City of blinding lights: Reference to god?

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swissair135

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From AtU2

"Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel/luckily" -- Matthew 5:44-45: "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.""

Are there any subtle reference to god other than that line in the song.

One I can think "I see you in the clothes you make.. but you see the beauty in me, what happened to the beauty inside of me"
 
I don't know if Bono did it expressly or if he really was making a subtle reference. it seems to me that his reading the bible pops up now and again when he writes and sings.
 
I always kinda thought of Matthew 5:14 myself--"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.". There's alot of subtle references to faith and God in alot of songs but the thing that's great is they are so intricately woven that the songs have many different levels/interpretations of meaning....:shrug:
 
I always found it very interesting how Bono comes up with lyrics.

I wouldn't be surprised if he pulls lines from all over the places, and brings them togerther to create something great.


Like sometimes, if you have a conversation you are remembering and you remember something that would fit just right in a certain spot in a nother situation.
 
nbcrusader said:
There are plenty of subtle references to God in City of Blinding Light. The title can be taken as a description of heaven.

I really like it as just an epithet for NYC, though. Oh, wait. Same thing. ;)


The bit at the very end ("Blessings not just for the ones who kneel...luckily") reminds me of something Philip Yancey once said - he talked about seeing the beauty in the world and falling in love, what he called "common grace", even before he was a Christian. So I always thought he was referring to the way God's love reaches through to everyone, believer or no.
 
:yes: Yeah, I agree that the song has a reference to God. They've said that the "I've ssen you in the clothes you make" is because of Ali and Edun and everything, but it also appears on Trip Through Your Wires, long before this. Maybe it is both, you know Bono: God and women fit in one song :)
 
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