Intervention.

This song is freaking amazing.

Every time, my mind is blown.

The king's taken back the throne.
The useless seed is sown.
When they say they're cuttin' off the phone,
I tell 'em you're not home.

No place to hide,
You're fightin' as a soldier on their side.
You stay a soldier in your mind,
But nothin's on the line.

You say it's money that we need,
As if we're only mouths to feed.
I know no matter what you say,
There's some debts you'll never pay.

Workin' for the church while your family dies.
You take what they give you and you keep it inside.
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone."

I can taste the fear.
Lift me up and take me outta here.
Don't wanna fight, don't wanna die,
Just wanna hear you cry.

"Who's gonna throw the very first stone?"
Oh! Who's gonna reset the bone?
Walkin' with your head in a sling,
Wanna hear the soldier sing:

"Workin' for the church while my family dies."
Your little baby sister's gonna lose her mind.
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone."

I can taste your fear.
It's gonna lift you up and take you out of here.
And the bone shall never heal,
I care not if you kneel.

We can't find you now,
But they're gonna get their money back somehow.
And when you finally disappear,
We'll just say you were never here.

Been workin' for the church while your life falls apart,
Singin' hallelujah with the fear in your heart.
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone."
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone."

It would be easy to look at the song and think they're shunning religion, but I think it's a little more complex than that. I think they're shunning a certain form of religion: worship without actually living it. Worship without pure intent. Worship from the mouth, but not from the heart.

 Tons of scripture immediately come to mind. I think of the Pharisees and Sauducees, who touted their so-called "righteousness" but more than often missed the mark entirely. In Matthew 22:35-40, it says

35 Then one of them [a Pharisee], which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

(The sassy side of me wants so bad to say to those hypocrites, "what now, suckas!" only kidding...)

To me, the gospel is so much more about loving God and man than it is about bible bashing or whatnot. We can read the bible til we're blue in the face (which is important, too) but without going out and living what we read daily....to me is pointless. 

I am still learning SO MUCH. The Gospel is highly layered; gaining understanding of one layer only allows you to dig deeper and deeper into more layers of understanding. And I'm certain understanding can only come with guidance from the Spirit. As we grow closer to the Spirit, we are able to understand more deeply, personally, intimately. 

2 Nephi 28:30:

 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.

I think of  Matthew 7:20/3 Nephi 14:20:

Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.

Or James 2:18:  

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 

Fruits are works (in this case anyways...).



Or, one of my absolute favorites, Isaiah 29:13-14:

 13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

 14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Basically, what I'm saying is that this is a gospel of pure intent. It's about the heart. And that is what I think Arcade Fire is saying: make sure to live what you actually preach. The father in the song is a religious man, anxiously fighting a religious war...while his family is figuratively dying from lack of love, attention, time. The people who should mean the most are neglected in the conquest of God. I think this often happens in our daily lives: family is neglected because of work, sports, whatnot... I hope with all that I am that I can never forget the most important people because of something that seems super important, but in actuality is not.

1 Samuel 16:7
Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

Matthew 6

 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

This is super scatter-brained, but I hope all the random thoughts connect. Who know what they were actually saying when they wrote the song....but this is basically what it means to me. I think that's why it's so freaking amazing to me.