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The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
Fri., Jan. 12. 2024 4:34pm EST
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our first single of 2024:
Bartimaeus Eyes (2024)
When ApologetiX originally released part of this parody in a medley in 2011, we didn't have any female vocalists, so I sang it myself. Now I have daughters who can handle it. We had planned for my oldest, Janna, to record the vocals over Christmas break 2023 while she was visiting and on vacation from her teaching job out of state.
Unfortunately, our schedules didn't align, so we enlisted my second daughter, Heather, who did a wonderful job. She sounded so much like her big sis that I might have thought it was Janna if I hadn't seen Heather with my own two eyes. Seeing is believing ... or so they say. But what do they know anyway? If there's one thing we learn from the story of Bartimaeus, it's that you don't have to see to believe. In fact, sometimes you don't get to see until after you believe.
Once we decided to do a full-length version of "Bartimaeus Eyes," I had to figure out where the rest of the song was going to take us. I really like these lines: "Jesus chose us, and He knows just what it takes to make us focus. God employs things we despise — just like Bartimaeus' eyes." The point I'm trying to make is that God often uses our weaknesses to draw us to Himself, because it forces us to come to Him, whether it be for healing, relief, comfort, protection, provision, forgiveness, or a combination of those things.
This is one of only two parodies from the '80s medley where I actually changed some lines from the 2011 lyrics for the expanded version.
They Blindly Speak of Science (2024)
There's a crucial difference between science and science fiction, but big-budget special effects can create the illusion that something is real if the audience is willing and eager to suspend their disbelief.
The creation vs. evolution debate reminds me of the two basic approaches to Bible-reading: exegesis (which means "to lead out of") vs. eisegesis (which means to "to lead into"). Basically, exegesis is reading the text with an open mind and trying to determine what the author intended to convey, whereas eisegesis means reading the text with preconceived notions and trying to make it confirm (and conform to) those notions, whether it actually does or not.
In other words, with exegesis you read out of the Scripture; with eisegesis, you read into the Scripture. In a similar way, scientists are supposed to take an objective (exegetical) approach to phenomena they observe, but many of them seem to take a subjective (eisegetical) approach when it comes to the origin of man and of life itself. In an ideal world, judges, juries, detectives, and reporters should be impartial ... the same thing goes for scientists.
I'm reminded of a famous cinematic courtroom exchange between Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise: "You want answers?" asks Nicholson. "I want the truth!" shouts Cruise. And then Nicholson utters the famous line, "You can't handle the truth!" Thankfully, there are still a few good men in the scientific community willing to stand up for that truth.
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