"Not of this World"

Listening to this Petra song today reminded me how much I love the song, but hate the message.

Sorry...we are not to be conformed to this world, but we are from this world. 

Just seems to me that it is a wrong way to look at it. Keep saying stuff like "we don't belong here" and I think it sends a very depressing message to young followers.

We DO belong here. We are HERE for a reason. Not everyone will refuse us, there are those that need our help and will accept us.

I get so tired of sermons, songs, etc etc that concentrate more on leaving here and going to heaven than staying here and making a difference.

It sounds cult like.

Like those people that put sneakers on and tried to catch a comet by committing suicide. All because they were made to believe they would never be accepted here and they had no where else to go.

Sorry...had to rant...

I'm sure most won't see it my way...

Here are the lyrics to Not of This World:

We are pilgrims in a strange land
We are so far from our homeland
With each passing day it seems so clear
This world will never want us here
We're not welcome in this world of wrong
We are foreigners who don't belong

We are strangers, we are aliens
We are not of this world

We are envoys, we must tarry
With this message we must carry
There's so much to do before we leave
With so many more who may believe
Our mission here can never fail
And the gates of hell will not prevail

We are strangers, we are aliens
We are not of this world

We are strangers, we are aliens
We are not of this world

Jesus told us men would hate us
But we must be of good cheer
He has overcome this world of darkness
Soon we will depart from here

We are strangers, we are aliens
We are not of this world

We are strangers, we are aliens
We are not of this world


Petra, Rez Band, Stryper, Daniel Band and Jerusalem were the first of many bands I liked when I truly discovered Christian rock, hard rock and metal in 1985. I agree with these lyrics and I don't think Bob Hartman wrote these lyrics with an escapism mentality. The Bible says many times that the world hates Christians due to the relationship have with Christ and don't conform to the world and to be in the world and not a part of it. On other places Petra has lyrics about making a difference and advocating for rightousness like, Back to the Street, Get on Your Knees, Stand in the Gap and Stand Up. This section belongs to the not metal category.

Frickin' Galactic Cowboys!! Teaching Christian escapism!!  *Shakes Fist*

Feel the rage Cowboys!!...

Quit pattin' yourself on the back!!

I'm not amused!!... 
(but you still make me smile...)

[Ninja'd]

I'd partially agree with you B4L...   

I believe the proper perspective is that we're "pilgrims" passing through.  No, we are not of this world, nor is this our home or destination.  However, we are meant to be here and have a purpose here, as you said.  We don't ultimately belong here, though we do temporarily belong here.  If we dismiss the present and only look forward to the future/eternity, we miss our command to love God and love others.  And if we dismiss our eternity in God's presence, but focus only on our present existence, we in turn dismiss our hope [in Christ] and instead become worldly and self-focused.  Gotta have both!  I can't speak for Petra, but I suspect that I'm not alone or atypical in the sense that I tend toward failing to remember my eternal existence with God and instead gravitate towards and put my reliance on things of this world that "moth and rust" will destroy.  And thus I need folks like Petra to remind me of the "other half" of my existence!

Agree with me or not..at least I can get discussion going...lol

I agree with everything you say about the issue itself 100%.  I also agree with Kerrick: I never took that Petra song to mean we should disengage from the world.  To me it seems like semantics.

Superjuice wrote:

Frickin' Galactic Cowboys!! Teaching Christian escapism!!  *Shakes Fist*

Feel the rage Cowboys!!...

Quit pattin' yourself on the back!!

I'm not amused!!... 
(but you still make me smile...)

I really like this cover

eatbugs wrote:I agree with everything you say about the issue itself 100%.  I also agree with Kerrick: I never took that Petra song to mean we should disengage from the world.  To me it seems like semantics.

Keep in mind, my post stated "young followers".

I don't think a 12-15 year old kid back when that song came out was going to dig into the lyrics, they were going to go by the chorus and some key verses here and there. If you do that, it can be a very depressing song for a young person because it is tough at that age to be told that no one will accept and you will always feel out of place here.

Those are VERY dangerous messages to send to youth, especially If they didn't have someone around them to help explain  the message (and remember, no internet back then).

Look how many kids kill themselves annually because of feeling alienated?

And you can't say that Petra's music back then was geared towards adults....the whole reason why Christian bands like Petra even first started playing rock music was to reach kids / teens.

Does that clarify my position a little bit more?

It does clarify.  I'm going to disagree because I WAS a 12-15 year old when I first heard the song and I took it right.  As a young Christian teen it was an encouragement because I didn't fit in with my peers.  I didn't party/sleep around/etc.  It told me I wasn't alone in feeling like an outsider for my faith.  At least one rock band somewhere understands.

Again, I agree with everything you say about the issue, I just think you picked a bad example with this song.

to quote Larry Norman,

I'm only visiting this planet...

I was in that age bracket when I first heard that song, I was kinda Meh about it to be honest. But I also realize that when I was that age and kids today at that age are very different.  Im not agreeing or disagreeing as I have no real stance on this other than yeah it can be a depressing song not cuz of the lyrical content but because of the harmonies and tempo