Lyrics: “I think you want an answer I’m not prepared to give, ’cause the one I gave you said that that ain’t it. Must be something that I want – fame and fortune, or at least a little jaunt. It may seem too cut and dried, but I just found some things I could not brush aside. Now if you’ll oblige: I don’t think it’s true. I’m not asking you to agree, I’m just asking you to believe me. You say my heart was never true, that might say more about you. I know it shouldn’t matter if you take my word when I say I didn’t leave ’cause I was hurt. But there goes my pride, with its refrain that I be seen as justified. Likely nothing I could say, and I’m not sure you would care for me to explain. Sure, you can pray, but I don’t think it’s true. I’m not asking you to agree, I’m just asking you to believe me. You say my heart was never true, that might say more about you.”
I’m a huge fan of Rhett and Link. I actually just got caught up on a couple months’ worth of content of Good Mythical Morning/Good Mythical More and Ear Biscuits due to school and health things taking up a lot of my time & energy during that time. (I’m still busy with school, and still navigating health things, but I’m glad to be caught up on their content which brings me so much joy in my day-to-day life.)
As much as I love what they do as a duo, I was honestly really excited for Rhett’s solo project to come out, too. So many fans, myself included, love their comedy music but have been asking for serious music for quite some time too. And while that likely isn’t something they would ever necessarily create *as a duo*, I think either of them individually doing something like this is beautiful. I may do another article for some/all of the other songs once the full album releases, but I wanted to write about “Believe Me” now because it’s been on repeat for me (despite not being a country music fan personally.)
Although Rhett and Link are no longer Christians and I still am a Christian, I relate a lot to their stories. I’m immensely grateful they’ve told them and I think this processing of Rhett’s deconstruction through music will be beautiful and healing for a lot of people.
I don’t know if I’d ever come out with an album like Rhett has, but I have written a couple of things in a similar vein as this. I haven’t done anything musically with them, I might one day; but it was cathartic and healing and life-giving to write out something which helped me process trauma, grief, and anger, as well as hope, about some things I’ve been through. (As of right now, I’ve only shared these poems/maybe-future-songs with one person.) I’ve been drawn to music and poetry for as long as I can remember, and I think they can be excellent vehicles of processing things (both positive and negative) in our lives.
With that said, for me personally, one of the biggest costs of deconstruction has been music. Countless songs that I used to love and feel so connected to God with are now only reminders of trauma, of pain, of theology that tries to silence hurt or doubts instead of sitting with them. I have a handful of songs I can hold on to, and I’m slowly growing that number over time, but I don’t listen to music in general as much as I used to. And I don’t listen to anywhere near as many songs as I used to. I’m fine with this, because I know that my healing and my spiritual journey are my own and whatever helps or hurts my process is real and valid to me. It’s best for me to accept this as my reality for now, rather than trying to fight or suppress these very real feelings and experiences just to try and be like I was growing up.
You know, in all honesty, that’s true of my deconstruction in general. I can’t just fight or suppress what I have in the past or am currently undeniably feeling/experiencing just to be like I used to be – I have grown and learned, and with growing and learning comes painful realizations that some things aren’t what I always thought they were.
I am, and always have been, very much a lyrics person before a music person – I didn’t care much growing up how “good” or “bad” the music itself was. The lyrics were often very emotionally charged, and that’s what took me to that place of feeling so connected to God. Now, not only can I better assess how “good” or “bad” the music is (I use quotes because music taste is very subjective, though some musicians are objectively more talented than others – I think music can be judged both subjectively and objectively, though in this case I’m more talking about the objective rather than subjective assessing of music), but I also know there are beliefs I cannot run back to. And a lot of these beliefs are very present in the music I loved so much growing up.
I think this desire to be believed and respected is something I very much relate to. There are so many topics – LGBTQ+ identities/relationships, abortion, politics, climate change, racism, etc. – that I had certain views on growing up*. That LGBTQ+ identities/relationships are sinful; that abortion is murder and there’s never any justification of the act or nuance on the topic; that you should always vote conservative because conservatives are the ones who will enact the will of God with their political power/influence; that climate change isn’t real; that racism is something we solved long ago. Learning new information – not being brainwashed into believing leftwing propaganda, but learning actual, undeniable facts – was what made me realize on these (and many other topics) that I couldn’t reconcile the truth with the faith I’d been given growing up. (In fact, in many cases, I would say what I was handed growing up was propaganda and brainwashing – not that people were always ill-intentioned, in fact I believe many of them were and are well-intentioned – but the information was presented from a biased perspective, not one of seeking out objective truths which may at times mean rejecting beliefs you have held for some time.)
Like I mentioned earlier, I am still a Christian. I have no doubt there are people who’d call me a heretic, or as the song says, say that “my heart was never true”, but what I would at least ask people to understand, respect, and believe, is this: I have loved Jesus my whole life. I still do. And I still try to live my life by Jesus’ example of love. You don’t have to agree with my beliefs or conclusions (I’m sure the future me will disagree with the present me on some of these and/or other things), but as Rhett asked in his song, I’m asking you to believe me. I’m asking you to trust that I am indeed learning and growing and trying to process the information I gain as helpfully and accurately as I can. I’m trying to seek out the truth. I do all of this knowing I’ve been wrong in the past, and knowing I’ll almost assuredly be wrong again. But I am certainly trying to learn what is true (and not just what Christians say is true, but what is actually, undeniably true, even when it doesn’t line up with what a lot of Christians say/think/believe), and I am trying to embody the teachings of Jesus. I’ve been wrong before and I’m sure I’ll be wrong again, but please know, I am trying my best to live out Jesus’ love and to always seek out the truth.
And to Rhett, if you ever happen to read this: thank you from the bottom of my heart for this song. It means so much to so many people, and I believe the album as a whole will be healing and life-giving to a lot of people (myself included). I am grateful for you and so proud of you. This music is a gift – and even beyond that: your story, and who you are, is a gift to this world, too.
*About the topics I mentioned earlier, here’s where I stand now: 1) I am unapologetically LGBTQ+ affirming. 2) Abortion does grieve me, but I believe it ought to be legal for a number of reasons; I believe that autonomy and choice are crucial, and there are many, many reasons people may have abortions. I do not believe in hating, judging, or condemning anyone for having an abortion for any reason (including what people traditionally think of as abortion, as well as treatments for ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages, etc. which are legally and medically considered abortions). 3) I have never voted Republican, and thanks to Trump’s presidency, I probably never will. I have issues with some of the views of moderates and leftists as well, but I do lean most towards being a leftist personally, and my trust in conservatives as a whole is pretty much gone. (I know there are some good ones, but there are too few good ones and too many bad ones for me to justify supporting Republicans at all at this point.) 4) Because of what I have seen/heard from scientists who know what they’re talking about, I absolutely believe climate change is real, and that we should do what we can to care for the earth (which is, you know, something that is actually addressed in Genesis, so you’d think that more Christians would be better at actually caring for the earth considering the Bible says to do so.) 5) Racism was real in the past, and racism is still real in the present. It was problematic in the past, and it is problematic now. The U.S. has an ugly past and present of being racist (not to mention being oppressive and evil in other ways too), and by no means has this country ended racism. Also, something doesn’t have to be overtly or intentionally racist to be racist. Racism is racism – no matter how overt or subtle, intentional or unintentional, racism is racism is racism. And though it’s a problem on an individual level, it’s a problem on a systemic level too, and it is long past time we acknowledge that and work on changing these things.
Through Her Eyes 