For a lot of Christians, a song like this evokes nothing more than a kind of misty sentimentality, after which they go back to crucifying folks – invariably for running afoul of Christian culture, which has nothing to do with Christ.

I’m guessing the reason that most professing Christians stop short of crucifying folks for not following the actual teachings of Jesus is that He told us plainly He was dead set against that sort of “instruction”. Truth be told, He was dead set against passing cultural smugness off as the one sure sign of a personal relationship with Him, too.

So, they maneuvered the occupying forces into killing Him. On the surface, where the vast majority of conservative Christianity lives, that’s what this song is about. But Jesus always said it was what was in your heart that really mattered. If your heart was to extinguish somebody, He said, you might as well have gone and done the job yourself, for all the difference it made to Him.

This is The Primitive Quartet with “That Soldier Was Me”.