Bob Dylan Quote & My Comments

Below is a quote from a Bob Dylan song.

"Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly

before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

the answer is blowin' in the wind."

Normally, Dylan rejected any attachment to a particular social movement: the hippy movement, the folk movement in music, etc. On many occasions he even claimed that there was no real deep message invested in the lyrics of his songs, and that most of his audience takes them too seriously. Even though that claim itself is considered by his fans to be satirical, it was obvious that he did not intend for his lyrics to be co opted as a rally cry by any organization or organised movement.

All that being said, I do want to comment on the underlined portion of the lyrics I quoted above. It certainly is a noble desire to have wars and conflicts end, in fact it is one that I share. Dylan released this song on the 1963 album titled, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", this was a tumultuous time in American history: the civil rights movement, the death of the President in November, and about one year earlier, several nations (the US included) signed an agreement to insure the neutrality of Laos, and the conflict in Vietnam had been escalating since 1959, so it is clear to see how his environment ( a nation being polarized by a clash in cultures and the threat war) might have fueled such lyrics. Unfortunately, though the sentiment is valid, the argument disguised in the question, "...how many times must the cannon balls fly before they're forever banned?" is utterly unrealistic. This lyric makes me ponder the reality of original sin, and the falleness that typifies the world in which we live. Imagine a world where the government was united under one state head; lead by one body of legislators to create laws, and one body to carry them out worldwide. Imagine that this world government does ban the "cannonball", the problem is that, the very governing body which bans them must exempt themselves so as to be invested with the power to weld cannonballs themselves to prevent anyone else from doing so...I'm thankful that, even in this fallen world, by the common grace of God, He granted the fathers of our country the wisdom to decide that each citizen (with some necessary exclusions) has the right to bear "cannonballs". Unfortunately, the world in which Dylan made his plea is not the one in which his dream could come true, in fact, the banning of cannonballs would inevitably lead to the tyrannizing of the entire world under the government of fallen men which make fallen laws.

Fortunately for those redeemed by Christ, they will live in a future world, redeemed even of the cannonball. If the answer is truly "blowing in the wind", as Dylan suggests, then that Wind must be the Holy Spirit.