Here is an explanantion of the lyrics and the story behind it.
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- 2008-06-12 @ 20:06:58
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- 2008-06-13 @ 08:02:53
Hi there Tom. Thanks for your comments. I'm very sorry to read of your Grandmother's condition. I do sympathise with you in watching someone you love suffer, it is very painful and not a nice thing to have to experience. As I've explained before, I believe the Word of God, the Bible, to be true and therefore the hope that I have in an eternity with God is sure, for both myself and for your Grandmother. We have discussed faith before, and again this is where faith comes into it. Your Grandmother obviously has faith in a God that she loves and she too will be looking forward to spending eternity in His presence, all her suffering will end and she will enjoy what she has been hoping for and living for, spending forever with her God in His glory. Yes, we have different views and like you, I do respect yours Tom. I would hope though that no one would be insulted by the words of the song as they are not meant to offend but to inspire and to instill hope, although I do understand that without that simple faith, this may not be easy. I do pray Tom, that the God your Grandmother knows and loves will bless her in these difficult days and that she may know His peace and presence.
Tracy-
- 2008-06-13 @ 10:12:14
Thanks for your kind words. I don't think there's anything I need to add to them.
Tom.
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- 2008-06-12 @ 21:19:11
That explanation was very well delivered with a genuinely honest feeling behind each word spoken.
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- 2008-06-13 @ 08:05:39
Very much so. Thanks, Skip.
SeasideMan
Pro
I think hope is a very basic and fundamental human condition: once hope has gone, life soon follows. We hope for a happy and healthy future for ourselves and for others, we hope for success in our endeavours and we hope for resolution to our problems. To each of us, hope means something different and personal. But for me as a person, hoping for another life seems hard to justify. Hoping for an “eternal” life even harder to justify.
My grandmother is currently on her deathbed - she may live days, weeks or months, but the end is nigh. She will never walk again and even talk is difficult now; her bodily systems are shutting down one by one and she is in constant pain.
She is a very devout Methodist, and has sat in the same pew in her chapel every week for over 80 years, until now. Her cross is permanently in her hand, whilst awake and asleep.
She is hoping for heaven and the life eternal spoken of in the clip you linked to; I am hoping for an end to her suffering. Of the two of us, I am the only one whose hope will certainly be justified - death will certainly end her constant pain. Whether that death will be followed by an eternal life free from pain, no-one can be certain, whatever they may hope.
The one thing certain in life is death, and whilst hoping for a 2nd life might seem appealing, it doesn’t seem likely. This problem is compounded when the hope is for an “eternal” life. Suffering is testing her faith to the limit, and I hope that her faith is sufficient. But I fear that it might not be.
I have no hope for a life after this one, because I see no reason for such hope, not even when confronted by the monstrous horror that is the terrible death of a loved one. This is why I cannot like the music you discuss. I find it’s basic message to be unreal, unlikely and unsubstantiated but most importantly, insulting to the sick because I see it as belittling their suffering.
I know you have a different view to me on this and I respect it, but I felt compelled to explain my thinking on this. My grandmother shares your view, but I do not.
Tom.