HEAVY METAL AND RELIGION..

I know religion is one of those topics on the “DO NOT DISCUSS IN PUBLIC” list, but I’ve been seeing a lot of things lately that have inspired me to write about it. I have my own person beliefs on God and the afterlife, paranormal, occult, etc, that I usually don’t share with people unless I know them well because 9 out of 10 times people disagree and it becomes a never ending circular argument where no one’s point is really heard. Although if someone asks me and I can see that they will respect my beliefs, I have no problem sharing them. If it’s some rowdy opinionated jerk off who I know lives in their own little world where what they say if fact, I have no comment.. I believe everyone has the right to their own personal beliefs and I can respect anyone’s opinion as long as it’s not shoved down my throat, even if I don’t agree or I think it’s wrong.

So many people lately have been posting what they think is absolute truth. The only truth is that none of us know with 100% certainty what lies beyond death. We just go with what we believe to be true in out hearts. Just as we have no real scientific proof in a God/Gods, the opposite is also true, there is no real proof in the non existence of God either. There are videos of supposed spirits, demons, poltergeists, etc, but there validity will be argued til the end of time.

What does this all have to do with Metal, you ask? Well I’ve just seen a lot of judgement happen towards metalheads(myself included) if they express their religious beliefs and/or their acceptance of God. How can you be in a metal band and yet still go to church on Sundays? The answer in my opinion is this.. Metal music might be brutal, satanic, evil, what ever.. But, it’s a way for people to express all the darkness they have experienced, a way to let out these negative emotions.. It does not have to involve the worship of the “horned one”.. I feel privileged that these musicians share with us these personal demons because it makes you feel like you are not alone. Someone’s personal beliefs should have no bearing on whether or not you choose to listen to their music.

I know a few people personally that hide their beliefs from the crowd because they say they don’t want to look like a hypocrite. Why hide it? If you go to church, yet your music is satanic, why hide the fact that you are acknowledging and embracing the dark part of yourself and allowing it to be put out into the world in the form of killer music, instead of in some brutal horrific way? I am a firm believer that there can not be light without dark, good without evil. Being able to express your darkness in a constructive way, in my opinion, is the mark of an enlightened human. And I say human because it’s human to have both good and bad in your hearts.. Don’t hide your true nature, because that is fake and sooner or later it will come back to haunt you.

So I guess in closing don’t be afraid to embrace what’s true to your heart and be yourself. If people don’t like it fuck em!! There will be 10 people down the line that respect you for your honesty.

“All the faithful fall onto their knees”

Everyone who knows me well knows I am very spiritual. I wouldn’t call myself religious because I don’t follow a book or confine myself to a building to pray. I believe in God, I pray, and this belief comes from within, it’s the definition of faith. I can’t physically prove to anyone he exists, nor do I feel the need to. All that matters to me is that I know in my heart he exists. I know in my heart there is life after death. These are beliefs that are mine, but I am still open minded enough to listen to the opposing views and ideas of other people.  I can respect anyone’s opinion as long as they are just being informative and not pushing what they think is “the way” down my throat. I’m 34 years old, there’s no conversion at this point..

The title of this blog is a quote from an amazing song. Probably one of my favorite songs, period. It always makes me think, so this is what was going through my head when I heard it this time..

Godless are we??  I understand people who lean more toward science and logic normally have a hard time with no physical proof, believing in God. I can respect that, but I can’t accept when people try to talk me out of my beliefs because of the lack of scientific evidence. (which is arguable, there are books on supposed scientific proof of life after death)

I also can’t accept the overly religious telling me that certain things I do or even things I feel or think will lead me straight to the mouth of hell. I can’t get behind any religion where a great deal of it’s followers live in fear.

I see it this way,, I’m not saying this is how it is, this is my personal belief. God is the all father. Think of a normal functional family unit. Would your father disown you for making mistakes? Chances are he would not.  Your father loves you (or at least should) and you love him. He may get angry at you from time to time for being a screw up, but he knows you learn from your mistakes. Your parents support you unconditionally. To me that is what God is like. And the question of  “If there is a God, why do so many bad things happen?” I believe you can’t truly be happy and open yourself up to good things if you’ve never experienced the bad. You can’t truly appreciate something beautiful if you’ve never seen ugliness..  I believe that is a marker of a truly enlightened person. The ability to appreciate all of your experiences and realize the sum of those things makes you who you are.

I have gotten shit so many times from random people who are completely irrelevant to me about being spiritual and being into metal at the same time.  I have touched on this subject a bit in a previous blog, but I guess I just felt the need to speak on it again today.

What are your beliefs and do you expect the people you care about to agree?