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Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:54 pm
by savage
Are there any other die hard Petra fans out there that are atheists or am I the only one?

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:19 pm
by rexreed
No, you aren't the only one. In a world with this many people there has to be at least a dozen or so. The numbers will get smaller everyday if Petra has anything to say about it....

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:49 pm
by Shell
Rex is probably right. Out of curiosity, how did you first become a fan? I like stories about how people discovered Petra.

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:24 am
by savage
Shell wrote:Rex is probably right. Out of curiosity, how did you first become a fan? I like stories about how people discovered Petra.
True enough. I became a fan as a child of a Pentecostal Pastor. Beat The System was the album that hooked me. Of course, I wasn't allowed to listen to it because it was, "rock music". I guess Jimmy Swaggart's influence was alive and well at the time.

Fast forward to 1988 when On Fire came out. Swaggart got caught with his pants down and his opinions were no longer taken as God's official word and the ban on Christian Rock was lifted. My parents decided to let me know this with a copy of On Fire and Never Say Die.

Of course, I had all of their albums hidden anyway and knew everything off by heart by then.

Over the years I did the whole church, Bible Collage then Pastor thing. For me it didn't work.

I'm a drummer and have been fortunate to travel part of the world playing. My favorite bands are Slayer, Megadeth and Pantera. Maybe you can see the shock on my peers faces when More Power To Ya or Annie comes out of my speakers. It does a lot too.

And yes.... when songs like Don't Let Your Heart Be Hardened come on I do get taken back to a simple time when good and evil were clearly defined and no matter what it would be okay because God watches over me.

I listen to Petra with an unbiased ear and Christian or not, the song writing is top notch and they will always be my favorite band.

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 12:56 pm
by Shell
I think the consensus is Bob is a great songwriter. 8) I do understand where you're coming from as far as folks like Jimmy Swaggart, but God isn't the problem there. The problem is messed up people who focus on the wrong things, i.e. bringing in the money at the expense of everything else, and messed up people who send them money somehow thinking that will get them to Heaven.

Don't Let Your Heart Be Hardened and Thankful Heart are a couple of my favorites, but there are others.

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:09 pm
by Thief
Beat the System is a great album to get hooked on. It has what could be my #1 Petra song ("Adonai") and a couple that I consider among my favorites ("It is Finished", "Beat the System", "Witch Hunt"). You also mentioned "For Annie", which is another one of my favorites. Not a huge fan of "Don't Let Your Heart be Hardened" (to me, it's probably the weakest song from This Means War!) but I still like it.

Also, I'm not a fan of Slayer or Pantera, but I'm a huge fan of Megadeth, so we share that too 8)

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:31 am
by savage
Thief wrote:Beat the System is a great album to get hooked on. It has what could be my #1 Petra song ("Adonai") and a couple that I consider among my favorites ("It is Finished", "Beat the System", "Witch Hunt"). You also mentioned "For Annie", which is another one of my favorites. Not a huge fan of "Don't Let Your Heart be Hardened" (to me, it's probably the weakest song from This Means War!) but I still like it.

Also, I'm not a fan of Slayer or Pantera, but I'm a huge fan of Megadeth, so we share that too 8)
Here are my top 5 Petra albums:

Beat The System (it hooked me)
Never Say Die
On Fire
More Power To Ya (Rose Colored Stain Glass Windows, one of the greatest ever)
Back To The Street (I expected Petra to be horrible without Greg so the memories tied to this album are great)

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 11:32 am
by savage
Thief wrote:Beat the System is a great album to get hooked on. It has what could be my #1 Petra song ("Adonai") and a couple that I consider among my favorites ("It is Finished", "Beat the System", "Witch Hunt"). You also mentioned "For Annie", which is another one of my favorites. Not a huge fan of "Don't Let Your Heart be Hardened" (to me, it's probably the weakest song from This Means War!) but I still like it.

Also, I'm not a fan of Slayer or Pantera, but I'm a huge fan of Megadeth, so we share that too 8)

Yes, Dave Mustaine is awesome.

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:52 pm
by Thief
savage wrote: Here are my top 5 Petra albums:

Beat The System (it hooked me)
Never Say Die
On Fire
More Power To Ya (Rose Colored Stain Glass Windows, one of the greatest ever)
Back To The Street (I expected Petra to be horrible without Greg so the memories tied to this album are great)
Nice list. For what it's worth, here's my Top 5...

Beyond Belief
Not of this World
On Fire!
Beat the System
Wake-Up Call


I got into Petra around the early 90's, so Beyond Belief and Wake-Up Call are usually high on my list. Like Beat the System with you, those two were the ones that got me into Petra. Not of this World has steadily crept up my list and is arguably fighting for #1 right now. I just love that album. But anyway, that would be how I would place them now. Tomorrow, placing might be different. To be honest, the only Petra album I find to be really weak is Back to the Street, and it still has some songs I like a bit.

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:18 am
by LivingRock
Just wanted to pop in and say welcome to the Zone savage! Always nice to "meet" more Petra fans!

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:16 am
by Carolina Petra Fan
I have to ask. You are a die hard petra fan and an atheist. How do you reconcile the two?

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:22 pm
by executioner
Carolina Petra Fan wrote:I have to ask. You are a die hard petra fan and an atheist. How do you reconcile the two?
Sometimes I wonder the same but I look at it from the perspective that I listen a lot of secular artists like AC/DC, Aerosmith, Journey and I don't believe in what their lyrics are saying, but I listen to enjoy the music. I'm not sure if this is how feels about it, but in my mind this would probably be the case.

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 4:18 pm
by savage
Carolina Petra Fan wrote:I have to ask. You are a die hard petra fan and an atheist. How do you reconcile the two?
I don't see why I have to reconcile the two. I'm a fan of great music and Petra falls into that category. I don't base my belief system on the music I listen to.

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:26 pm
by Shell
I agree with the consensus; I listen to secular music too and that doesn't mean I agree with what the lyrics might be saying. I think you can enjoy music just to enjoy music.

I think Steve Perry, Chrissie Hynde and Martha Davis have the best voices in the biz, secular or Christian. I just love hearing them sing. There are others but those are several that come to mind.

Re: Atheist Petra Fans

Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 8:18 pm
by Mountain Man
Sometimes it's just about good music. I'm a Christian but I'm also a big fan of bands like Journey, The Beatles, Celine Dion, Eric Clapton (particularly his blues stuff), Creedence Clearwater Revival, and so on.

But as a Christian, I also feel compelled to encourage our friend here to seek God, perhaps with a fresh perspective, unburdened by the trappings of religion (as Gene Scott once said, "I didn't fall away from Christianity, I fell away from religion."). Don't seek God the way some church tells you but on your own terms. The late Simon Greenleaf wrote:

"In examining the evidences of the Christian religion, it is essential to the discovery of truth that we bring to the investigation a mind freed, as far as possible, from existing prejudice, and open to conviction. There should be a readiness, on our part, to investigate with candor, to follow the truth wherever it may lead us, and to submit, without reserve or objection, to all the teachings of this religion, if it be found to be of divine origin. 'There is no other entrance,' says Lord Bacon, 'to the kingdom of man, which is founded in the sciences, than to the kingdom of heaven, into which no one can enter but in the character of a little child.' The docility which true philosophy requires of her disciples is not a spirit of servility, or the surrender of the reason and judgment to whatsoever the teacher may inculcate; but it is a mind free from all pride of opinion, not hostile to the truth sought for, willing to pursue the inquiry, and impartially to weigh the arguments and evidence, and to acquiesce in the judgment of right reason. The investigation, moreover, should be pursued with the serious earnestness which becomes the greatness of the subject—a subject fraught with such momentous consequences to man. It should be pursued as in the presence of God, and under the solemn sanctions created by a lively sense of his omniscience, and of our accountability to him for the right use of the faculties which he has bestowed."
Source: The Testimony of the Evangelists

You were convinced once, so ask yourself what the real reason was that you fell away. Was it because Christianity suddenly stopped being true, or was it because you put your faith in something other than God?