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My Playlist on August 2nd, 2007

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Who Knew? on August 13th, 2003

Guess What I'M Doing in August? on May 22nd, 2008

12 Responses to “Is Neil Diamond a Christian?”

1. jen
   May 3rd, 2008 @ 7:59 am

   He mentioned God in his interview with Ryan, too. I didn’t take his song to be about God/Jesus, though. It sounded like he was singing to a woman to me.

2. Warren Jeffrey Motter
   May 3rd, 2008 @ 8:37 am

   I, too, first thought the song was about his love for a woman. But, when I went back and replayed the song, later (paying more attention to the lyrics), I became nearly convinced that when he sang that he was standing at “the door of your chapel” (the actual meaning may be that the song was directed to The Christ). His YouTube performance of ‘Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show’ on the Johnny Cash Show, from the early 1970s, was also revealing. No matter what, his song writing has always been truly amazing, in and of itself.

3. Uncle Bill
   May 4th, 2008 @ 7:12 am

   It will be on the Home Before Dark Album which will be released the day after tomorrow.

4. Luis
   May 7th, 2008 @ 7:58 pm

   If you have a relationship with JesusChrist there are certain words in this songs that are signs of an encounter with Christ…like: I was an empty …You filled me up …You saved me …You forgave …You overcame …and many more…
   Think about that…
   I wish to see him in heaven…

5. TonyT
   May 14th, 2008 @ 9:03 pm

   Oh he had an encounter with Christ alright! A SECOND encounter according to what I’ve heard. Check out this link for some startling revelations concerning Neil Diamond and John the Baptist: http://www.stereotruth.net/?p=615

6. Jaynee
   May 14th, 2008 @ 9:24 pm

   I saw your comment on that thread, TonyT and have to say I ardently disagree and absolutely don’t believe that Neil is John the Baptist reincarnate. And I hope you don’t really think that either.

7. Ed
   May 15th, 2008 @ 1:57 am

   Seems like you gave TonyT’s theory a lot of vacuous thought Jaynee…lol

8. Ed
   May 15th, 2008 @ 2:14 am

   The words to MISSA written by Diamond and on his 1970 album
   Note: 1970

   Kristo, Kristo, Kristo

   Nitakutana nayeye
   Nitakutana nayeye
   Atakutana nami
   Atakutana nami

   Kristo, Kristo, Kristo

   Sina budi kwenda sasa sasa
   Sina budi kwenda sasa sasa

   Lazima nisichelewe
   Mtoto amezaliwa
   Mtoto amezaliwa
   Mtoto amezaliwa

   Kristo, Kristo, Kristo
   Gloria

   [English Translation:]

   Christ, Christ, Christ

   I shall meet him
   I shall meet him
   He will meet me
   He will meet me

   Christ, Christ, Christ

   I must go now,
   Now I must go now
   I must not be late
   A child has been born
   The child has been born

   Christ, Christ, Christ
   Gloria

   I am an expert on his music and he not only has many Baptist-like compositions but many on the soon-to-be New World. I would not be too quick to judge.

9. Jaynee
   May 15th, 2008 @ 8:44 am

   Ed, there’s no need to give TonyT’s theory ANY thought. I absolutely do NOT believe (nor do I think Neil believes) that he is the reincarnation of John the Baptist. And not just because I don’t believe in reincarnation, but because I think that’s ridiculous. If *I* were to write a song or a poem from the perspective of John the Baptist – or even an album of songs from the perspective of John the Baptist – that doesn’t make me John the Baptist. And nor does it make Neil Diamond John the Baptist.

10. Ed
    May 17th, 2008 @ 4:24 am

    I agree with your last two sentences (except for the use of the two conjunctions), although interestingly, the same sort of argument could have been posited against the first Baptist as well. Ah, but Jesus validated John did he not, but then, who is to say such validation could not happen again? I for one would not be so brazen as to think it could not.

    Two recurring motifs in Neil’s work are “being lost” and “seeking home,” and now we have a new album entitled “Home Before Dark.” Makes me think time will tell soon enough about this outlandish theory.

    I’m afraid I’m much too busy to continue a discussion that I assume will be met with great skepticism anyway, and I cannot say I blame you, esp. since you yourself don’t particularly care for Neil’s music anyway. God bless.

11. Ed
    May 17th, 2008 @ 4:30 am

    Sorry, couldn’t resist the “you yourself.”

12. DeadHeadEd
    May 17th, 2008 @ 5:45 am

    Was about to call it a night Jaynee until I read a news article about Einstein and his characterization of the Bible as “pretty childish” and the idea of God as a product of human weakness. Though I sympathize with Einstein’s position, I believe another type of genius will prove Einstein wrong, whereby (a) God’s existence will be undeniably affirmed, and (b), ethical relativism will be supplanted by a biblical ethos. What biblical ethos? The same one espoused in “Brother Love’s Travelin’ Salvation Show.” That song comes to mind when hearing these lyrics from Neil’s new album:
    “Stumbled inside the doorway of your chapel, humbled and awed by everything I found, beauty and love surround me, freed me from what I feared, ask for amazing grace and you appear.” Not YOU in some born-again Christian sense but YOU in the sense of the flesh-and-blood Christ alive today. (Do me a favor: remember you heard it here first…wink.)
    I hope to meet you someday in the New World, Jaynee, or as Neil calls it :”America.” Oh, and there’s another type of genius Christ is: a puzzle genius. But I guess that isn’t too surprising given what the Baptist sings in On the Way to the Sky: “we are two and two of us are one.” Another point of interest is that Neil ends a lot of his concerts with the song “I’ve Been This Way Before.” In fact, he even included the song in a Jonathan Seagull medley. Not familiar with the book or Neil soundtrack? Some have likened it to Christian allegory. In that book the main character Jonathan comes back to earth, and when he does, there’s another main character involved named “Fletcher.” Finally, in respect to “I’ve Been This Way Before,” there’s a telling line that states: “I’ve been this way before and I’m sure to be this way again, once more time again, just one more time.” Ah yes, “One More Bite of the Apple” indeed. His asserting that he’s sure to be this way one more time has already happened because the Christ–the literal in-the-flesh Christ–has already come. When two geniuses come together, there’s nothin’ that can compare to the “The Power of Two.”