MR PREACHER

I remember in church one day
back when I was young
The preacher preached a sermon
till he tied up his own tongue
He told me I'd go straight to hell
if I didn't believe what he said
But this ain't hell I'm livin
and I don't plan on going there when I'm dead

Now I know he was reading
right out of a story book
And it wasn't my place to question the bible
or how he might have mistook
That all the words upon the page
were spoken by the son of God
But the thought that a God so good would damn a kid to hell
seemed pretty odd

Thank you Mr. Preacher for the fear
That's what made me open up my eyes
And realize you used the holy spirit
To frighten more people with your doctrine spin
Get em on board with your sermonisms
Make em all call your God their own, call your God their own

When I got to college I started to look around
See what other religions said was really going down
And all I saw were similarities
God loved all mankind and wanted us to be free, to be free

I knew I hadn't done much to evoke God's wrath on me
Could it be that failing grade I got in chemistry
I tried to be a good friend, negotiate with the enemy
It made no sense why the greatest power of all
Would want to damn me

Then I took some classes in human history
And noted that religious wars were cataloged prominently
My God's better than your God that's what everybody said
We're never giving up what we believe
until the rest of you are dead

This really made me think about religious power
And what will happen to us all in our final hour
No one's come back to tell me after their dead and gone
But damning a kid to hell ain't right, it's just plain wrong

Written by Michael Frazier © June 27, 2008