Are there Christians who are fans of Dream Theater?

[Soldier777]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

[rumborak]

There's a lot of Christians on this board. Regarding the incarnation aspect of SFAM, it's a story, and I believe that's how they treat it.

rumborak

[ehra]

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what evangelical and born again means  


But, no, I don't feel any conflict listening to those songs. They're just stories. Even if they weren't stories and the songs were trying to say that, say, reincarnation was an actual thing, then I still wouldn't feel any "conflict" because, hey, that's their view. It's a good album regardless.

[rumborak]

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what evangelical and born again means  

evangelical => preaching to others, trying to proselytize
born again => Having experienced a "rebirth" during their life. Usually uber-uber-Christians, a la Neal Morse

rumborak

[ehra]

Thanks!

[ack44]

evangelical => preaching to others, trying to proselytize

I know that's what the word means, but my experience with people who call themselves evangelicals is not this. What comes to mind is conservative Christians who are against liberalized Christianity, focusing on the rapture/end times and teaching that the Jews are still the chosen people.

[hefdaddy42]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

How would it conflict with anyone's beliefs?  They are all fictional stories.  No one in the band believes in any of that crap.

[j]

^That.  And even if they DID believe it, does liking the music someone makes mean that you have to agree with them about everything in the universe too?

-J

[Perpetual Change]

Aren't at least both John's practicing Christians?

[GuineaPig]

Yes.  And it's fairly obvious; a large portion of Petrucci's lyrics are based at least partially from his religious views.

[Phantasmatron]

I was a Christian when I got into Dream Theater.  My Christian roommate introduced me to them and my Christian best friend and I explored their music together.

Scenes From a Memory was the album that blew me away.  Because it's an obviously fictional kickass story told with kickass music, and that was what mattered.

[Perpetual Change]

I remember James in older interviews saying he was a Christian. I remember during the Frameshift project he mentioned that he didn't believe in Evolution or something like that so he had to do a lot of reading to get into the project. I think he's changed now, though, and identifies as a Deist.

[yeshaberto]

never thought about it, actually.  if a band is overt about it, it tends to bother me, though.  simply from the perspective of wanting to fill my mind with things that will strengthen me

[Super Dude]

I think Jamesman is born again as well (James feel free to correct me if I'm dead wrong, I don't know anything about this sorta stuff).

[William Wallace]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

Yes; and I don't feel conflicted at all. More broadly, good music is good music. "Eat the meat, spit out the bones" is how my old pastor put it, and that seems rather reasonable to me.

[yeshaberto]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

Yes; and I don't feel conflicted at all. More broadly, good music is good music. "Eat the meat, spit out the bones" is how my old pastor put it, and that seems rather reasonable to me.

good advice

[Perpetual Change]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

Yes; and I don't feel conflicted at all. More broadly, good music is good music. "Eat the meat, spit out the bones" is how my old pastor put it, and that seems rather reasonable to me.

I think this is the first time I've ever seen you talk about DT on this site 

[Ħ]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

Yes; and I don't feel conflicted at all. More broadly, good music is good music. "Eat the meat, spit out the bones" is how my old pastor put it, and that seems rather reasonable to me.

I think this is the first time I've ever seen you talk about DT on this site 

Now all we have to do is get AndyDT to say something related to DT and we'll have made history.

[Perpetual Change]

Actually, I clearly remember Andy doing so in some capacity. It's only at PR where I see people that I don't really recall seeing anywhere else.

[TheVoxyn]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

How would it conflict with anyone's beliefs?  They are all fictional stories.  No one in the band believes in any of that crap.

Nice, calling reincarnation crap. I personally don't believe in it but if I said believing in jesus is crap I would get tons of flak and be warned.

[hefdaddy42]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

How would it conflict with anyone's beliefs?  They are all fictional stories.  No one in the band believes in any of that crap.

Nice, calling reincarnation crap. I personally don't believe in it but if I said believing in jesus is crap I would get tons of flak and be warned.

Crap=stuff.  Nothing negative about it, I was just grouping a lot of stuff together.  But if anyone here believes in reincarnation or vampires and is offended, I certainly apologize.

[Perpetual Change]

Thanks for that apology, hef.

Now give yourself up to me.

[7thHanyou]

I'm a Christian and I have no problem with Dream Theater.

I will say that because I am sensitive to certain content, I usually do pay attention to lyrics.  As such, I tend to avoid hair metal in part because I'm not really interested in songs that are just about sex.  I avoid death metal because I don't like music about harming innocent people.  And so on.

Part of the reason I was drawn to most metal in the first place was because, even if there was criticism of Christianity, it was handled a bit more intelligently than popular music.  When bands like Disturbed have songs with ridiculous lyrics like "Liberate your mind, you motherfucker" repeated 50 times over, Dream Theater is not only inoffensive, but refreshingly smart.  I would feel comfortable talking about them in any Christian setting.  Surprisingly, that also goes for a number of metal bands called "Satanic"--Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, etc. all have surprisingly clean lyrics for the most part.

So no conflict here.  Scenes from a Memory is a story, and a good one at that.  Christian writers like Tolkein and Lewis were not in the least bit afraid to invoke pagan imagery in their stories, so I don't see why a bunch of musicians should be afraid to use a fairly common trope in their little rock opera.

Plus, if I had a problem with reincarnation, I wouldn't watch anime or play Japanese video games.  They seem to use it a hell of a lot.  I might be able to live without Dream Theater, but my life would lose some degree of meaning without Zelda games.

[Super Dude]

Actually, I clearly remember Andy doing so in some capacity. It's only at PR where I see people that I don't really recall seeing anywhere else.

Wow, this I gotta see.  What thread was this in?

[William Wallace]

Are there evangelical/born again Christians who are fans of Dream Theater? How do you feel about albums like Metropolis Scenes Form a Memory in which one of the themes are reincarnation? Or where Forsaken has a character that is a vampire? Or where Rite of Passage is about secret club/societies like the free masons? Do any of you feel this conflicts with your beliefs?

I think that Dream Theater is a great band and I wonder about these things my self.

Yes; and I don't feel conflicted at all. More broadly, good music is good music. "Eat the meat, spit out the bones" is how my old pastor put it, and that seems rather reasonable to me.

I think this is the first time I've ever seen you talk about DT on this site 

I'm just full of surprises.

[Perpetual Change]

Actually, I clearly remember Andy doing so in some capacity. It's only at PR where I see people that I don't really recall seeing anywhere else.

Wow, this I gotta see.  What thread was this in?

I think he mentioned them in his thread on Thinking Man's metal. I'm not sure...

[ResultsMayVary]

There's a lot of Christians on this board. Regarding the incarnation aspect of SFAM, it's a story, and I believe that's how they treat it.

rumborak

This. And I'm a Christian.

[emindead]

SFAM actually got me into Bryan Weiss and I read his famous book and then I came into my senses. The story at least got me interested into why people believe they are the way they are.

[Ħ]

Actually, I clearly remember Andy doing so in some capacity. It's only at PR where I see people that I don't really recall seeing anywhere else.

Wow, this I gotta see.  What thread was this in?

I think he mentioned them in his thread on Thinking Man's metal. I'm not sure...

Link?

[pogoowner]

There's a lot of Christians on this board. Regarding the incarnation aspect of SFAM, it's a story, and I believe that's how they treat it.

rumborak

This. And I'm a Christian.

Same here.

[Philawallafox]

I'm a Christian and I love Dream Theater. I got introduced to them by a friend with who i did a gap-year course at bible college.

As for the music they're story's, I mean The Spirit Carries on is ambiguous enough that I'd be tempted to have it played at my funeral.


I don't like ToT so much because of the swearing but then it has ITNOG which I LOVE (I don't know for sure what it's about but I'm assuming it's about cults and Christians who *abuse* the name of God and the respect they gain for being in leadership)

As a Christian I'm drawn to their songwriting and technial prowess as a prime example of God's beauty in creation. it makes me enjoy it more. especially their instrumentals. DT make amazing instrumentals.

[sneakyblueberry]

@the OP

I've had similar thoughts about this topic (although about metal in general) and made this thread to address it: https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=13560.0

I think there's some really good discussion before the end, where (like all P/R threads with a Christian element) it derails badly

[gmillerdrake]

There's a lot of Christians on this board. Regarding the incarnation aspect of SFAM, it's a story, and I believe that's how they treat it.

rumborak

This. And I'm a Christian.

Same here.

Add me to this opinion as well. No different from when I watch 'FRINGE' or any other show or movie.

[Jamesman42]

I think Jamesman is born again as well (James feel free to correct me if I'm dead wrong, I don't know anything about this sorta stuff).

Yes, born again is the same thing as being a Christian and baptized, as far as I know it to be.

[Jamesman42]

Oh, and I *used* to have a problem with SFAM in that regard. Now it's just that it bores me is why I don't listen to it.