Brian Jones Is Speaking The Truth

One blog that I read regularly is brianjones.com – today his post was especially sobering and poignant…

How To Raise Kids That Hate Christianity
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Every time I hear Green Day’s American Idiot I feel like sneaking down to Washington DC under the cover of night and slitting George Bush’s tires.

The pent-up frustration…

The anti-war sentiment…

The weariness the American public feels right now…

The song seems to capture it all.

But it’s the punk band’s 9 minute Jesus of Suburbia that unsettles me more than any song on their latest album.

Even though most evangelical parents will never hear it played on their radio stations, Jesus of Suburbia is one of the most prophetic rebukes of lukewarm Christian faith delivered in years.

Jesus of Suburbia begins…

I’m the son of rage and love
The Jesus of Suburbia
From the bible of “none of the above”
On a steady diet of soda-pop and Ritalin
No one ever died for my sins in hell
As far as I can tell
At least the ones I got away with

Green Day follows in the footsteps of legendary punk bands like The Clash, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols, so you expect them to be anti-everything.

But there’s something deeper lurking behind the words: It’s the thoughts of grown-ups raised in homes sprinkled with a veneer of Christian sensibility – homes with just enough Jesus to keep them off drugs while growing up, but not enough to fully convert the self-centered suburban lifestyles of their parents.

Jesus veneer + unconverted lifestyles of parents = disciples of the Jesus of Suburbia

Their creed? Their statement of faith? Read below…

Everyone’s so full of sh–
Born and raised by hypocrites
Hearts recycled but never saved
From the cradle to the grave
We are the kids of war and peace
From Anaheim to the Middle East
We are the stories and disciples
Of the Jesus of Suburbia
Land of Make Believe
And it don’t believe in me
Land of Make Believe
And it don’t believe
And I don’t care!
I don’t care
I don’t care
I don’t care
I don’t care!

Every time I pick up a Christian book on parenting the author is quoting some George Barna quote about how we better hurry up and help our kids make a profession of faith before they turn 18 years of age, or we’ll lose them in adulthood.

That’s stupid.

If there’s any hurry, any rush, any sense of radical urgency, it should be to live out the real deal in front of our kids first.

Otherwise we can help them make a zilion professions of faith before 18 and they’ll still end up singing right along with Green Day…

the mom song

yesterday this video had a mind of its own and didn’t work in our gathering…but now you can view it here at your leisure…have a grand week…