Not A Topical Post on Christianity

My soon-to-be-number-one song Hallelujah, by Rufus Wainwright, featured in Shrek OST, is actually a cover of a Leonard Cohen song, as mentioned in this post. However, Cohen's song has different lyrics, so does Jeff Buckley's version.

You say I took the Name in vain
I don't even know the Name
But if I did, well really, what's it to you?
There's a blaze of light
In every word
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
But I remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Now maybe there's a God above
But all I ever learned from love
Is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a complaint that you hear tonight
It's not someone who's seen the light
It's a cold and lonely Hallelujah

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I learned to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come here to fool you
And even though it went all wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Halleluljah

The difference between 'holy dark' and 'holy dove' got me thinking...

The choice which stanzas to include or exclude, changes the complexity of meanings somewhat. To me, the song seems to be alluding to a mixture of human and divine love, entailing suffering and joy, interwined. This is one of the reasons I embraced Christianity - it connects human and divine worlds in a manner which rings true.

Here is the shortest answer to the question everyone has asked at least once. What am I doing here? What is the chief end of man? (not necessarily male;)

“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”
The Westminster Shorter Catechism

Christianity is hedonistic, regardless of what popular writers say:)


Unrelated note: I might as well be in love...