Wrong Side of Heaven

I'm surprised how few comments are on this song. I think it's very deep. My first and foremost thing her the the god referenced as a woman. The devil is referred to as a man. I think is Symbolizing the 2 as a mother and father, and implying human race as a child. This is slightly backed up by "She said She's ashamed" and "He swears He's not to blame" both things that might be said to a child they consider a troublemaker or failure.

The meaning of the chorus is more straightforward. He claims to not be a hero and not invincible or unbreakable. (Not stone) He can't tell if what he's doing is right or wrong, and claims "I'm on the wrong side of Heaven, and the righteous side of Hell" Meaning 'I'm not doing the right thing or a good thing, But I'm doing it for the right reasons. The quick example is a soldier, Which is also the theme of the Official Video. Maybe not the main point of it, but think about this. A soldier goes out an kills people. That's a terrible thing to do under any circumstance, but they do it for the right reasons. To protect people and loved ones. The sad thing people start these wars for the wrong reasons, religion, oil, territory. If we didn't care about that we'd never fight, but since we do people are fighting, and I like to think that some do it so their children don't have to.

Off the deep stuff though. God sounding like him and the devil looking like him is double symbolic. He's a human, he's saying humans say "God's Will" is this and that, and humans decide what they think is OK against what's bad. Al Qaeda says it's OK to kill non-Muslims. The US government sends troops saying it's OK to kill Terrorists. They both think they're doing the right thing. The true fact and problem here is there's no true thing as right and wrong, just many different Points of View. But it's also an an individual level. He sounding like god is him telling himself what he's doing is okay because it's for the right reason. The devil looking like him is he know that he's doing a bad thing or that other people see him as a horrible person. The line "I looked away, I turned away" is that he can't truly forgive himself for what he's done or what he's doing.

"I'm not defending" is he can't and isn't going to say what he did is right. He could also be saying he really doesn't know what drove him to do it in the first place.

"Downward descending" Decent to Hell. That's he's someone who can't be "saved" for lack of better terms. "Falling further and further away" The chance he makes up for whatever it is. It's a 'I can never fix this or make it up to you.' "Getting closer every day" Death. It's the true point he can never make up for whatever happened. The way the song vocalizes it makes it sound like a plea. 'Tell me what I can do PLEASE.'

While that last thing i wrote may make it seem like he's asking for a chance to make it up to one person, I still believe this is a song about a soldier. But I hope I've shown that this is by no means a shallow song, that Satan and God aren't man and woman for contrast between them and likely not overly religious. (No offense to mustang809, or mdbdoc)

Still it's a great song. Even people who don't think they ever done anything wrong to someone else.

Think of this song as being sung from Adam's point of view right after the fall of man. Yes Adam from the Bible.

It'll make sense if you think about it a little. Deep stuff though, I like it :)

This song seems to be about the dynamics of personal guilt, relative to the existence of higher beings, which represent good and evil of course. The main question I see is "Who's responsible for the bad things I do?" Is it really me or one of the higher powers? (The implication of higher powers being God for creating him or Satan for influencing him). The struggle is dealing with the guilt of the bad things he's done, further complicated by the difficulty of discerning right from wrong. Discerning is very difficult to do in the world if one believes that morality is subjective. Objective morality simplifies things and that's what I believe, not because it simplifies things, but because I happen to believe that the God of the Bible is the one true God and He gave us objective morality.

The Adam idea is a good thought, but the God from the Bible is definitely not portrayed as female. I think the usage of a female god was for juxtaposition. He wanted to contrast God and Satan further than they already are by using gender. I personally think that it was highly unnecessary to do so since good and evil is more than sufficient for contrast, but it's not my song, so... Another possible reason to reference a feminine god could have been to appease 'new agers'. Or who knows, maybe he thinks God really is female.

Sorry guys, I don't think the song was written with any deeper intentions. Guilt is a deep enough subject in itself. Then throw in Heaven and Hell and, well, you get the idea. I think the writer(s) or someone he knows definitely struggles with some significant self-identified sin in his past, or perhaps even his present! Thanks for reading.

Watch the video people they say what it's about stop seeing things that aren't there

I think its about how he thought about going for war would make him heroic for saving and protecting his people. Then he realizes that the ones that he has been fighting for are liars who are hungry for power. Then his family or God in the song was ashamed because they warned him but he ignored and continued. Now suffering from PTSD, he becomes homeless and lost everything. He regrets killing all his enemies who are also human who have feelings and families.

This song is most likely made to show how deadly war is even to the ones who survived the guns and grenades. The most terrible thing is the experience of gunshots going on like crazy and grenades blowing eardrums off. The soldiers who came back were no longer the same person they once were. Those who suffered PTSD can get shocked by things that reminds them on war such as the sound of a glass breaking. To us its nothing, but to them its a memory that scarred them.

This song to me is a direct relation to PTSD, Mainly directed at those who have served in the military during times of war. Wrong side of heaven is walking in sin, or having to due something you are morally opposed to Righteous side of Hell is a common phrase for justifying your actions, Killing in the name of country, freedom, self defense

God Saying "She" is ashamed is similar to seeing your mother's approval, The one typically shown as nurturing, "sounding just like me" is showing the focus inward or losing sight of someone you loved, In memories the first thing you forget is the sound of someone's voic, replacing it with your own. Devil saying "He" is not to blame is similar to that of the Father figure telling you that you made your own mess and cannot blame him, The more hands off figure, normally to blame for children (The human Race) for escalation of bad behavior, in this case what ever they feel to be morally ambiguous. "He looked a lot like me" is similar to growing up and seeing your self look more and more like your father, seeing your self making the same choices he did, justifying them the same way.

"I'm not defending Downward descending Falling further and further away Getting closer every day"

Saying they have no way to defend what they have done, and the soul tearing experience of trying to cope with it, day after day reliving every emotion.

"I'm getting closer every day To the end, to the end, the end of the end I'm getting closer every day" Most people suffering from PTSD are constantly pleading with themselves to die, just waiting for that day where they cannot no longer feel the pain and can atone/ pay for everything they have done, and finally see if they're cause was just.

"Arms wide open I stand alone I'm no hero And I'm not made of stone Right or wrong I can hardly tell" To me a metaphor for begging on your knees for God to come and show is what you've been though was worth it, No mater how much people call you a hero those suffering from PTSD are far from made of stone, they've been permeated with doubt, grief, nightmare, pain... and questioning again whether or not they're justified.

My opinion is based on growing up in a military family and watching my uncle return with PTSD from desert storm, Watching the way my step father changed after returning from Kuwait just after 9/11, my friends who were able to enlist that were lucky enough to return home, some with PTSD and many of those who returned, returned to only end up taking their own lives due to all the horrors they had seen and committed themselves, and my own personal turmoil coping with

Gorgeous song. Wonder why God is personified as a woman

I just really listened to this song and watched the video last week. It hit me hard i cried like a baby when i watched it and saw the message they are putting out there. It touched me on a deeper level than i could've imagined Cuzz i have couple of very special friends that have served and i know that they went through hell and i can feel how much damage doing the things they had to do kills them inside. And i know one hardly ever sleeps Cuzz he had night mares about it. He has actually said that he's not proud to have been apart if the military and he don't like to be thanked for being a part of it.

Whats cool about this song is as deep as it is it can still have multiple meanings based off ones experiences. As a veteran i took the main line "im on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell" to reference the mental breakdown of a soldier. That moment a prisoner becomes institutionalized. A soldier reaches that same point where they feel more comfortable in hell than they do in heaven. When we come home from war alot of veterans feel out of place and dont knpw what to do. We are on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell. Just my opinion from my experiences

yet another song about him hes been refering to god as a her for how long now. he was on the wrong side of heaven for so long with his camera on controling and manipulating everyone of his thoughts the bad ones that is. i think its funny how they say i spoke to the devil today and he said hes not to blame. but little is it known that he is it may have been allah that started the tv show i mean lets face it that type of technology doesnt exist on planet earth but then using it untested on an 8 year old kind of fucked then his father the devil took over at the age of twelve when the inevitable happened and he became one sick puppy.