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What's "That's Unbelief" About?
Fri., Jun. 28. 2019 9:11pm EDT
We received an email this week with a question about one of the songs on our previous single, and we figure that if one person had that question, others might have had it, too:Huge ApologetiX fan here. I have a question about one of the singles, I hope you don't mind answering. I was listening to the Bad Company parody, "That's Unbelief". I didn't really understand what it was about. If someone could help me understand it, I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance!
Doug Harvey
Coalinga CA Sorry for any confusion. That song is from the perspective of Judas Iscariot. We like to cover different aspects of important Bible stories -- and there's none more important than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ -- and that was another angle we hadn't written about before.
In the song "One of These Guys" on our Easter Standard Time CD (2015), we wrote and sang about Jesus predicting His betrayal at the Last Supper, but that was as close as we'd gotten to one about Judas.
Those familiar with the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar know that Judas probably has the second-biggest role in that production, aside from Jesus Himself. Unfortunately, a lot of people base their opinions about Judas on that musical rather than the Bible, and they seem to think that Judas was almost trying to help Jesus by turning Him in, because he simply thought Christ's ministry had gotten a little out of hand.
But the Apostle John, who obviously knew Judas better than any of us, relates a story earlier in his Gospel that tells us a little bit more about Judas' personality and morality:John 12:3-6
Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. Earlier in his Gospel, John also says this:John 6:64
For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn't believe, and he knew who would betray him" (John 6:64). Judas wasn't pressured into betraying Jesus, either; he went willingly, as another Apostle relates in his Gospel:Matthew 26:14-16
Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. With all that having been said, Judas is still a tragic figure, and he obviously felt conflicted after he saw what happened to Jesus:Matthew 27:3-5
When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."
"What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility."
So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. We tried our best within the confines of the song to show the conflict within Judas. We thought the original song, "Bad Company," set a perfect musical mood for the topic, and the original lyrics were about a person who had turned away from doing right and "threw away the sun" and was living (and dying) with the consequences.
We had actually considered adding the words "(Judas' Song)" to the title, but we didn't want it to be a spoiler. We preferred to let the listener figure it out for themselves as the song unfolded. However, because of the dark nature of the song, we don't want anybody to be confused, so we're clarifying it here.
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