There’s plenty of stories from other countries about the cunning hero outsmarting the fae or similar. Just that in America, the hero always wins vs other countries where there are also many stories where the hero gets killed.
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe, two of America’s most famous writers, both based their bodies of work on people paying the price of losing to temptation/sin. Although to be fair I couldn’t think of any popular songs about that.
I know it’s not a popular take, but I don’t like Poe or Hawthorne. I always felt like their shallow exploration of death/edgy topics really only appealed to the immature or unintelligent reader.
I can see their work on a shelf between The Nightmare Before Christmas and a Dashboard Confessional CD- maybe a Jr High textbook as well.
I wouldn’t use them as an example.
Johnny admits to knowing that taking the bet was a sin and commits it anyway. Johnny gets the golden fiddle, but the devil gets his soul in the end anyway. What’s 60 more years to an eternal being? The song can still be a cautionary tale you just need to finish it.
Johnny admits to knowing that taking the bet was a sin and commits it anyway.
No, he admits that it might be a sin.
The boy said, “My name’s Johnny and it might be a sin
But I’m gon’ take your bet, you’re gonna regret, I’m the best there’s ever been”That means he’s acknowledging its a sin but he will do it anyways. You are thinking it says it might be a sin or might not, but thats not how the sentence goes.
The sentence can be interpreted either way.
I definitely read it as an acknowledgement of a risk rather than an admission of wrong.
Either way he’s saying it doesnt make a difference, if it was a sin or not he’d still do it.
There’s a big difference between saying “I understand this is a sin, but I’m doing it anyway” versus “I think this might be a sin, but I’m doing it anyway.”
I dont see a difference in intent at all. Can you explain that? Theres not some loophole left in the word might, context matters.
I don’t know how to explain it more clearly. “It might snow tomorrow” doesn’t mean it will snow tomorrow, it means there is a possibility. It isn’t a loophole lol.
Point kinda holds, though. Ignoring the long-term consequences for short-term gain seems to also feature heavily in America.
The county was founded by generations of people who came here with little thought to long term consequences, so it tracks
ah yes, that short term Constitution that never held up /s
Eh? The wager was Johnny either gets the fiddle or loses his soul, why would he go to hell anyway?
No human is without sin, after all.
Win or lose, taking the bet at all is a sin, and Johnny aknowleges this in the song. Plenty of protestants (the target audience) see this as reason enough to go to hell.
Now you could argue about forgiveness or confession or whatever the fuck but the stage has been set for Johnny to go to hell even though he won.
“Here’s your fiddle. See you in 80 years”.
I think its a cautionary tale about using evil even when you think you’re good and right. The devil doesnt play fair, and always wins.
It’s not a protestant belief that a single sin makes you irredeemable and sends you to hell.
They didnt say that. Do we still call these strawmen?
According to conventional wisdom, Johnny damned himself by accepting the bet in the first place. The devil “loses”, but that just cements Johnny’s sin of pride.
The devil might not have gotten Johnny’s soul the day of the contest, but make no mistake, he does eventually get the soul.
Nah. Conventional wisdom says he can either
- the the priest all about it and do some chants
- find himself a baptizer and spend the rest of his time Jesusing real hard.
Johnny’s options will depend on his local wise man, but I suspect either way he’ll also be strongly encouraged to buy some merch.
Yes and no. While the rules are all made up, and different people can just make up more rules, the standard rules say that any deal with the devil, even this bet, is a sin, an unforgivable sin. Adding in the sin of pride, which means Johnny is unlikely to ever repent, and the devil got a soul.
Also, there’s a sequel song with a bunch of big names on the project, Johnny went down due to the sin of pride.
Christianity’s whole thing is that no sin is unforgivable (except deliberate rejection of the Holy Spirit’s work/testimony about Jesus (Mark 3:20-28))
Again, the rules are made up, but there are a dozen listed sins that are unforgivable. You just have to look for them.
However, a deal with the devil is automatically considered blasphemy against God, and thus an unforgivable sin. Add in the sin of Pride, and Johnny is damned.
there are a dozen listed sins that are unforgivable. You just have to look for them.
Both Matthew 12:30-32 and Mark 3:20-29 clearly state otherwise. Idk what Bible you’re reading.
a deal with the devil is automatically considered blasphemy against God, and thus an unforgivable sin.
While making a deal with the devil is often viewed as a form of blasphemy, the unforgivable sin- blasphemy against the Holy Spirit- involves an ultimate rejection of God’s truth and grace, which isn’t necessarily inherent to making a deal with the devil.
Add in the sin of Pride, and Johnny is damned.
Pride is a forgivable sin
Pride might be forgivable, but the prideful rarely ask.
And again, a deal with the devil is by definition, a rejection of God.
Also murder is on the list of unforgivable sins.
Because there are five or six places in the new testament alone that list unforgivable sins.
again, a deal with the devil is by definition, a rejection of God.
Again, not inherently.
murder is on the list of unforgivable sins.
Literally King David himself is a stark example to the contrary. Paul too. Are you just saying things and hoping they’re true? What do you think unforgivable means?
there are five or six places in the new testament alone that list unforgivable sins.
Care to cite the scripture you’re referencing? I’m not aware of such passages. Regardless, if they do exist, I assume they’re effectively overwritten by Jesus later doing the whole forgiving everyone’s sins by dying thing
I’m not even religious anymore, I don’t know why I’m so invested in this
