keep because it required a right attitude of the heart, as Jesus pointed out numerous times (including to the rich young ruler). Hare points out in his book that one of the ways people try to fill what he calls "the Moral Gap", ie the Gap between the moral demand and the ability to keep it, is to lower the moral demand to a point where you're able to do it - like Larry Arnhart's "evolutionary ethics" (the good is the desireable and the desirable is what is generally desired). You can easily see the error of logic in that kind of thinking!
But as you point out, Christians can get into the same kind of mind set. We make a list of external "rules" we are ABLE to keep, so we don't have to address the harder biblical mandates of dying to self and living for Christ. We need to be on guard against doing this. True change begins at the heart level. A conviction concerning behavior should flow from the inside out, so to speak.
how about a post about "A King and His Kingdom" or another song?
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