Belief Is A Beautiful Armor, That Makes For The Heaviest Sword

This video is one of my favorite John Mayer songs... and a great version of it too!!!!
BELIEF:



Belief
Is there anyone who ever remembers
changing their mind from the paint on a sign?,
is there anyone who really recalls ever breaking rank at all f
or something someone yelled real loud one time?
oh, everyone believes in how they think it oughta be
oh, everyone believes and they're not going easily

belief is a beautiful armor
but makes for the heaviest sword
like punching underwater you never can hit who you're trying for
some Need the exhibition
and some have to know they tried
it's the chemical weapon for the war that's raging on inside
oh, everyone believes from emptiness to everything
oh, everyone believes and no one's going quietly

we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war
we're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for
we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war
we're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for

is there anyone you can remember
ever surrender with their life on the line?

we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war
we're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for
we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war
we're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for

what puts a hundred thousand children in the sand?
belief can,
belief can
what puts a folded flag inside his mother's hand?
belief can,
belief can
________
Why this resonates with me:
It's not just the war to me that he's talking about, although I don't want to take the song away from that context. The belief he is talking about can be interpreted religiously or politically (i.e. Belief that Democracy is the ONLY way, so we go to deliver that).

War aside (I don't care to confuse this post with that topic), this really drives home the fact that Christians (esp. in America) can be so MILITANT in their approach to the world, culture, and those that believe differently than them. I don't just mean Christian's and non-Christians, I'm talking about what happens within the same faith!

Just look at our militant language we use! We attend "Crusades" and hear things like, "Put on the armor of God", "I came not to bring peace but a sword" (which has been quoted way out of context in most every sermon or lesson I've ever heard), and then we praise God singing "Onward Christian Soldiers".

As mentioned in some of previous posts, the language we use can determine our mindset. Using militant language when speaking of Christianity sends an inaccurate message. Especially in this day and age, we need to be culturally sensitive in the language we are using. The message of peace is a much more beautiful message in our world right now than stabbing someone with "the sword of truth".

The second verse really hits home for me too! People spend soo much time protecting their beliefs (really, like anyone can truly change what you CHOSE to believe), that they don't care who they hurt. That is partially what happened to me at my last Church. The exhibition of the fight for their beliefs was more important than open dialog! I'm all for standing up for your beliefs, but inn a productive and peaceful way, because it's "like punching underwater, you never can hit who you're trying for." The lack of caring by some Christians about the collateral damage that happens when they "fight for what they believe in" astonishes me, and my personal opinion is that when they do such, they show just how important their main message of "spreading the good news" is. How can you tell someone all about love, when they've watched you "pull out the big guns" on someone you disagree with. There's a disconnect in that message!

Belief can do mighty things in our lives, but it can also be as deadly to someone (physically, emotionally and spiritually) as any bomb! Christ was not militant, he was pacifist, even when facing his own death. Because of his approach to the Crucifixion, his message held more power than if he had overthrown all the empires in the world! Maybe there's something to that?