“Know Your Enemy”
“Know Your Enemy” is the first single from Green Day’s just released album, 21st Century Breakdown.
Like the band’s bestselling American Idiot album, this one contains plenty of great music and many explorations of deep issues that matter to your kids.
This lesson helps you explore the song’s lyrics with your kids for either a short or lengthy discussion.
So, why are we providing a Bible study based on a song from Green Day?
•Because it’s completely relevant.
•Because Green Day will continue to be relevant the way U2, The Rolling Stones and The Who are relevant. Many reviews are referring to the new disc as a Quadrophenia for a new generation.
•Because the cool points your get for having a Green Day Bible study the same week as the new disc releases will be immeasurable.
•Because truth can be found in many places, not just in the stuff you find in the local Christian bookstore.
•Because your students have heard those words before; and chances are, they use them when you’re not around (or maybe when you are).
LYRICS:
GREEN DAY
“Know Your Enemy”
21 Century Breakdown (2009)
Do you know the enemy
Do you know your enemy
Well, gotta know the enemy
Do you know the enemy
Do you know your enemy
Well, gotta know the enemy
Violence is an energy
Against the enemy
Violence is an energy
Bringing on the fury
The choir infantry
Revolt against the honor to obey
Overthrow the effigy
The vast majority
Burning down the foreman of control
Silence is the enemy
Against your urgency
So rally up the demons of your soul
Do you know the enemy
Do you know your enemy
Well, gotta know the enemy
Do you know the enemy
Do you know your enemy
Well, gotta know the enemy
Insurgency will rise
When blood’s been sacrificed
We’ll be blinded by the light
In your eyes
Violence is an energy
From you to eternity
Well, violence is an energy
Well, silence is an enemy
So gimme gimme revolution
Do you know the enemy
Do you know your enemy
Well, gotta know the enemy
Do you know the enemy
Do you know your enemy
Well, gotta know the enemy
Overthrow the effigy
The vast majority
Burning down the foreman of control
Silence is the enemy
Against your urgency
So rally up the demons of your soul
OPENING ACTIVITY:
Option One:
If you happen to have access to the Who album Quadrophenia, bring it in and play a few cuts. Don’t tell your group that it’s from a bygone decade. Just let them listen. Then play “Know Your Enemy” from 21 Century Breakdown. Do your students hear any similarities between these songs?
Option Two:
Give your students a stack of current newspapers and have them tear out stories about “the enemy.” Who the enemy is, is up to them. After 10-15 minutes, gather the students and let them share why they chose the particular stories.
Option Three:
Break your group into teams and have each team list as many “archenemies” as they can from movies and television. Give them five minutes, then read their lists out loud. Anytime they match a name on someone else’s or another team’s list, they must remove that name. The team with the most archenemies at the end of the game wins.
Scriptures:
21 If you see your enemy hungry, go buy him lunch; if he’s thirsty, bring him a drink.
22 Your generosity will surprise him with goodness, and God will look after you.
13 Answering before listening is both stupid and rude.
14 A healthy spirit conquers adversity, but what can you do when the spirit is crushed?
15 Wise men and women are always learning, always listening for fresh insights.
16 A gift gets attention; it buys the attention of eminent people.
17 The first speech in a court case is always convincing–until the cross-examination starts!
43 “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’
44 I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer,
45 for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best–the sun to warm and the rain to nourish–to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.
46 If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that.”
38 “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.
40 If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.
41 If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.
42 Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.”
Questions for Discussion Activities
* During times of war, do you think members of both sides think, “God is on our side?”
* Do biblical passages about loving your enemy apply to nation-vs.-nation conflicts?
* Does God take sides in war?
*
* On Christmas Eve, 1914, during World War I, German and British forces stopped shooting and began to sing Christmas carols to each other across the “no man’s land” of bodies and bombs. The next morning, the troops left the trenches and traded photos, cigarettes and played soccer. Then on the 26th, they went back to war. Col. Francis Toliver of the British Forces later was tried for consorting with the enemy. Read
* What might have happened if we had started dropping food into Iraq 10 years ago instead of troops?
* Does your school have an “arch-rival”? Do we use the world enemy too easily? How so?
* The song says, “Violence is an energy from you to eternity.” What do you think this line means?
* Interviews with Green Day and reviews of American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown have explored whether the band is being critical of the Bush administration’s war on terror. Do you see this kind of criticism in “Know Your Enemy” or in other songs on 21st Century Breakdown?
* Ross Haenfler is a sociologist at the University of Mississippi and author of Straight Edge: Clean Living Youth; Hardcore Punk and Social Change. Haenfler said, “Punk means questioning the mold society shoves us into.” Does this sound like Green Day? Does it sound like being a teenager? How does this quote apply to being a Christian?
* Read
* What does the phrase, “I am my own worst enemy” mean? Have you ever felt that way?
* How would your view of this psalm be different if you pictured singer Billy Joe Armstrong spray-painting David’s words on a brick wall?
* When the singer says, “We’ll be blinded by the light in your eyes.” To whom do you think he is talking?
* Do we really believe and follow the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”? Is there a difference between kill and murder?
* In Hebrew, the commandment uses the word ratsach, which means “to obliterate or completely destroy.” Do you think God differentiates between kill and ratsach?
* St. Thomas Aquinas said there was such a thing as a “just war.” Just war theory says that going to war can be acceptable if it is for the greater good. Do you think war can bring about a greater good? Why, or why not?
* Read
In Jesus’ time, it was allowed by law for a Roman citizen to slap a Jewish citizen on the face in public. The law said they must use only the palm of the right hand. What happens when you offer the other cheek?
* In Jesus’ time, if you were seen naked, the shame was on the person “seeing” not on the person “being seen.” If you “give someone your cloak too,” who is the one shamed?
* What does Jesus say about how to deal with your enemies?
* The singer says, “Overthrow the effigy.” What is an effigy? What is it used for?
* Does it bother you that someone, somewhere may think you are the enemy?
* How is silence the enemy?
* What do you think the singer means when he says to “Rally up the demons of your soul”?
* Read
CLOSING PRAYER
God, we ask that You hear us. It’s too easy in these times to feel like everyone is against us. Help us to reach out to those who think differently than we do. Help us to be open to ideas we may not have thought about before. Help us to love each other the way You have loved us–all of us. Amen.
