“Younger Than Our Years” by The Fold, Tuesday, July 20, 2021

 

I talked about The Fold in March, the band that went from a mid-tier Tooth & Nail band to a working band that makes music for Lego: Ninjago. Today's song comes from their last Tooth & Nail release, Secrets Keep You Sick. This album was released in 2007, and despite a Dove and Grammy and Dove nomination for the album packaging, The Fold didn't become a big name in Christian Rock. One or two singles were minor hits on Christian rock radio, but after this album, the band went independent. They were one of the hundreds of band in Tooth & Nail's revolving door of forgotten bands. "Younger Than Our Years" is the second track on Secrets. It's got a nice melody, but it's lyrically problematic and confusing. What's this song about? Who's the good guy? Who's the bad guy? Who's right? Who's wrong? While the song may not withstand criticism, there is a youthful arrogance that I want to push back against. It's the sound of a kid or young adult who thinks he has the world figured out and that the biggest problem is that the older generation is underestimating his maturity. The arrogance reminds me of a grown up who has the mentality of a teenager, like Mark in the following story.

I'VE NEVER BEEN THE KIND OF KID WHO LIKES WHAT YOU'RE SELLING TO ME. Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises argues that the free market is the foundation of human civilization, and that it is more powerful than government restrictions on it. Government should thus stay out of the way of the free market, for if the economy is healthy, society is healthy. Mises's economics are often cited in modern libertarian arguments. Allan wondered how all of that fit in when his coworker Mark, who had lectured him on the dangers of socialism in the upcoming 2016 election, asked Allan to borrow 200,000 won (about $200 USD) so that Mark could visit his friends in Seoul over the summer vacation. "I'm really sorry, but I'm visiting my family this summer, so I don't have any extra money." Life at the rural school was finally starting to get to Mark. He was looking more and more tired every day, and he was starting to feel the weight of his decision to move to Gyeongbuk. "It's a school where I can mold students' minds with true Biblical values," he said to his coworkers. Introducing himself as the "like first written gospel," he crafted a worldview out of Adventism, libertarianism, and whatever was on Facebook. One day early in the semester, the other native teacher, George, asked Allan if everyone at the school believed that it was the Christian duty to travel to Turkey to excavate the Ark. 

I'M GOING UNDER WITH YOU, IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO. In a way, Mark was everything wrong with Adventism rolled up into one large man. First there was the time when Allan was trying to befriend the lonely older colleague, out of some innate Christian duty. At dinner, Mark explained to the waitress, "I'm trying to be vegan so please make this pizza without cheese." This was followed by "Let's get ice cream for dessert." There was the talk of coworkers in his past who turned against him. The stories repeated over and over again of soured relationships, both personal and professional. "They stole my ideas and got rid of me," he said. Then there were the conspiracy theories. Mark's alternate history created an alternate reality he lived in. Similar to what Allan had been taught growing up, Mark's world was a world that was created 6,000 years ago, flooded by God, divided at the Tower of Babel, and saved through the nation of Israel. But more recently, it was a world where vaccines and vapor trails controlled people. "If only more people would read Andrew Wakefield," his voice raising with adamance, "people want to look at just one miss-documented study, but that one mistake has made it impossible for people to publish research showing the truth about vaccines." Allan had grown up a faction of anti-vaxx Adventists, but Mark took conspiracy to a new level, spending much of his time at work on Facebook ministering to the flat earth community. "Many of their arguments are Biblical, but their conclusions aren't." Mark was an excellent witness for his faith. He showed Allan the dangers of getting too radical. He showed Allan the future of who he could have become if Allan still believed that the Bible course in Mission College had solved the world's issues. 

Read “Younger Than Our Years” by The Fold on Genius.