Universalist References in Christian and Mainstream Music

[ChristInUs]

There is much music out there with the UR theme. One of my most favorite songs of all time is “When a Child is Born”:

“And all of this happens, because the world is waiting.
Waiting for one child; Black-white-yellow, no one knows…
But a child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter,
Hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone’s neighbor,
And misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten forever.”

Above is just a bit of the lyrics. I have been known to listen to this song over and over for hours, drives my family crazy.

[phillip_macdonald]

Diane said:

The church I used to attend (Calvinist) changed the words of some great old hymns.

I attended a Calvinist church also where we (I helped with worship) did “lyric tampering” as well. You had to, to try and stay consistent with the doctrine. How about the children’s song, Jesus Loves the Little Children? I had to teach my kids to sing “Jesus loves His little children, all His children of the world…Jesus died for all His children all His childres of the world”. They should have tried to fit in the words, “all-His-children-without-distinction in the world”

We also sang our own version of Brian Doerkson’s “Come now is the Time to Worship”. I was told to change the lyrics, “someday every tongue will confess you are God, someday every knee will bow. But still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now” (What was Brian thinking?) I can’t remember now what we changed it to since I have been singing and loving this song as a UR for 6 years now (I used to HATE this song). They didn’t appreciate the “gladly choose” either. It’s interesting to hear Brian get caught up in his own sentiments when he adds the words at the end “…every generation come”.

[DisposableSoul]

For more secular metal, check out Disturbed’s “Serpentine.” The story of the song sounds as if a man is dwelling in hell, reminiscing about how he got there, based on the lies of a deviant being. However, there is a part later in the song that becomes more hushed and sounds akin to a prayer . . .

See the dogs come running
Smelling blood now
To an open sore
On a parasite
Countless hearts have fallen
Hard to number
Damnation’s whore
Is looking for a victim tonight
With an angry soul
And a wicked design
Your will cannot endure
And your heart is torn away

[Chorus:]
I was caught up in the moment
You were alone and
You seemed to harness the light
Even though I felt cold inside
When you told me it would be alright
I had given up control and
I didn’t focus hard enough to see
The warning signs
Your heart is serpentine

Damn what I’m becoming
One of them now
Just an opened door
On an endless night
Dark desire burning
In my blood now
How can I be sure?
I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight
With a tortured soul
And an honest design
My will cannot endure
If my heart is torn away

[Chorus]

Now that I’ve been torn apart
Will there be an end to this?
Will there finally be release?
Will I finally rest in peace?
I’m determined to believe
My prayers will be received

With a tortured soul
And an honest design
My will cannot endure
As my heart is torn away

[Chorus]

The warning signs
Your heart is serpentine
Evil personified
Your heart is serpentine

Also, a more ‘Christian’ band called The Classic Crime did a song called “The Coldest Heart.” Much of it sounds similar to UR.

A couple of years and I’m a silhouette
My halo is broken now and I’m all that’s left
I hate to disappoint but it’s the way things went
I was bound to the things I did
And after what was said
Tie up these loose ends
These voices are calling me out
I’ve got the solution
You can feed me to something
That is leaving this doubt

(Chorus)
Whoa, I’m losing hope
There’s a hole in my heart
That’s been cut out of stone
Whoa, cold comes cold goes
Could you fill this hole?
Cause I can’t do it alone

A couple of tears and I’m a broken mess
The sadness has taken me far too deep in regret
So sing me a song about something good
My heart’s on the thrashing floor
And I’ve done every single thing I could
I use to believe in
Some kind of feelin’
That could change everything I thought I knew
But that door is closed and
My heart feels like it’s frozen
If you hear me I can feel you

(Chorus)

***(Bridge 4x)
The coldest heart can be brought to life
When it’s thrown into the fire of goodbyes ***

(Chorus 2x)

I’ve got the coldest heart (4x)
(Cause I can’t do it alone)

–DS

[DisposableSoul]

For more secular metal, check out Disturbed’s “Serpentine.” The story of the song sounds as if a man is dwelling in hell, reminiscing about how he got there, based on the lies of a deviant being. However, there is a part later in the song that becomes more hushed and sounds akin to a prayer . . .

See the dogs come running
Smelling blood now
To an open sore
On a parasite
Countless hearts have fallen
Hard to number
Damnation’s whore
Is looking for a victim tonight
With an angry soul
And a wicked design
Your will cannot endure
And your heart is torn away

[Chorus:]
I was caught up in the moment
You were alone and
You seemed to harness the light
Even though I felt cold inside
When you told me it would be alright
I had given up control and
I didn’t focus hard enough to see
The warning signs
Your heart is serpentine

Damn what I’m becoming
One of them now
Just an opened door
On an endless night
Dark desire burning
In my blood now
How can I be sure?
I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight
With a tortured soul
And an honest design
My will cannot endure
If my heart is torn away

[Chorus]

Now that I’ve been torn apart
Will there be an end to this?
Will there finally be release?
Will I finally rest in peace?
I’m determined to believe
My prayers will be received

With a tortured soul
And an honest design
My will cannot endure
As my heart is torn away

[Chorus]

The warning signs
Your heart is serpentine
Evil personified
Your heart is serpentine

Also, a more ‘Christian’ band called The Classic Crime did a song called “The Coldest Heart.” Much of it sounds similar to UR.

A couple of years and I’m a silhouette
My halo is broken now and I’m all that’s left
I hate to disappoint but it’s the way things went
I was bound to the things I did
And after what was said
Tie up these loose ends
These voices are calling me out
I’ve got the solution
You can feed me to something
That is leaving this doubt

(Chorus)
Whoa, I’m losing hope
There’s a hole in my heart
That’s been cut out of stone
Whoa, cold comes cold goes
Could you fill this hole?
Cause I can’t do it alone

A couple of tears and I’m a broken mess
The sadness has taken me far too deep in regret
So sing me a song about something good
My heart’s on the thrashing floor
And I’ve done every single thing I could
I use to believe in
Some kind of feelin’
That could change everything I thought I knew
But that door is closed and
My heart feels like it’s frozen
If you hear me I can feel you

(Chorus)

***(Bridge 4x)
The coldest heart can be brought to life
When it’s thrown into the fire of goodbyes ***

(Chorus 2x)

I’ve got the coldest heart (4x)
(Cause I can’t do it alone)

–DS

[Sazag84]

I love gospel and spiritual music and I find universalistic overtones in some of them.

one that we sang in church was Soon, and very soon and especially Didn’t my Lord Deliver Daniel where it asks if the Lord delivered Daniel then “Why not every man?”

[byronarn]

We also sang our own version of Brian Doerkson’s “Come now is the Time to Worship”. I was told to change the lyrics, “someday every tongue will confess you are God, someday every knee will bow. But still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now” (What was Brian thinking?) I can’t remember now what we changed it to since I have been singing and loving this song as a UR for 6 years now (I used to HATE this song). They didn’t appreciate the “gladly choose” either. It’s interesting to hear Brian get caught up in his own sentiments when he adds the words at the end “…every generation come”.

This was the first song that popped into my mind. I love Phillips, Craig and Dean, and especially this song.

youtube.com/watch?v=NPWq8eM4lu8

[icunningham]

…
And from Mumford and Sons’ song Sigh No More:

‘Love; it will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be.’

And from their beautiful and moving song After The Storm:

‘And there will come a time you’ll see
with no more tears,
and love will not break your heart
but dismiss your fears,
get over your hill and see
what you find there,
with grace in your heart
and flowers in your hair.’
…

@Matt: Thanks for sharing all these great songs. I personally love Mumford and Sons’ because I always get in a good mood when I am listening to their music. “After the Storm” is definitely one of my favorite songs. The lyrics are fantastic and I simply love “…with grace in your heard and flowers in your hair.” It is so true and whenever I listen to it I feel better and know that everything will get better. I think I will now check a postal flower delivery and order some fresh flowers because nothing is better than the scent of fresh flowers while listening to Mumford and Sons’s.

[Matt_Wiley]

you’re welcome

[nimblewill]

I’ve known this song for a long time but the lyrics kinda took me by surprise when I heard it recently.

Love is the Answer written by Todd Rundgren made famous by England Dan and John Ford Coley

oldielyrics.com/lyrics/engla … nswer.html

Name your price
A ticket to paradise
I can’t stay here any more
And I’ve looked high and low
I’ve been from shore, to shore, to shore
If there’s a short cut I’d have found it
But there is no easy way around it

Light of the world, shine on me
Love is the answer
Shine on us all
Set us free
Love is the answer

[corpselight]

i’ve said it before, and now (with Sobornost’s encouragement!!!) i’ll say it again…

Judas Priest - Painkiller.

it’s about some weird cyborg biker thingy, but taken as an analogy, it’s got a saviour coming to earth and saving all mankind…including some reference to resurrection.

here are the lyrics:

Faster than a bullet
Terrifying scream
Enraged and full of anger
He’s half man and half machine

Rides the Metal Monster
Breathing smoke and fire
Closing in with vengeance soaring high

He is the Painkiller
This is the Painkiller

Planets devastated
Mankind’s on its knees
A saviour comes from out the skies
In answer to their pleas

Through boiling clouds of thunder
Blasting bolts of steel
Evils going under deadly wheels

He is the Painkiller
This is the Painkiller

Faster than a lazer bullet
Louder than an atom bomb
Chromium plated boiling metal
Brighter than a thousand suns

Flying high on rapture
Stronger free and brave
Nevermore encaptured
They’ve been brought back from the grave

With mankind resurrected
Forever to survive
Returns from Armageddon to the skies

He is the Painkiller
This is the Painkiller
Wings of steel Painkiller
Deadly wheels Painkiller

[Matt_Wiley]

Check out The Violet Burning’s song, Forty Weight

youtube.com/watch?v=Ub3SwxnlII0

'Oh God be merciful to me
Lift me from the earth and cover me
I wait for you.

Lord, my cup is empty
Won’t You come now and fill me up

Oh, my Lord
I love Your ways
I lift my heart
I sing Your praise

I wait for You
I wait for You

Lord, my cup is empty
Won’t You come now and fill me up

Your love is forever
And Your mercy is forever
Your love is higher than the heavens
I reach up, I reach up

I wait for You to hear me
Won’t You come just a little bit closer
Your love is deeper than the oceans
I go down, I still breathe
And wait for You to fill me up
Fill me up
Won’t You come now and fill me up.

Come just a little bit closer
I will wait for You’