Doublespeak and Sin

The band Thrice came out with an album called Beggars recently and it is full of christian imagery and theology. My favorite song from the album is Doublespeak because it challenges me to confront sin in my life and at the same time reminds me of the despair in which unbelievers are caught.

Lyrics to Doublespeak by Thrice:

I drug my heart with doublespeak,
All my misgivings disappear.
It helps to keep my conscience clean.
The ends will justify the means.
But still I'm always careful what I hear.

I don't wanna know who really pulls the strings,
Just as long as it's not you or me.

_____________CHORUS____________________

There's a jackboot toe tap keeping time,
while the children dance and play.
Honey, if you think you've seen a crime,
you just look the other way.
________________________________________

I slowly carve my soul away.
Piece by piece I sacrifice.
To comfort and peace of mind
(I keep my toes on the party line.)
There's nothing wrong dear, don't think twice.

I don't wanna know who really pulls the strings,
Just as long as it's not you or me.

______________CHORUS X4_________________

I drug my heart with doublespeak,
All my misgivings disappear.
It helps to keep my conscience clean.
The ends will justify the means.
But still I'm always careful what I hear.

When I listen to these lyrics it seems to give a startling description of what it means to be a coward or a fool. You can interject the lyrics into myriad contexts and settings, but the essence of what is being described here is cowardice and foolishness.

I would like to clarify one thing before I go on. Doublespeak is a word that is likely derived from George Orwell's novel 1984 and is similar to the word doublethink, which is to hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time while accepting both to be true.

Considering this fact, the lyrics seem to be illustrating someone who is intentionally ignoring reality in order to maintain some sense of inner-peace (although it is a false sense). Someone who is not only apathetic, but hypocritical at the same time - a person who cares only about avoiding negative feelings like shame, guilt, anxiety, etc. Someone who is simply not able to face and confront the reality of God's holiness or sin's power to enslave and destroy.

The entire song is amazing lyrically, but the most disheartening and powerful part of the song is the excerpt below:

I drug my heart with doublespeak,
All my misgivings disappear.
It helps to keep my conscience clean.
The ends will justify the means.
But still I'm always careful what I hear.

I believe this lyric can apply to both Christians and non-Christians alike. We (Christians) utilize this doublespeak when the power of sin inside each of us overpowers our devotion to God and we disobey God's laws. Sometimes we find it easier to continue on in sin than to repent and humble ourselves before God. The Holy Spirit convicts our hearts of our sin, but we insist on drugging our hearts with self-justification ("No one can be perfect, it's just a white lie"), self-deception ("I'll stop doing this tomorrow - this is the last time"), or even self-righteousness ("I'm not really sinning"). Non-Christians do the same things when they encounter God's truth by interacting with believers, scripture or even directly with God through prayer or some other supernatural experience. Although, during these encounters, they are momentarily aware of their shame and guilt that arise from their sin, they build up these walls of justification, deception and false-righteousness around themselves to alleviate the negative feelings. I believe people also use this doublespeak to blind ourselves from many other injustices like poverty and natural disasters. While we know these injustices exist, Christians find ways to ignore the people who suffer as a result, and non-Christians ignore the reason behind the injustice (sin's effect on all of creation). We are quite clever when something threatens our happiness.

The last line of this excerpt is what I want to close with. This line is what will make or break you, whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian. In this song the character/writer is making a point to be careful of what he lets himself hear because, if he isn't careful, he might hear something he doesn't like - something that upsets his happiness. So, here are a few challenges in response to this:

Be brave enough to listen to God. Be honest enough to discover what you are protecting (Is it your own happiness or false sense of peace?). Be humble enough to admit you are wrong. Be bold enough to change.