What He Would Have Done

Words & Music by Christopher Kent

I was a preacher in 1860
I slept with a Bible beside my head
I preached mighty words about plagues and damnation
That punish the living and torment the dead
I wanted to be like the god I grew up with
Who judged and condemned from the sky
So if I was hateful or spiteful or cruel
It was easy to justify

CHORUS:
Cause he had the power and he had the glory
With plagues and damnation his battle was won
He had the power and he had the glory
And I knew I was doing what he would have done

Then I lived as a soldier in 1915
I went to the front full of honor and pride
Really believing our battle was righteous
Knowing that god was on our side
I wanted to be like the god that I fought for
An angry god with a righteous frown
And although he had said, “Thou shalt not kill”
I knew he had struck his own enemies down

And he had the power and he had the glory
With plagues and damnation his battle was won
Yes he had the power and he had the glory
And I knew I was doing what he would have done

But the horror of war put an end to the glory
I watched my friends die in the cold and the mud
And all of my holy and righteous conviction
Was drowned in a nightmare of slaughter and blood
And I finally realized something was wrong
With the god I’d been given, that angry old man
Who could justify hatred and vengeance and war
That cold, ancient figure with blood on his hands

Well this time around I’m a singer of songs
I do not believe in that god anymore
I believe in a God who has no need for anger
Who never would justify cruelty or war
But I look at the world and I see angry people
Take bloody vengeance with faces so grim
And I wonder what kind of a god they believe in
And whether they’re trying to be just like him

Does he have the power? Does he have the glory?
With plagues and damnation his battles are won
Does he have the power? Does he have the glory?
Do they think that they’re doing what he would have done?
Oh, the power and glory, the power and glory
Does he pull the trigger when they aim the gun?
And I wonder how long we’ll be teaching our children
That this is what he would have done

© 1990 by Christopher Kent/Dragonheart Music. All rights reserved.