Nope

This one took the longest to write. I revisited the lyrics many times, trying to figure out what I wanted to say. Like a few other songs, it started as just a silly understatement: How does God feel when his children consider turning away? What would God say?

“Nope. Here’s a better idea…”
Not angry, not indifferent, not forcing anything. Just lovingly inviting the prodigal son home.

The song is an internal monologue, with God interjecting after every verse. But I struggled to fill the verses: Why might the speaker want to wander? Here’s where I landed:

From a certain angle, Christianity can just feel like rules — a bunch of restrictions holding you back from a fun, free life. And what do you even gain by it? The Psalms describe this feeling that “the wicked and foolish always prosper, while a chump like me is stuck with God.” If the tree looks good for food and pleasing to the eye, why shouldn’t I take a bite?

But what if the greatest freedom actually comes from giving up certain freedoms, allowing my free will to be steered by God (who actually knows & wants what’s best for me)? Note: this isn’t the same thing as some religious authority trying to control you or put you in a box — that’s a different issue.

As a card-carrying human, I’m always drawn to the most immediately gratifying choices: whatever’s most convenient, self-serving, instantly satisfying my anger or greed… But sometimes (not always), the fullest life happens when I forgo my shallower instincts and instead seek what God has for me. I need a partner in this messy journey, and God is more than happy to fill that role.

This silly song got deep real fast.

Besides all that, the song also has giant theatrical mood swings, rich instrumentation, a *tight* rhyme scheme, and tons of recurring musical sequences (speed it up and it sounds like Bach!).

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