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Dear God, hope you get the letter and
I pray you can make it better down here
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that you made in your image
See them starving on their feet
'Cause they don't get enough to eat from God
I can't believe in you
Dear God, sorry to disturb you but
I feel that I should be heard loud and clear
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
And all the people that you made in your image
See them fighting in the street
'Cause they can't make opinions meet about God
I can't believe in you
Did you make disease and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the Devil too!
Dear God don't know if you noticed but
Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book
And us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look
And all the people that you made in your image
Still believing that junk is true
Well I know it ain't, and so do you
Dear God
I can't believe in
I don't believe
I won't believe in heaven or hell
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well
No pearly gates, no thorny crown
You're always letting us humans down
The wars you bring, the babes you drown
Those lost at sea and never found
And it's the same the whole world 'round
The hurt I see helps to compound
The Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Is just somebody's unholy hoax
And if you're up there you'll perceive
That my heart's here upon my sleeve
If there's one thing I don't believe in
It's you
Dear God
I pray you can make it better down here
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that you made in your image
See them starving on their feet
'Cause they don't get enough to eat from God
I can't believe in you
Dear God, sorry to disturb you but
I feel that I should be heard loud and clear
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
And all the people that you made in your image
See them fighting in the street
'Cause they can't make opinions meet about God
I can't believe in you
Did you make disease and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the Devil too!
Dear God don't know if you noticed but
Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book
And us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look
And all the people that you made in your image
Still believing that junk is true
Well I know it ain't, and so do you
Dear God
I can't believe in
I don't believe
I won't believe in heaven or hell
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well
No pearly gates, no thorny crown
You're always letting us humans down
The wars you bring, the babes you drown
Those lost at sea and never found
And it's the same the whole world 'round
The hurt I see helps to compound
The Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Is just somebody's unholy hoax
And if you're up there you'll perceive
That my heart's here upon my sleeve
If there's one thing I don't believe in
It's you
Dear God
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God does not control us or our future, does he? How can he be responsible for our actions? If he exists at all (which I doubt) I don't think he can choose our paths. We choose them ourselves.
As for humans fighting over religion, that's on us, not God. If God intervened in everything we do, it would take away our free will, which is precisely why there is hunger, pestilence and violence in our world. We suffer because Adam and Eve used their free will to disobey God. That is why suffering was introduced to the world. Had God intervened and stopped Adam and Eve from disobeying him, that wouldn't have been free will, right?
What song meant to be praising God points out all the things wrong with both God and, indirectly, a belief in him, let alone ends with "If there's one thing I don't believe in it's you, Dear God".
It being directed to God is only meant to give it more power and meaning.
Personally, I don't believe in God, but if I did, I wouldn't worship a baby killing, disease creating, unwanting-and-unwilling-to-fix-any-of-it "Lord", even if it meant going to hell.
Dear Xtc,
What made you come to the conclusion that God is like Santa Claus, and should only exist to "clean up after us" while we go about living our lives to please ourselves...and in the meantime, we hurt others by our actions?
God has provided everyone a way to escape the "hell on earth" that our sin has created. One chooses to accept or reject His provision.
I love God....and God loves all of His creation, whether or not His creation loves Him back.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
We don't believe in God because it's unlikely for him to exist both according to science and by claims made by the bible itself that clearly are untrue.
Also, God seemed so talkative 2,000 years ago. What happened? People stopped believing mad men and liars claiming to have met god, and suddenly he's no longer talking? Hmmm... I'd say use logic to put 2 and 2 together, but I know that won't happen. You'll simply say some bullshit like "I believe in god because I have faith (in something that has no background other then man's word, and absolutely no proof)"
Also, don't confuse this song as a dedication to God. It's dedicated to stating why the writer doesn't believe in him.
some people are getting a little too intense for my tastes, by do what you must, i suppose. at risk of suffering through some relatively stale and boring atheist responses, I'm going to try to work from the song outward, rather than bring my own views in and see how well they fit the lyrics.
there's a fair amount of which-came-first, chicken-egg stuff in these lyrics, and i think that's important and helpful in developing an overall message in the tune.
the prime example is "Dear god..." in itself. If god existed, the speaker wouldn't need to write this letter in the first place, but he feels the need to write a letter in the hope of getting a response as confirmation that he/she can exist.
I'll admit it may take a little bit of acrobatics as far as considering the order of the lines goes, but i find it kind of fun and interesting to examine the cause and effect throughout the entire piece:
reducing beer prices -goes to- people are starving...
but going backwards there, why would anyone be worried about buying drinks when they need food to survive (and yes, for this one i imagine it would seem more of the poet thing to do to buy the booze, but consider mothers/fathers who need to provide for their children. they'd go food first)
reducing the world's sorrow -goes to- people are fighting each other...
if the fighting ceased, so could the tears
things the speaker wonders if god made:
1.) disease (which effects man directly)
2.) I'm going with a blue diamond (as this is indirectly perceived by man's senses)
3.) mankind
these three queries seem to go from small to large (man's touch/feel, man's perception of the world, man's history/existence in the world), when it seems the speaker wouldn't be concerned with such a concept as 'what is blue?' when his very next question is "Did all that weird stuff that they wrote about you and the devil really happen? or am i reading the wrong book/asking the wrong guy?"
it's the word of god -goes to- and it was written by man...
from here the speaker is hoping that god can concede that some of those dead tongue translations have really lost something after thousands of years or rewrites and added color pictures to really draw the crowds in.
from here we go to that amazing finish that i don't really want to comment too much on, mainly because of how it always manages to hit me pretty hard. on pretty much every other listen it'll get a tear or two to slowly drift down my cheek. that's a sign of a pretty awesome song, if you ask me.
and then the start and finish of the song, one last time:
Dear God -to- If there's on thing I don't believe in, it's you -to- Dear God -to- ..???..
sorry if this seems to long, but if you're reading this, i say thanks and just bring up one final point that a lot of other posts brought up in my mind. I'm not one to judge anyone else by what they believe, and i guess that has a lot to do with just how much gray i see in the world every day. seriously, just look a split-second longer and the blacks soften and the whites dim a bit. keep that in mind for each and every line of this tune. they're all at a different hue.
there a quite a few religions on this rock, and i imagine the speaker addressing a different being each time he uses the word "god".
this division of whatever preceded us into 30 different flavors to mix as well as melt could be his biggest problem. you can write a letter to anyone you'd like. the big step is sending the letter out, which is hard enough as it is, but even more so when you don't have their mailing address...
Your dedication is intense (and commendable), but all you have to do is listen to the song, and if that is not clear, view the blog(s) on Partridge's website for personal responses to all concerned as to the feelings and intentions of the song.
Best wishes.
So yes, as Andy has said... the song is a bit simplistic, but it is a very good, very emotional portrayal of that first step into rational thought and atheism. It doesn't tell the whole story, but it beautifully and poignantly describes what many young budding atheists probably felt in their first moments of attempting to apply the standards of rationality to that greatest and most pervasive of superstition: theism.
i mean he does talk about ppl fighting over the idea of god and i think he finds it pretty wrong and f there was god, why would he let things like this happen
when it comes to this song, he using a lot of art in a way where hes writing to ppls idea of a god. i mean when u write poetry ppl write like this as well
but i hopefully this comment made sense idk lol :) it did to me