Switchfoot - Where the Light Shines Through (7.8.16) Album • Page 6

Been debating since the email. Usually I don’t care much for different variants, but the marble looks dope. I really like this album, too. I’ll probably snag it tomorrow, either marble or black.

 

Do it. It's a great color. Will likely sell out too.

 

Just purchased! $37.50 hurts a bit, but it is a beautiful double LP and I've been wanting Vice Verses for a couple years now... So I had to lol.

 

Too expensive. Exchange rate and shipping to Canada is way too brutal

 

Finances solid right now, I love this record, variant looks cool, fuck it, you convinced me.

 

Switchfoot posted something in support of the recent gun marches, and goddamn it. I forgot how much of their fan base are evangelicals. Some really gross comments, some really disconnected from reality comments, some people even swearing off the band. Life shit man, I’m an atheist (one could say anti-theist), and I guarantee I’m more hardline on that than any gun advocate is on the second amendment. Yet I enjoy the shit out of this Christian band. I don’t know. Sorry for the small rant. Just needed to vent this energy somewhere other than the comment section there. Hahaha

 

It's hard to even know where to start with this kind of thing.

 

Evangelical here (technically speaking) and I cannot begin to understand why folks translate gun reform into the government taking all guns. It is beyond me. Also, if a teen is too immature to speak up on these issues, why on earth are they nearly mature enough to own an AR-15??

Sorry, I could rant about this all day.

 

Also, if I hear one more person make a blanket statement that the kids marching are “from the same generation of kids who are eating Tide pods” I am going to scream. As if the Tide pod craze even began to represent the entire generation. So stupid.

 

Nothing Is Sound is nice.

 

There's sadly A LOT for us to rant about on this kind of issue!

I never really got into that album.

To be fair, I prefer Jon Foreman's solo work to Switchfoot.

 

If you line up the teachings of Jesus next to the general ideals of conversative politics, it is astounding that most evangelical Christians have align themselves that way.

Very contradicting ideals and beliefs.

 

Yeah, it really is shocking. We will believe what we want to justify our prejudices (I include myself in this).

 

I don't know if I'd say you're evangelical, I think the term at this point is more indicative of political leaning than religious. At least based on my perception, it means a strongly right wing person with some form of Christian beliefs. I try to differentiate evangelicalism from Christianity because I feel they're very different. But yeah, I tried explaining to a few people on their instagram that we aren't trying to take guns away, we aren't looking to abolish the second amendment; we're just looking to polish up the process for getting guns, and get assault weapons off the market. It's really hard to talk to these people though. Especially when they always fall back on using technical talk about the weapons like it's an argument (because obviously they know more about how a gun works than a "libtard" like me. hahaha).

This is going on longer than I expected, but the thing that bothered me the most was the countless people on the pro-gun side saying "it's not guns, it's mental health" like a mantra, but when I'd say we should add mental health screenings as part of the gun purchasing process, I'd get opposition from the same people. It is a painful descriptor of the political climate right now. Both sides agree on something, yet we still can't make any progress because we've parsed ourselves to sides that we've decided can't find any common or middle ground. And it makes me sad to see how many people take the propaganda the NRA puts out as true without doing any actual research into it.

 

I also prefer Jon's solo work, but Hello Hurricane and Oh! Gravity aren't too far off from it for me. The Wonderlands is a masterpiece. And the seasons project is not far off. I don't know how he managed to do two 24 (plus seasons had two b-sides) song projects that are as good as they are. Crazy. Jon is just an incredibly prolific writer.

 

I am going to commit the heinous crime of triple posting (unless someone beats me as I write this). haha

I will say, much of the bible is very damning in this respect. And made worse when you realize that Jesus himself said multiple times that he did not come to abolish the old testament laws. Evangelicalism is in many ways, the result of a very literal take on the bible. Which just doesn't work unless you want to be an insufferable person. And is why the big questions in Christianity are no longer "Is all of this true? Is all of this moral sound?" but "How do we reconcile that some if this is factually known to be false (such as genesis, and the census talked about in the gospels)? How do reconcile that some of the morals presented are really bad?". Most of my religious friends now take a much less literal approach to the bible, and choose to view most of it as symbolic stories. But the problem with evangelicals is that they are still stuck on the first set of questions, and often, decide they have the answers to them, and they're the wrong ones.

 

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I'm a biblical literalist and I am NOT insufferable. Ya dang libtard!

(Lol. Notice I said "dang" and not "damn" because cussing is too offensive.)

But in all seriousness, I do believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible and OT history. I won't get into the arguments, but it's frustrating to me that so many of the outspoken biblical literalists are only that way because they're just spitting out what they've been fed in conservative circles which have politicized Jesus and the Bible. There are plenty of loving people and brilliant thinkers who hold to a literal approach to the Bible, we just don't hear about them because they don't have an entire channel dedicated to them (one that starts with "Fox" and ends with "News") or other various political outlets. I'd bet that most of the insufferable people you see have a very limited knowledge outside of Genesis and the more "mainstream" OT stories, though there are certainly insufferable people everywhere we go. Me included.

In all fairness, I obviously hold to some principles that are considered "conservative," but I strongly object to others and I've come to hate what it implies. Conservatism is an ideology predicated on sameness, regardless of whether that sameness is moral or beneficial, and it's one of the worst things to happen to modern Christianity. There are aspects of the Bible that will always be divisive and up for argument, but the vast majority of fundamental conservative Christians are straight up Pharisaical, which is ironically contrary to the traditions and fundamentals they claim to hold to.

Also, I don't wear the "evangelical" label because I know it's become hijacked by conservative fundamentalism and it gives people the wrong idea, but it's still meant as a religious descriptor (not a political one) and, as a follower of Jesus Christ who IS motivated by sharing the Gospel with others, it certainly applies to me. I do appreciate you not seeing me in a political evangelical light though. Haha.

I don't know what the point of all of this was other than to let you know where I'm at. Definitely wasn't throwing that out to start an argument, just to help bring some understanding. I hope we can still be friends. I know I'm still in deep with you after the Copeland paradox. Also, I'm deeply sorry for calling you a libtard, even jokingly. The day I see that word used in an intelligent argument is the day I see birds oink.

I am so with you on everything you said about gun reform. The arguments I see on the right are frustrating and borderline scary.

 

The Beautiful Letdown is absolutely beautiful and it never lets me down.

 

I'm going to follow any non-Switchfoot post with a Switchfoot related post to keep us on topic.

 

I am more likely to forgive you for this than what you did in the Copeland thread...

And no yeah, by insufferable I meant more the people who campaign against science (specifically evolution, and the age of the universe/earth) being taught in schools. People who oppose LGBTQ rights every chance they get. And one big thing I experienced a lot growing up, people campaigning against any non-religious music. A lot of the old (and new) testament is still up in the air as to whether or not the events happened. At least beyond Genesis which is just known to be a myth at this point. I may have worded things poorly in the first post. Sorry But yeah, just from what I've seen of you on the site (and maybe that you're here after all this time at all. haha) I gathered you were Christian, but not like, leaning into the evangelical politics side. Definitely don't wanna come off damning to anyone who believes in a religion. Even if people include those who ruin the sacred Copeland thread (I kid... sort of..). If someone tries to debate me, I may be merciless. But that'd be dumb right now when we're all getting along, and maybe even bonding over how shitty our gun laws are in america.

Friends 5ever, buddy. (unless you destroy the Copeland thread again.... I don't know if my heart can take that again.)

 

Your heart shall recover but I’m afraid the mind never will.

 

Oh! Gravity. is pretty good.

 

New album thread: Switchfoot -Native Tongues

 

SWITCHFOOT: THE NATIVE TONGUE TOUR w/ COLONY HOUSE, TYSON MOTSENBOCKER at McMenamins Crystal Ballroom - PORTLAND, OR on Apr 10, 2019 7:00 PM