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As Cities Burn – This Is It, This Is It Lyrics

18 years ago

i doubt the song is simply about our need for grace. i think the majority of their songs and beliefs come as a response to christians. not that we need grace...we do, but that we seek people out and forget about jesus. jesus said to love god and love others. i am so sick of the story of god being about sin. the story of god is about love. everything falls into place. all the points in which you could say "what about this" all fall in line properly if we just focus on the point of it all. i don't think its saying we sink without god's grace...though we do...i think he's addressing a big part of christianity that is so focused on sin that they miss the point of God's grace. kinda in the same lines of addressing issues in a in your face, kinda sarcastic way like "hoard" and "empire" which are about christians who are misguided or about "christians" who either think they are glorious or people who think they are great when they're really dying inside. this is jumbled and what not but i dont feel like revising. hope you get my point. we need grace and we understand it so little. we speak for God too many times when we should be quite and let him speak and take it in ourselves. many of ACB songs address the flaws or misguided concepts of western Christianity. by the way...jesus was much different than what you would see in a typical American church. just sayin.

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As Cities Burn – Our World Is Grey Lyrics	18 years ago
love is the point of God's story. he could let go but he hasn't, for the purpose of redemption. our world is hopeless but its for love that he holds on. unearned, unfaltering and without agenda. just to love, even if its never reciprocated. like we should love.

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As Cities Burn – The Widow Lyrics

18 years ago

its pretty cut and dry. there is no motif. a father, who is dead inside, leaves his children and wife behind...passing on death to his son(s). the song is about grace because "can't help but love you" and about the idea that hurt is passed down in a similar way to the john mayer song "daughters" because the daughter is unable to love because her father couldn't love her. scars are passed down and dead men bury their children before they even have a chance. they pass it down and the cycle continues.

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As Cities Burn – The Hoard Lyrics

18 years ago

also gibsons Hating God is treating the world like crap and giving them what they already have enough of...pain. what the world needs is unconditional healing love. Jesus spent a lot more time in the world than he did in the church. You didn't see youth groups and revivals back then because the church (jesus and disciples) was a practical body within the world doing good from the inside, not being the cut off sub culture it is now. Grace is given to all. Not all will accept it but it is there for all. I seem to remember a bible verse talking about rending the heart and not the garments. Or one about circumcision not being the way. grace is more than just a bandaid to be taken off in a struggle. if a father, a true loving father, adopts a child, surely he does not give up that child on a whim of disappointment. and if God sent his son to die for restoration, because ultimately thats what salvation is, a restoration to a relationship between man and God, then why do we struggle to accept the fact that maybe grace is out of our hands. we can't live with the fact that we have that little control over our lives. we get offended by the fact that grace is as strong as we are not. does God desire us to continue to sin. sin being things that hurt or relationship to God, not acts that because of uncertainty, the church labeled cultural norms as sin. but in loving relationship with God, he moves in you and you change. you don't clean yourself up or else whats the point of grace. Geez I swear, if we spent more time loving God and loving others, even those unworthy ones that our association with equates to "hating God" we might actually get somewhere. c'mon people. the point is love. he said, love me, love them. love. if we love God, we wont do things that hurt him or hurt us...which entails real sin, not the stuff conservative western Christianity labels as sin because the bible tells us to work those things out within ourselves and it leaves gray areas for personal discovery. alright i am done. love God. he loves you and wants you to be a healthy person so don't do thinks that are damaging to yourself or your relationship with him or others. also, love people. no questions. love. like him. you'll be alright. anything outside of loving him and others isn't the point.

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As Cities Burn – The Hoard Lyrics

18 years ago

by the way...the last post was a response to what gibsonsguitarist said "just because we're a Christian band, don't be surprised if you see us with a beer or cigarette because nobody is perfect." who says it is an issue of perfection. the sooner we understand grace, the better we understand sin. what really makes sin wrong and what makes something a sin. and even if it is a sin, where does that leave us. sin isn't wrong because he said so, it is wrong because it is unhealthy and it separates us from a healthy relationship from God or causes unhealthy relationships in our lives. so can someone be a Christian, have a good relationship with God and not have his life fall apart in the middle of it all. sure. i believe that and i have seen it. so if its not mutually exclusive, maybe we have to re-evaluate if it is really wrong at all. just because something can be taken to a wrong extreme doesn't make is inheirantly wrong. it all goes back to the heart. if we would work on straightening out the heart instead of leaving it damaged but removing the tools we could solve a lot of our problems.

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As Cities Burn – The Hoard Lyrics

18 years ago

also...sin isn't about and activity. its about our hearts. the activity is just and avenue. drinking isn't wrong. alcohol isn't a sin. enjoying it isn't a sin. moderation is real. however, when it becomes destructive in your life, then it is wrong. gambling is not wrong. playing cards with the boys is not bad. when you can't feed your kids, it is wrong. when you beat your wife, drinking is wrong. but it doesn't have to be destructive. you can enjoy beer and it not ruin your life. you can go to a horse race and be okay. therefor, the activity is not the issue. your heart is. even if it was a sin. how powerful do we think grace is. how much power do you think you have over grace. i'm still learning. i don't have all the answers. just some issues to think on.

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As Cities Burn – The Hoard Lyrics

18 years ago

the hoard is the church. all the people that are so focused on sin and completing themselves that they overlook the unwell. the well hog up grace like its something they can actually lose. nothing we do saves us. thats why jesus had to do it because we couldnt. so why do we fight to keep something we never were able to earn to begin with. we spend all our time focusing on our own wholeness which we dont need to do and let people around us gasp for breath in life. and its much more than just having do do with sin. its about pain and healing and how that never gets out because we just hoard it all up. meanwhile, heaven comes in love and those who are learning and being young could have had it all but they were denied it because judgmental Christians got in the way because they were so set aside that they built a wall about it. the story of God is about love. not condemnation. not sin. not separation. not being holy. its about love and redemption. jesus died for love. he loved us, not to free us of sin, he loved us to love us. he would have regardless. thats the point. love is the point. sin isn't wrong because it just is...it's not even an issue of wrong, its and issue of separation. it damaged the relationship and it damaged us. God's plan is restore that relationship and bring healing. to love us and bring about or wholeness in his love. so fighting for grace, which is never ending and boundless is in vain. if we'd all get it in our heads that the point is love. we'd be better off. all of us. not just the well.

submissions

As Cities Burn – Of Want And Misery: The Nothing That Kills Lyrics

18 years ago

i think its ultimately about God and us, whether it references to a girl or not. I think it's about his romance with us and his never ending chase for us. he doesn't control us, so eventually we have to decide to accept his love and be pulled out of our despair, but he will never stop pursuing us. and i doubt that not praying 3 minutes a day is way of doing nothing to hurt our love. it probably references to much more destructive things, the kind that kills him inside to see us suffer through. or things we do or don't do for others like love.

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As Cities Burn – Wrong Body Lyrics

18 years ago

i think he stating how surprised we'll be when we get in because of the power of grace. he references to the "depart from me" because he wonders if it is possible for him to get in , basically, because we as humans suck because we don't love like jesus wants us to. it's just a struggle with not loving like jesus loved and working through that. "wrong body" just refers to that idea more, ie. how did i get in. i must have gotten in by accident because i don't deserve it. of course that is grace for you. i think cody fully understand that, he's just voicing that struggle through song. i love that he uses the term "bloody as hell" because its so expressive and a powerful visualization for the song.

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As Cities Burn – Terrible! How Terrible For The Great City! Lyrics

18 years ago

"how could anyone take it as being pornography?" thats funny because i came to that conclusion by myself that it was exactly that. so i guess its possible. i think the part about being a monster and sinking teeth into someone he doesn't love is directed to the girl in the porn. porn and lust require not love or attachment or vulnerability and therefor you're just using all the deep emotional qualities that you get from sex and giving nothing in return because you're just clicking a mouse, therefor "sinking teeth" "until i get what i want" the second verse i think is about the 'other woman' or the wife of the man struggling with his addiction. two broken relationships and one man ina struggle. the whole "womb" reference has nothing to do with parents or children, everything to do with the "being used." once again, going back to porn. and i think the "devils on our shoulders" bit should be obvious.

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As Cities Burn – Contact Lyrics

18 years ago

i think it also reflects a longing to really see God and having doubt. i like this song because it is honest and real in a messy unconventionally Christian way. when Thomas doubted, Jesus was not angry, but he had compassion and love and told Thomas to feel his wounds. I think too many Christians today think that being honest and not always "wearing a smile when you don't" feel it is something that will make God angry. And yes, Cody's voice sounds a little deathcab/postal service-ish. And yes, I also know that they are one in the same vocalist.

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As Cities Burn – Clouds Lyrics

18 years ago

i think its more than faith. that is a good point, but i don't think its THE point. i think he's getting at the heart of western Christianity, and its misplaced views of God. two of the biggest issues of Christianity in the west are the ideas of love and who God is. most of the church (in America) focuses on sin as the point of God's story, but it's not, it's love. love is the point. undeserved. unearned. even unreciprocated love. "love me. love your neighbor." but i think we so caught up in our church culture, ie. the youth group mentality, that we forget the purpose and the point of the "good news" which is love. thats a whole can of worms topic, but overall, i think the lyrics reflect a misunderstanding of love. as do the lyrics speak of a misunderstanding of God. "i think our God isn't God if he fits inside our heads" faith is important but i think cody's intention was to point out how quickly we think we've got God figured out and how much we know about him and in reality, how little we do in regards to his will, our lives and our representation of him. when we think we've got him figured out, then we lose all ability to learn about him. we become closed minded and for years, we've been living a faith that is handed down to us for generations, not by him, but by parents an pastors and we never truly own understanding of God. and sometimes when we open our minds to start fresh, we learn maybe things aren't what we've always been told.

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