Introduction

Welcome to American Christian - Volume One.

The idea for this project came from a compilation CD I made about a year ago. The idea is that the sequence of songs chronicles the kinds of experiences I've observed in my own life and similar ones I've observed in the lives of people around me. The common thread is that we've more or less grown up in the church, or at least with significant churchy influences.

While everyone is unique and their experiences as well, there do seem to be similarities amongst people, particularly in our demographic (the 20s), that reflect a slightly bitter and jaded attitude towards religion. Some of us come out of it, some don’t; some come out of it quickly, some come out of it slowly. Just as it is with salvation and sanctification (and that’s what this really is; that’s what everyone’s life is, a matter of sanctification), it’s none of our business to speculate who is or isn’t in what place or time along the road to salvation. The only folks we can be remotely sure of are ourselves, and even that can be questionable. However, it is good to know there are these similar struggles experienced across humanity. We can learn much from each other by example and teaching.

For the last couple of months I've been posting on my main blog, roughly twice a week, a 19 part narrative expanding on the themes of each song in relation to what I call the American Christian Experience. However, I don't think it's necessarily limited to just Americans but perhaps could be connected with any westernized culture. I'm no sociologist though; I only know what I see, hear, and read.

So here is the entire 19 part series, all in one place, posted in such a manner that it's easier to read from start to finish. At the beginning of each post is an excerpt of lyrics from that song, and the excerpts are linked to the iTunes store where you can purchase them yourself and make your own compilation CD if you like. If you can relate at all to this blog, you probably already own some of them (or used to). The exception being AC.XII which comes from the website OverClockedRemix.org. The song featured in that post is the only legally free one in the series.

And this is indee volume one. Work on volume two has begun.

Thank you for reading.