pat loughery

I just posted episode 5 of the Questions of Faith and Doubt podcast. I looked at Joshua 5:13-15 and Mark 9:39-40 and asked the question, “Should we beware of identifying God’s politics too closely with our own? Is God on our side, or their side? Or…”

Unfortunately, I spaced out that there’s a fantastic Bob Dylan song of the same title that I could have used cuts from. I only remembered the song after I posted the podcast. But I thought it would be fun to post lyrics here, just for interest’s sake.

The last three verses are:

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we’re forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side.

In a many dark hour
I’ve been thinkin’ about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for you
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I’m leavin’
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war.

You can find the full lyrics set here at BobDylan.com.

I find the concept of the lyrics quite timely, and especially now with Pat Robertson’s latest news item. I really wish that people who make pronouncements about who God should turn away from would read the book of Jonah, and contemplate the ending of the book.