Neil Peart is also the writer of the vast majority of Rush's lyrics. He is an very intelligent and philosophical writer who has been through some tough times (his wife dying of cancer and his only child dying in a car accident within a year of each other).
Rush has just come out with a new album, "Snakes and Arrows". Throughout the album Peart expresses his struggles with religion specifically around the issue of faith. In an interview Peart had this to say: "... [faith] ought to be your armor, something to protect you and something to console you in dark times. But it's more often being turned into a sword, and that's one big theme I'm messing with."
This can be seen in his lyrics to the song "Armor and Sword":
Sometimes the damage is too great
Or the will is too weak
What should have been our armor
Becomes a sharp and burning sword.
This is an obvious reference to the "Armor of God" in Ephesians 6:13-17. He may have a point here. In Ephesians, faith is our "shield"; part of our armor which is defensive not offensive. The only offensive part of the Ephesians 6 passage is the "sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God" (vs. 17b). So, our offense does not depend on anything coming from us... our faith, our opinion, our convictions. Instead, our offense is dependent on God through His word.
Have we as Christians done damage by using our personal faith as a weapon instead of letting God's word (through His Spirit) be the weapon?
How can we live out our faith in the public arena without having it become a "sharp and burning sword"? (Peart's reference to the crusades... probably)
Is our faith becoming a "sword" really a bad thing?
