Jump in the Fire

 

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Metallica-jump-in-the-fire-lyrics

Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ll1-yV8YSw

Mustaine, Dave, James Hetfield, and Lars Ulrich, “Jump in the Fire,” 4:40, Kill ‘em All, 20 January, 1984, Megaforce, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ll1-yV8YSw

Metallica is probably the most well-known heavy metal band in history.  One of their concerts held in Moscow, Russia was attended by over one million people. Yes, one million. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W7wqQwa-TU

 

Metallica is sometimes called Satanic due to songs like Jump in the Fire and The God That Failed. The truth is probably that they are agnostic or secular deists; not explicitly anti-Christian or pro-Christian. Their music focuses on dark themes like fear, alienation, despair, drug addiction, death, the end of the world, how unfair life can be, war, continuing the cycle of childhood abuse, personal struggles, corruption, injustice, suicide, disappointment, and anger.

 

James Hetfield, the lead singer, seems to probably be a deistic agnostic. He was raised in a strictly devout Christian Science family. The God That Failed is about the cancer death of Hetrick’s mother, who, as a Christian Scientist, refused all medical treatment. Her faith that proper thinking would correctly align reality around her failed her.

 

The song, Jump in the Fire, is from the band’s first album, Kill ‘Em All (1983). It is told from Satan’s point of view but is not explicitly pro-Satan. It actually aligns with the traditional orthodox view of Satan. He invites the listener to willingly jump into the fire without any hesitation.  

 

The song was written by 16-year-old Dave Mustaine, the original guitarist for the band, and was about sex. After Mustaine was fired by the other members of the band, the song’s lyrics were changed to their current form. Mustaine went on to become the driving force behind the band named Megadeth. He has since become a born-again Christian.

 

Jump in the Fire presents Satan inviting people to jump into the fire. He tells them that they are his prey and that they should “jump by your will or be taken by force. I’ll get you either way.” Like the seductive villain of the Candyman films, he invites people to “Be my victim.” Many people are quite ready to do it.

Religious Groupings in the United States

In his book, Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites ..., Dr. Bradley Wright used Steensland *, et al's (2000) RELTRAD classification system, which identifies seven groupings to describe the religious bodies in the United States.   The designations "include, but are not limited to" the religious bodies/persuasions listed below.

Evangelical Protestants: the Southern Baptist Convention; some Independent Baptists; many non-denominational Protestant churches; the Lutheran Church; Missouri Synod; the Presbyterian Church in America; the Assemblies of God; the Church of Christ; the Church of the Nazarene; the Free Methodist Church; and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.  They tend to be theologically and socially conservative.

Mainline Protestants: the American Baptist Church in the USA; the United Methodist Church; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Presbyterian Church, USA; the Episcopal Church in the USA; and the United Church of Christ.  They tend to be theologically and socially liberal or "progressive".

Black Protestants: the National Baptist Convention; the African Methodist Episcopal Church; the Church of God in Christ.  All of these denominations are primarily, but not exclusively, African-American.  They tend to be conservative in theology but more liberal in social views.

Catholics: Roman Catholics.  Although the Orthodox would probably object to being listed with the Catholics, I believe that they would be included in this group in this classification system.

Jewish: Separated into Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform traditions.  The Orthodox represent historic Judaism, the Reform are more liberal and modern, and the Conservatives are in the middle.

Other Religions: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Oneness Pentecostals, and Unitarian-Universalism.  Some of these groups self identify as Christian but are rejected as heterodox by other Christians.

Religiously Unaffiliated: Atheists, Agnostics, and "Don't Cares."



* Steensland, Brian, et.al., "the Measure of American Religion: Toward Improving the State of the Art," Social Forces, 79(1), 2000, pp. 291-318.