Coldplay Max Masters – Part 3 of 7

Here is message from Highfield church where Will Champion grew up going to church.

“It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere.” It’s said that all the religions in the world could be wrong, but only one can be right. ‘Truth’ must be true for everyone, or it isn’t true for anyone; and more than that, a truth remains true whether it is believed or not. People used to believe the world was flat – that didn’t change the truth though. Truth is never purely subjective, but open to objective assessment. So, what is truth? The most important question anyone can ask – though just asking it won’t necessarily lead us anywhere. The Roman governor Pilate asked Jesus Christ the same question, and then handed him over for execution, famously washing his hands of the responsibility. No, if we are going to seek out truth, we must be willing to follow where it leads. Some people want to be drifters rather than seekers. Real seekers are on a quest for truth.

“but surely all religions lead to God?”

Many hope to find meaning and purpose through religion. But there are many faiths, and many paths a seeker may take in pursuit of truth. Aren’t they all heading in the same direction? But if we start asking some basic questions we discover how radically different they are. Does the source or essence of the religion come from outside a person or from within? Is it derived from an external power or an inner energy? If it is from outside, what is the nature of this power or cosmic force? Is ‘God’ a thing or a person? Is ‘God’ one or many?

Let’s take for example Islam, Judaism, and Christianity? Aren’t they pretty much the same – they all worship one God? A closer look reveals important differences…

• To a Muslim, God is above and beyond this world, not involved in the daily lives of his followers, but to be worshipped and obeyed so as to avoid judgement.
• To a Jew, God is within reach and has a plan for the world and Israel in particular. He communicated with his people through specific individuals – priests, kings and prophets. He is concerned, compassionate, jealous, loving, forgiving.
• To a Christian, God is personal and perfectly revealed in the life of Jesus Christ – the human face of God. Christianity builds upon the Jewish understanding of God; He is a tri-unity – Father, Son and Spirit – above and beyond the world – yet fully engaged within it and desiring us to know him personally.

Some might think that if all good people follow their own religious pathways it would bring about unity of the faiths, mutual respect, and cooperation leading to world peace. Could all these paths lead to the same destination? If that were the case, there’d be no need to argue about which religion is the true one. But what if all paths do not lead to the same destination? As we’ve seen, religious traditions and beliefs differ significantly from one another. Some teach that there are many gods, others that there is only one; some that God is personal, others that God is not. They cannot all be true, and thus it cannot be true that all religions lead to the same destination.

Christianity is the only religion that claims man cannot earn his way to God, but that it is a gift of God through faith. But Christianity’s claim to exclusivity is not for a ‘religion’ – but for a person; that Jesus Christ is the only true Saviour. Even membership of the Christian church does not automatically lead to salvation; only a personal faith response to Christ. Only Christianity teaches that Jesus is God. He cannot be both God and not God. The claims of Jesus are unique. ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’. There are really only three possible responses to his claim – to believe him, to disbelieve him or to withhold belief. The choice is ours.

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As AFC Totton prepare to record their FA Vase final song tonight, the Daily Echo can exclusively reveal that one team member has a secret rock star past.

In his youth, goalkeeper Iain Brunnschweiler played guitar alongside Coldplay drummer Will Champion in a little-known Southampton band called Fat Hamster.”

Brunnschweiler recalled: “We were quite young when we first knew each other, about 12 or 13 years old, and we used to go to the youth activities group at Highfield Church. Will lived in Portswood and I lived in Glen Eyre and we got together with another lad, David Milln, to form a three-piece band. I played the guitar and tried to sing, but I was absolute rubbish!”

While former Hampshire Cricket wicket-keeper Brunnschweiler went on to excel in sport, his old bandmates followed musical careers.

“Will went off to university at UCL in London and met up with Chris Martin and the others to form Coldplay and David’s now a successful drum and bass DJ called DJ Sciphi,” said the 27-year-old, who combines his Totton goalkeeping duties with the role of assistant coach at Hampshire Cricket.

He laughed: “Out of the trio, you’ve got one who plays in one of the world’s biggest bands, one who’s had some singles out as a DJ and me who’s got nothing to do with music any more.Recording a song for Wembley with Totton is the height of my musical career!”

Chris Martin revealed in his interview with Howard Stern that he was rasied an evangelical Christian but he has left the church. I believe that many words that he puts in his songs today are generated from the deep seated Christian beliefs from his childhood that find their way out in his life. His belief in being generous with charities, and the fact Coldplay’s songs  deal so much with death and the search for meaning and purpose of life (similar to Solomon’s search in Ecclesiastes), that our actions are being watched, and Chris describes different ways God tries to reveal himself to us, and many songs deal with trying to find a way to an afterlife and heaven, and he stills uses Christian terms like being “blessed” and “grateful.”

Up to this point many people may be saying that this is all based on some pretty flimsy evidence. However, one of the most revealing things came out when Chris wrote the song “Viva La Vida.” He had previously said he left Christianity because of the biblical view of eternal damnation but what does Chris do with the evil king in the song “Viva La Vida?”  Q Magazine asked Chris Martin about the lyric in this song “I know Saint Peter won’t call my name.” Martin said,  “It’s about…You’re not on the list… Its always fascinated me that idea of finishing your life and then being analyzed on it…That is the most frightening thing you could possibly say to somebody. Eternal damnation.  I know it. It’s mildly terrifying to me. And this is serious.”

Maybe we have heard the last of this journey from Chris?

Coldplay – Viva La Vida

Chris Martin

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