Christian Lyrics

Warning: There is foul language used, as I quote verbatim from a song writer, so if language from a “Christian” songwriter is going to offend you then you may want to skip this blog.

I am looking for input on this blog in particular, because maybe I am missing something today or maybe I am just finally considered “old fashioned.” Either way, I am going to work through my thought process with you, and it is not complete, and I am hoping some of you can fill in the blanks. I was sent a message to listen to some songs by a singer named Derek Webb, who used to be with Caedmon’s Call.

He had a new album come out called “Stockholm Syndrome” this past summer. And yes, I am just hearing about it now. I know some of you reading are thinking that this is a great album, while others might be thinking the exact opposite. For one song, I am definitely not a fan, as I am not a fan of using swear words for shock value regardless when using them in the framework of a Christian message. Secular movies, TV shows and such do what they do, but when you say you are a “Christian” artist, actor, business man/woman or whatever, it places you on a different level because you are making a claim about what you are doing, but I digress. We will touch on this again in a bit.

I listened to three songs from this album and then read the lyrics of many of them and I must say I am a little confused and a little disappointed and a little understanding at the same time. Meaning, that is where your input comes in to help me with forming my completed thought process. I will lay out mine with Biblical support and then I ask you to do the same if you agree, disagree, or a mixture of the two. But I think this is a good conversation to have to find what the truth is in this issue.

What Matters More lyrics
You say always treat people like you'd like to be/I guess you love being hated for your sexuality/You love when people put words in your mouth/About what you believe/Make you sound like a freakCause if you really believed/What you say you believe/You wouldn't be so damned reckless/With the words you speak/You wouldn't silently consent/When the liars speak/Denying all the dying of the remedy

(Chorus)

Tell me, brother what matters more to you/Tell me, sister what matters more to you

If I can see what's in your heart/By what comes out of your mouth/Then it sure looks to me like being straight/Is all it's about/It looks like being hated/For all the wrong things/Like chasing the wind/While the pendulum swingsCause we can talk and debate/Till we're blue in the face/About the language and tradition/That He's coming to save/And meanwhile we sit/Just like we don't give a shit about/Fifty thousand people who are dying today

Colossians 3:8 Says, “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.” Yes, in contrast to the comparison he made to people dying that is a small comparison, but it is an apple to a car comparison. The problem is that the Bible tells us not to use such language regardless. Yes, we should be worried about the 50,000 dying today, and I would add to that if you count abortions into that, but I wonder if he did. Either way, why negate one part of the Bible in order to make a point about the other? He is doing exactly what he is complaining about the others doing. He is just rationalizing his is better because death is better to worry about then swearing, but I thought when we tell people about sin, we tell them sin is sin before God regardless of what it is? Seems contradictory and not a great message for youth or anyone. Why not steal then as long as I worry about those dying, and maybe even give some of what I steal to the poor? I will conclude with Ephesians 5:4 in order to give more then one verse, “neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”

Lastly, in the video if you watch it, and not sure that I recommend that you do, so I am not going to promote it with a link. You will have to find it on your own if you so desire. But in the video Derek’s friend is smoking, and if I am not mistaken, cancer is one of the number one killers in America. Why doesn’t he get mad at his friend for smoking, as that is killing him with his second hand smoke? He talks about caring for the 50,000 dying today, but does not cut the smoking scene from his video so as not to promote something that kills. Just another apparent contradiction.

I chose one more song, but most of them all have contradictions in them, or use examples that are not comparable to make an exaggerated point in my opinion. Again, my opinion and maybe you can clear it up for me.

Below are the lyrics to Heaven and I will let you read them and then I will make my comments afterwards.

Lyrics to Heaven

I was killed in a shopping cart/turned upside down and left for dead/i saw a clown try to speak to me/as i floated overhead/i found my way to a familiar place/i swear i’d been sometime before/i would’ve thought it was the marketplace/but i could not find the door

(chorus)

oh i have been to heaven/and i have walked the streets/but i couldn’t find a hand to holdto keep me on my feet

paradise is a parking lot/a spot up front is your reward/and all the rest walk down streets of gold/to the house they could afford/i got lost in the swelling crowd/i could not afford to eat/you only have what you came in with/so i’m living on the streeti heard Jesus Christ was there/he had a car that’s bulletproof/that way everyone is safe/from the man who tells the truth

There is so much that can be said on Heaven that you can type it into my blog and read about it. This song does not do it justice at all and actually plays it down. I find it hard to believe that if he is in Heaven that he would not find someone’s hand to hold. It is the place where you find Christ and those who have died before and gone to Heaven. The chorus is far from true in my opinion and far from glorifying God in any real way. To me it denigrates what Heaven will be like and plays it down way too much. It is a place we are to desire to go, as that is where Christ is. "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (Jn. 14:2, 3).

I guess my concern in the end is how do these songs help the cause of Christ in any fashion since they use poorly done examples, foul language and he contradicts his very song within the video. I just don’t get it. Maybe you can help. All I ask is that if you are going to comment is that you use Biblical support for your arguments, as we are dealing with a Christian artist and not a secular artist.