That is the title of a fairly recent release by Josh Turner. The lyrics of the song can be found here. The thing is, there is something that disturbs me about this song. Do I disagree with it? Not necessarily. But the chumminess of which he speaks of the divine somehow disturbs me. I couldn't figure out why until I thought about it a bit.
What bothers me is in the title. Its "Me and God". Its too self-centered. God is my buddy. He's got my back, so don't mess with me. This sentiment is so wrongheaded. Yet, whether it is American Christianity, American Buddhism, the New Age movement, or whatever is around me, it seems to echo the same religious sentiment. "Me and God".
The strange thing is that Jesus brought in "love your neighbor as yourself" into that whole "me and God" equation. The "me and God" equation is all about God using me to love others on his behalf. We are not partners. God is God and I am not. I am God's servant and his vessel.
And it is not just about me. It is about the world I love in that is in need. The person who needs someone to listen to. Yet, much of pop spirituality is tied up in this me and God motif. And for some reason it rubs me the wrong way.
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8 comments:
Great thoughts, and a nice corrective to an interesting tendency in modern society.
(Random thought: for some reason, I can't imagine "Me and God" as the title of a Jonathan Edwards sermon).
However, my English Major tendencies just went into overdrive -
The grammar in that song is very odd. I know - it's lyrics, but really, he needed a different title, since the phrase "me and God" is only grammatically correct about half the times it appears in the song. Yeah, yeah - it would sound weird in the song to have every other phrase be "God and I" but after correcting 20+ student papers, I'm hypersensitive!
I think it helps some people to believe they have a one on thing going with their god or God. I think it may reflect the society we live in Friar, although I understand where you are coming from and I tend to agree with you. Still, from your point of view, wouldn't any kind of relationship be a preferable one?
Interesting that you mention this.
See, I know Christians who think that have divine favor that God has given only to him. That whole "be careful about putting your mouth on me" thing--don't say anything bad about me or do anything bad to me because God will get you for it. It's interesting to me because I've even know someone of those people ot speak of praying for something superficial in a covetous manner and even praying against people because they feel so favored and inclined to do so. It's one of those things where I feel somewhere, somehow something was lost in translation.
Hey, I just can't help it.
Considering that ***I*** am the Time's Person of the Year.
Good post. One would think Christianity should be a safe haven from narciccism, but it is become a cesspool of it.
Good stuff Clint, I'm sure you came across as a genius.
Is this the guy that sang Long Black Train?
I guess I haven't heard this one yet...
I totally agree. Too self centered.
:) me and God . . . I remember those days . . . an important beginning . . . I also get what you are saying . . . IT GETS BETTER THAN THAT . . .
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