#obsessed that you know me well enough to send a bob dylan ask

[tedhead]

This maybe would sound weird but i'm curious about it: do you feel "Blonde On Blonde" is a very queer coded album? Or i'm just being delusional?

UMMN. naur i don’t think you’re delusional nd you’re definitely not alone there’s a lot of frustrated sexual desire/rejection/longing on that album and he doesn’t always make a point to gender that desire

OH also ‘66 was the year he said this:

“Sex and love have nothing to do with female and male. It is just whatever two souls happen to be. It could be male or female, and it might not be male or female. It might be female and female or it might be male and male. You can try to pretend that it doesn’t happen, and you can make fun of it and be snide, but that’s not really the rightful thing. I know, I know.”

so he could’ve been making a conscious choice not to limit the scope of his art (or audience).

the dylanisms off that album have resounded for a lot of gay people too “to live outside the law you must be honest” gets me everytime 🫠

[john-bondhus]

Masters Of War

The world is a bit of a jumbled mess, there is certainly no doubt about this. The threat of terrorism is very real and the people who are working to commit these atrocities are certainly motivated. As a result, we have seen a huge emphasis on increased military protection, bigger and stronger defense systems, and an increased focus on “strength” and “power”. 

The main driving force for all of these efforts is simply fear, fear of others, fear of the unknown, or fear for our own safety. I would argue that fear is not always a bad thing, but it seems to have taken hold of our society, preventing us from focusing on more pressing issues. 

So we will ask ourselves what the solution may be? Some solutions that have been presented are building a huge barrier between us and others (think a border wall), or more spending on the military, or simply the extermination of our enemies from the planet. Though these solutions may be enticing to some, it is difficult as a pastor to hear so many of my faith passionately speak about how we can isolate ourselves from others or simply find ways to remove them from this world. 

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to simply listen in to some music while on my way to a meeting. I decided that it was a Bob Dylan kind of day and I opened my Spotify app and began playing Dylan’s album entitled The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. On this album, Dylan plays a song called Masters of War. The song is a scathing critique of the US Military and the military industrial complex during the height of the Vietnam War, prior to the entrance of the US in the conflict. 

(As a disclaimer, this song is extremely harsh in many ways, but it also speaks a great truth that we must be able to wrestle with as well. Stick with me and you will see what I mean.)

There is so much that you could dissect throughout this song, and there is simply not going to be enough space in this post to even begin to analyze it all so I will try to be brief. 

The song begins by calling out and getting the attention of those “Masters of War”. Dylan challenges the authorities of this military complex by saying that you can build all your machines of war, but I can still see through your mask. I believe that this is important because in so many ways we have been sold a lie. The lie is that this world is so far gone that the only way to survive is to have the biggest and best military and as a result, we all must put on our masks of over zealous patriotism and live blindly within the lie. 

Now before I continue I do want to make note that there is nothing wrong with supporting the military. This world is a dangerous place and the military is an unfortunate necessity, but I do believe we have reached a point where it has gotten out of control, this coming from an individual that has had many family members in the military and one still currently serving with distinction. Take for instance this picture. 

This graphic shows how much money we spend in military expenses compared to the next closest eight countries. There have even been talks about increasing this spending to over 640 billion dollars in next years budget. That is an outrageous amount when we consider how many people go hungry within our borders every year. It is absolutely not necessary, but this is the basis for the lie we have been sold. 

Coming back to Dylans song he continues with one of the most powerful lines in any song ever. 

“You that never done nothin' But build to destroy You play with my world Like it's your little toy You put a gun in my hand And you hide from my eyes And you turn and run farther When the fast bullets fly.”

The powerful in our society have built this lie and reaped the rewards of our continued wasteful spending. They have seen their pockets lined, while our young go off and die. 

Masters of War continues to show the destructive nature of this lie that we have been sold. A lie that many Christians seem to care more about than some of the more pressing issues today. And a lie they seem more willing to defend than the creation that we have been tasked with being stewards of. 

Dylan, in all his bluntness, throws out this next passage that I think should ruffle feathers, but also help us as believers to strongly consider where we place our energy and time. 

“How much do I know To talk out of turn You might say that I'm young You might say I'm unlearned But there's one thing I know Though I'm younger than you That even Jesus would never Forgive what you do.”

Now as a Pastor I would say that this is far harsher than is necessary, but let's consider how Jesus responded to those who were not so willing to choose love first. 

John 13:34-35 (NIV)34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This passage helps us to clarify the command of Jesus that we should be loving all persons. When this passage speaks about having love towards one another, the Greek term for one another is Allelon. This term is used over 100 times throughout the New Testament and the other uses of the word help shed light on its meaning in this text. In Romans 12 the writer uses this term to show how we should live in harmony with each other, while in Philippians 2 we are told to look towards the interests of each other. All throughout the New Testament, we see Jesus command of loving one another, expressing how we need to live in peace and care for everyone. Yet there are still some that claim Christ who would say that this doesn’t need to be the case if the other party is really really bad guys. I can’t answer this question fully for you, but what I can say is that I question this line of reasoning. 

As another example of Jesus in regards to violence and aggression I look no further than to his interaction with his disciples and the Roman guards in the garden. Jesus is about to be arrested and Peter cuts the ear off of a guard, to which Jesus responds with this. 

Matthew 26:52-54 (ESV) “Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

Now Jesus could have simply gone with the guards and headed off to his inevitable death on the cross, but he specifically takes the time to address Peter’s violent outburst and ends up healing the soldier. There are certainly going to be many different interpretations of this passage, but from my perspective, it shows the intention of Christ to send his disciples away from this horrible week to come with a new found sense of seeking peace for all in this world. This makes sense when we consider that the early church deplored violence and war so much so that they would refuse to join any army and physically fight for any cause. 

There is so much more that I could dive into within this song and this subject altogether, but I feel like I have gone on long enough. The ultimate question that we must be asking ourselves, as believers in Jesus, is whether or not our societal obsession with the military industrial complex that is even more prevalent today than when Bob Dylan wrote this power song, is what Jesus would have for our lives? As believers, should we be fighting for peace to be achieved through more violence, or through the grace which we believe is present in this world? At what point does our military prowess become a greater focus than the mission and ministry of Christ that we claim as our own? And ultimately, what do we think Jesus would say to us today if he were standing with us and our enemies?