Yesterday I posted (read it here) about my friend Taylor and how I think it’s healthy that we both have differing belief systems, and although we don’t agree with each other on a lot of things, we still have respect for each other as individuals.

Recently, Quiet Company (Taylor’s band) released a music video for their song “On Modern Men.”

The more I listen to this song, the more I like it.  I think Taylor’s song goes right along with the question he posed to me previously, about whether you can respect someone but not respect their beliefs.  As I said yesterday, I think the better question is can you disagree with someone and still respect them as an individual.

To me, the song really seems to be about uniting together despite our differences, focusing on loving each other rather than being caught up on our disagreements.

I love the line that says “everybody here is allowed one, so make it good son.”  This is another reason I like Taylor, because I can’t write lines like that, but he churns them out like it’s nothing.  I think Taylor is saying we all have one life, and this is your chance to do something good with it.

Despite our differences, Taylor and I can certainly agree on this idea.  I think a lot of Christians (of which I am one) get caught up on the idea of heaven, so much so, that they are apathetic towards actually doing things that change our current world.  I think people on the outside of Christianity get frustrated with people proclaiming Christianity, because their lives do not resemble Christ’s teachings.

Christ was a revolutionary figure.  While the religious in His day were persecuting the down and out, Christ was spending time among them, loving them.  Part of the reason the religious leaders at the time wanted Christ killed was because he loved people unconditionally, and did not hold to what they considered to be the correct things to do.  Christ often attacked the religious because their religion got in the way of them actually loving people.  Their approval was something that was earned, instead of something that was freely given.

In the Bible, it talks about Christ returning to Earth where he will setup his kingdom, the New Jerusalem.  In the book “Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2,” Bono talks about this idea.  He asks, what if Christians are wrong, and this new kingdom is not something that God is going to magically put in place, but instead is something that God is going to create through Christians working, and doing good in the world.

I do not know, but this seems plausible.  I do know that Jewish religious leaders spent their entire lives devoted to studying the Torah (basically the first five books of the Bible).  They would memorize it.  They knew it inside and out, yet they believed that the Messiah (Christ) would come as a militant leader.  Someone who would battle the oppressive Romans, and give them their freedom.

If the Jewish religious leaders understood the Torah so incredibly well, along with it’s prophecies about how the Messiah would come, and missed it (I am a Christian, therefore I believe Christ was who He said He was, the Messiah).  I certainly think it’s possible that Christians could miss how Christ will return the second time.  I’m not saying that’s the way it is, but I am saying it’s possible.

Regardless, Christians need to stop using the idea of heaven as some free get out of jail card.  I don’t want to live for some reward, I want to see people’s lives become better today.  I want people to feel loved, and have their needs met.

Christian, or non-Christian, I believe we need to unite to do good, as Taylor says in his song.  There should not be division among us, regardless of our viewpoints.  It is possible to love each other despite our differences, but we have to make the choice to love each other first.

These are the ideas that swirl in my head when I listen to this song.  You can hear more music from Quiet Company at http://quietcompany.bandcamp.com.