In Deep

Backdated, archival post

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Recently, I wrote about the Biblical references in a couple songs on Argent's In Deep.  I have more to say on those.

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I happened to read part of Matthew 6 again recently, and now I'm more convinced that it informed Ballard's "It's Only Money, Pt.1" and "It's Only Money, Pt. 2."  Previously, I'd noticed only the similarity between these sections:

It's not what's at the door
But the money you have in your soul

Keep it in your head
You won't take it with you when you're dead
Bear it in your mind
What good's a fortune left behind

Think of what you save
If you keep your money in a cave
But keep it in your mind
What good's a fortune left behind

and Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

That's as far as I read though.  Later, there's a part about money specifically:  "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24).

There's a similarity of views between Matthew 6:19-21 and the verses of the two parts of "It's Only Money," but now that I found money specifically mentioned a few verses later, I'm more convinced that Ballard was thinking of this chapter when he wrote these two songs.

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Coincidentally, two of the readings in church this week dealt with "Love your neighbor."  It's in "God Gave Rock and Roll to You," but I only recently realized that it's also Biblical.  In my original post about this, I cited Matthew 22:34-40, but the readings this week provided two more instances:

The Old Testament reading was Leviticus 19:9-18.  After many specific ways to love your neighbor as yourself, the phrase itself appears: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18).

The Gospel reading was Luke 10:25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  A lawyer asks Jesus about the Law.  In turn, Jesus asks the lawyer how he would read it, and - in his response - the lawyer says, "You shall love... your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27).  Jesus then tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate how we can love our neighbor.