Re: my older secular song lyrics
We all drift through life until we find our purpose. My drifting was long and protracted. I finally opened my heart to Christ. I am left with legions of old songs, songs that well prove I was not always a Christian. From about 1966 until about 1991 I was mostly an agnostic humanist who believed that if most of humankind could learn to be kind to all humans then somehow our human race would prosper materially and in all other ways. I no longer believe this. My old songs haven't changed; I have. My best previous songs were written sincerely and honestly. Do I have the right to historically revise who I was and what I wrote? Many aging writers try to do that and end up with complete junk. At this point I want to leave my work as it was created, unless I can actually improve it.
I'm reminded of how Paul addressed the high priest Ananias and the council of Sadducees and fellow Pharisees in Jerusalem:
And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. Acts 23:1
A good conscience is one thing but when we realize that we have been in error we must immediately surrender to the truth of our mistakes. I was sincerely wrong but wrong nevertheless. I believed that Christianity was a hoax perpetrated by shysters, cons, extortionists, and outright liars along with the sincerely duped and gullible. I sincerely believed that God would never have participated in anything as corrupt as the modern church. I ignored the churches of today to save myself from their ignorance, piety, and corruption and even from their malevolence. With a few exceptions I found no comfort in attending churches. In 1988 when I bought my land I told people that I had rather work alone in poverty for God under the sun than prosperously for corrupt man in his air-conditioned nightmare. I have long distrusted prosperity within or without of the church.
In short (unlikely for a verbose weasel like me) I will not destroy my old songs. But neither will I promote them. Rather, I will encourage you to find and sing songs about Christ, about His grace, about the salvation He offers us, about eternal life, about Christian charity, about things I am still learning.
Let the dead bury the dead, Christ told us, and most of my songs are dead, but I will not bury them, nor will I attempt to resuscitate them.
Steve Sedberry
20 April 2001
Carrollton, GA