There’s no one like you

I have another Christian rock song to write about, this time because it’s one I hear on the radio extremely often. The Christians apparently love this song. It’s Chris Tomlin’s “Our God,” and I’m not sure whether it’s really accurate to call it “rock” because it’s so much in the mold of repetitive praise and worship gospel songs.

If you’re not up to watching the video, I’ll quote the chorus for you here. As I said, the song is terrifically repetitive, so this covers most of the lyrics:

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…

Interesting that even in the construction “our god,” in which a certain god is being specified, they feel compelled to capitalize the word. Do they not realize that god is also a generic noun, synonymous with deity?

With a line like, “God, you are higher than any other,” I really just have to wonder what Chris Tomlin was thinking. Higher than any … other god? Then there’s this “Our god is greater, our god is stronger” part. Greater, stronger … than what? Is he trying to say that the Christian god is the supreme ruler over all the other gods? Should we worship the Christian god because he’s the modern-day equivalent of Zeus?

Maybe the implication is that we should follow whatever religion makes the most grandiose promises. That seems misguided for pretty obvious reasons. I think we should base our beliefs on what’s most likely to be true, not on what’s most comforting, inspirational, or exciting. Another interpretation is that Tomlin’s just saying that God is more powerful, stronger, etc. than any other being in existence, i.e., humans, other animals, plants, any extraterrestrial life forms out there, and so on. In that case, I suppose my only objection is that while that relationship between concepts is true by definition, it’s still a completely unwarranted statement about reality.

At any rate, this song really sounds like an childish playground taunt. “My [heavenly] dad can beat up your [heavenly] dad.” That message is driven home by the ominously titled “And If Our God Is For Us…” tour earlier this year. It’s a nod to this song’s line, “And if our god is for us, then who could ever stop us?” Because, as any thinking person knows, no Christian-led country has ever lost a war. (What happens in wars fought between two or more Christian countries? Don’t ask, move along now…) Nor do these countries ever do anything morally reprehensible in any of their endeavors.

Of course, I’ve gotta say … I did enjoy one small section of this song, which seems to me to be inadvertently accurate (if a bit overcapitalized):

There’s no one like You,
None like You.