4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Lyrics
[Intro - Acoustic strum, voice entering wry and conversational]
You want to know how it's done?
Pull up a chair.
I'll tell you.
[Verse 1]
How to read the Bible like it's any other book on the shelf
How to listen to a sermon without ever asking it yourself
How to wait for an institution to bless the page in front of your face
How to ask a fourth-century council if the Author meant the case
How to flatten sixty-six books to a single muffled tone
How to leave the page wide open while you sit there alone
[Pre-Chorus - Hammond organ swells in]
And the fire is still burning while you sit there
And the page is still speaking while you look away
The Author has been signing every chapter
While you've been waiting for somebody else to say it's okay
[Chorus - Big drums, electric guitars layer in]
I'll teach you all this in six easy steps
A whole career you'll never have to risk
Just sit, just nod, just wait
For the council to set the date
Six easy steps
Six easy steps
[Verse 2]
How to act like Hippo gave the Word permission to survive
How to fold up Carthage like a stamp the Author had to ratify
How to ditch James as inconvenient or treat him like a sword
How to drag the Song of Solomon to whatever costume you can afford
How to sit on Esther's silence and call her hard to read
How to take Ecclesiastes and feel nothing while he bleeds
[Pre-Chorus]
And the fire is still burning underneath the program
And the prophet's still pointing two thousand years deep
The Mind that wrote the rescue across the centuries
Is still writing while you sleep
[Chorus]
I'll teach you all this in six easy steps
A whole career you'll never have to risk
Just sit, just nod, just wait
For the council to set the date
Six easy steps
Six easy steps
[Verse 3 - The turn, vocal closer, electric pulled back]
And listen, I have done it
I have done every single one
I have nodded through the sermon
I have waited for the bishop's pen
I have flattened all the books
I have buried Esther in her silence
I have kept the firmware locked
And kept my eyes wide open
[Bridge - Sparse, build, drums dropping then climbing]
But there was a Tuesday in October
When I sat down with chapter eight
And the words came in and laid me low
And I could not keep the gate
The fire was already burning
The Author had been speaking the whole time
No council ever gave it weight
The Author signed His name
[Final Chorus - Rock-radio big, double-tracked vocals]
It took me six easy steps to undo
The lifetime I had built to never feel
The Word reads me before I read the Word
*The entrance of His words gives light*
The simple are made wise
The Bible proves itself in the reading
Six easy steps the other way
Six easy steps to undo
Six easy steps
[Outro - Wider, vocal stacks, fading drums]
Six easy steps the other way
Six easy steps the other way
The fire is real
The Author signed His name
Six easy steps
The other way
Commentary