So i just bought David Bazan's new record "Curse Your Branches". Incredible stuff. If you've followed him at all throughout his career you'd know his first band, Pedro the Lion, and the massive impact they had on christian music in their unwavering honesty. Something that's so scarce and so precious in a scene that can be dominated by idealism and porcelain fronts -Fragile and beautiful. I remember the first PtL record i bought, the Whole EP. It was the first experience i had with a record that made me feel like i was sitting down and having the most honest conversation of my life with someone. Not be sold anything. Lyrics like: "Rest in me little David and dry all your tears, You can lay down your armor and have no fear. Cause i'm always here when you're tired of running, i'm all the strength that you need." (Lullaby, Whole Ep, '97), or his heartfelt rendition of Be Thou My Vision (The Only Place I Feel Secure, '99). These songs Felt like something new to me.
David went on to form another band later on called The Headphones. One that explored more controversial methods of communication. Tracks like S**t Talker, Gas and matches, and Hot Girls, dug their finger deeper into wounds that the church was trying to cover up in an effort to raise awareness and instead raised hell. Angry undertones caught my attention and eventually i came to believe that some things he said in sarcastic tone, were really being said out loud as he convinced himself of there cynical truth.
So here i'm listening to his new record and admiring the signature honesty that Bazan can pull of in a way that makes you empathize with him. But i'm hearing blatant lyrics like "Did you push us when we fell?" and "In my throat, there swells a darkness. It fills my mouth, and coats my lips... Oh, falling leaves should curse their branches, For not letting them decide where they should fall, And not letting them refuse to fall at all." Or the saddest of all "When Job asked you a question, You responded, 'Who are you to challenge your creator?' Well if that one part is true It makes you sound defensive, like you had not thought it through, like you didn't have an answer, like you bit off more than you could chew"
What happened to a, once so positive, poet? My calvinist friend might tell me he just wasn't one of the "Divine Elect", or he would irresistibly be God's forever. My Armenianist friend might tell me he's just exercising his free will and changing his mind like our Benevolent God gave us the choice to do. Both would argue their point fervently, but both would speak SOLEY from opinion and interpretation. It's been my experience that the one thing no one can legitimately argue is experience.
"God changed my life."
"No He didn't"
It just doesn't work. Only that person can say what they've experienced, and no one else can take that from them. My point being i found something in PtL's music early on that i could identify with. Something that i saw was beautiful. And when a man that celebrate as a poet turned a corner, he didn't take me with him. And neither should any argument that anyone throws at you.
Here's what i'm getting at... experience God for yourself. I have no idea what's going through the mind of David Bazan, nor the heart thereof, and i never will. But i commend him for always digging. Unfortunately he hasn't found what he was looking for.... i know i have. I know i found it in the face of a passionate loving God.
So take what ANYONE says to you with a grain of salt. Test it, and hold on to what is good. Experience God for yourself and make up your own mind. There are so many "movements" nowadays and they're all fighting for your allegiance. But we either swear our allegiance to God, or to nothing at all. Those are our choices. He is everything and everything apart from Him is nothing. I challenge you to experience Him for yourself, dig into him. See what you find.
