Kim - Honestly John, how many people know what deophobic means?
John - Well, deophobic's not actually a word. I just made that up.
Kim - Exactly.
John - But again, you kind of look into it and think about it. I mean, I think when you think about deophobic means, you kind of put the ideas together and it kind of makes sense. But again, that's not really the point of what we're doing. Coming back to Jesus - honestly - how many people understood Him when He said "If you don't hate your father and mother you can't be called my disciple. You're not worthy"? I mean that's kind of my take on it. I just think that it's coming down to what we have decided that Christianity is supposed to be instead of what the Bible has decided.
Kim - I know that the Bible is the most interpretational book ever written. I had a pastor tell me a very long time ago that you can read a passage today and it will mean one thing to you, depending where you're at, and you read it six months from now, and it will mean something else, because you're some place different in your own life.
John - Yeah, that's definitely been the case for me. You know, I think it's really coming down to what I've learned on the road. You know, we're on the tour with 12 Stones right now. People all the time come down and say "Are 12 Stones for real? Are they really Christians?". I think it's coming down to everybody wants to find a hero. Me included. We all want to look at a hero and see someone in the limelight that we really look up to. I think that's really good and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm the same way with Christian musicians. I met Michael W. Smith a few years ago and I was really nervous to meet him because most of my heroes I'd met I was really disappointed with. My Christian music heroes I'd met, I was like, Gosh, this guy's not nice at all. Then I met Michael W. Smith and he was amazing. But it was the same thing. I was almost nervous to meet him because, like, what if he doesn't live for God and all of my dreams are shattered? I think what it comes down to is that it's good to find your heroes and stuff, but, I think that sometimes it's not fair to put your ideas on what that ... well, I don't want to say that. What I'm about to say is going to make it sound like I'm saying we don't need to live by the Bible and again, it's coming down to American Christianity. It's coming down to what we think Christianity is supposed to look like. I just think that most of the time we don't know what the Bible says. I find it really annoying. It's something that I'm really passionate about. It's everything that I've been speaking about for years and years and now all of a sudden, we sign a deal with Lava Records and we must be on the opposite side. That really makes me mad. What I've been talking about for seven years is that radical Christianity, you need to know what the Bible says and you need to live it. And all these people get so upset about something and I say "Well, what about the Bible?" And they don't know what I'm talking about. They never read the Bible. All they do is go to church and listen to somebody preach on Sunday; go to a Jesus pep-rally. They think if you're not pep-rallying with everybody else you must be doing what the Bible says.
