A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol (1843)

Charles Dickens

This evening my wife and I watched The Muppet Christmas Carol, which is my favorite version of Dickens’ classic tale.  I have a very deep fondness for both this particular story and the Muppets, so the combination of the two does not get old for me.

But I try to watch or read the story itself once a year, whether or not it is the Muppets’ version of it.  I’ve read the book multiple times and seen it scores of times, and have even written my own variation on the idea entitled “AChristmas Accounting” (the link here will not work for too much longer, but when I find a new home for the play, I hope to remember to update the link).

It is a story that is timeless and meaningful to all generations, and it is a story that we should continue to retell.  There is a Doctor Who episode in which the Doctor encounters Dickens, who asks him how long his books will last.  The Doctor replies, as though the answer were obvious, “Forever.”  I hope he’s right.  There’s a lot that Dickens still offers the world, and if the world will listen to him, he will continue to offer it.

We should wonder at part of that.  This is, I would argue, a distinctly Christian novel, not meaning that it is a cheesy book written for Christians (which is normally the sort of Christian art I talk about here), but that it only really makes sense in a Christian worldview.  It is at once refreshing that the world still will stand for this sort of thing, as post-Christian as we are becoming, but also worrisome that the world is missing the point. 

Merry Christmas! Or whatever!

I try to avoid stores as much as possible at Christmastime – I try to do most of my shopping online – and I don’t keep up with all the lists of stores that are refusing to say “Merry Christmas.”  So I don’t know if I’m supposed to be boycotting the store down the street or not, and I really don’t care.

I’m not terribly impressed with people who think they have done some great work for the kingdom when they complain to a 19-year-old cashier who just said “Happy Holidays” that she is doing the work of the devil or some such nonsense.  Honestly, having worked retail for several Christmases, the season is difficult already (unless you’re on commission, you’re pretty much working twice as hard as any other day, but for the same amount of money), and if you’re try to add pressure to these people’s lives because they greeted you in a slightly different way than you wanted, then you really should be looking more into the doctrines of love and charity.

The TechnoFunkBoy's "Robot"

This is part five of an interview I had with with the frontman of The TechnoFunkBoy recentlyDriver’s Seat.  Part 1 can be read here, Part 2 here, Part 3, and Part 4.  In this part, we will discuss track 4 of the album, “Robot.”
about their debut,

The whole album can be downloaded for free here or streamed online here.  Please do take a listen.  Kaenor and the band were very careful to not only make the music good, but that the lyrics and music would glorify God.

“Make You Mine” by Stryper

Song: “Make You Mine”

Artist: Stryper

Album: Reborn (2001)

Track: 4

One of the biggest problems in “Christian” “music” today, besides really horrible theology, is the “Jesus is my bearded girlfriend” style of tune.  These are the songs where you’re pretty sure the singer is singing about his girlfriend until he says a line that cannot be interpreted as anything but singing to Jesus, and you get that really queasy feeling when you realize what the band has been singing to God.

One of the reasons I like the hard rock bands, besides the fact that hard rock is awesome, is that there aren’t a lot of these songs.  There are a lot of tunes like “Open Your Eyes” and “Reborn,” but not so much about cuddling with Jesus.

But I keep looking at the lyrics on this one, and it’s very borderline, and it’s taking some work to figure out what this is about. 

The TechnoFunkBoy's "Valley"

This is part four of an interview I had with with the frontman of The TechnoFunkBoy recentlyDriver’s Seat.  Part 1 can be read here, Part 2 here, and Part 3  In this part, we will discuss track 4 of the album, “Valley.”
about their debut,

The whole album can be downloaded for free here or streamed online here.  Please do take a listen.  Kaenor and the band were very careful to not only make the music good, but that the lyrics and music would glorify God.

“When Did I See You Cry” by Stryper

Song: “When Did I See You Cry”

Artist: Stryper

Album: Reborn (2001)

Track: 3

It has been a little while since we looked at Stryper’s Reborn album, but I haven’t forgotten about it.  The first two songs were pretty solid theologically (and musically, I might add), so let’s dig a little deeper. 

The Apostle Peter and the Last Supper (2012)

I’m seeing a lot of Pure Flix movies lately.  Mostly because they all seem to be on Netflix (and therefore free), but also because I’ve enjoyed at least a few of them.  They seem to have a decent budget, and the writing is not half bad, so I’ve been sticking with them.  There are some really bad ones (The Book of Ruth comes to mind), but also some more solid ones.

“More solid” being a relative term compared to most Christian movies.  They seem to all be at least problematic theological.  At worst, they succumb to bad TBN theology (Ruth).  At best they are just misguided (usually in eschatology and in Gospel presentation).

Peter, on the other hand, is actually pretty good.  Now, as with some of their other films, Jesus does appear on the screen, which is something that these movies do without even really considering the properness of it in light of the second commandment.  That being said, and this is something I’ve said before, I’m not going to review that point, because I haven’t studied it enough to really make a case on whether Jesus should appear in movies yet.  I hope to research that a bit more and do a blanket post that I can reference for any film that portrays the God-man. 

Lion of Babylon (2011)

Lion of Babylon

by Davis Bunn

Bethany House

I got this book as a free audiobook (though not free anymore) from Christian Audio.  Every month they have a free audiobook of varying quality (from utter Christian brilliant to outright heresy).  I’ve gotten several good titles this way, and this is honestly one of them.  Not necessarily for theological reasons, but simply because it is a good book.

Charity by Meme, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Ice Bucket Challenge!

When I was in college, I was listening to my favorite morning show personalities on the radio, and they were interviewing some film star (I don’t recall who).  In the course of the interview, the radio guys brought up a charity that they ran in town, but presented it along these lines, “Well, Mr. So-and-So, you are a Hollywood guy, you have plenty of money, and we run a charity in town here to help children.  Since you have plenty of money, we can count on your support for the poor children, right?”

Of course he said yes.  He had to.  He had no idea what this charity was or what they did.  Yes, their mission was the “help children,” but what did that mean?  Did they take kids out of school and teach them to make moonshine?  Did they train them to be circus acts?  Did they teach them Islam, or Mormonism, or some strange religion that worships Bill Murray?

I suppose they were probably good, but I don’t know for sure.  I was in college, so I certainly didn’t have any money, so I never looked into the group to make sure they were okay.  But even at the time, I recognized what they had done – they had basically blackmailed the guy into giving them money.  Had he said no, they would have been talking about it for days, how Mr. So-and-So hates little kids, and the actor knew it too.  He had to offer up something to keep them happy. 

The TechnoFunkBoy's "Cross"

This is part two of an interview I had with with the frontman of The TechnoFunkBoy recently about their debut, Driver’s Seat.  Part 1 can be read here and Part 2 here.  In this part, we will discuss track 3 of the album, “Cross.”

The whole album can be downloaded for free here or streamed online here.  Please do take a listen.  Kaenor and the band were very careful to not only make the music good, but that the lyrics and music would glorify God.

Who am I? What am I doing here? And why are the fans expecting me to do something different?

When I was a youngster, I went to a Whitecross / White Heart concert with my youth group.  In short, it was epic, but not the point of this story.  The band opening for them was a local group called 20/20 Blind, and I very much enjoyed them.  I got their CD and I still have their tunes on my iPod.  It was a solid record.  One short-lived band I was in actually worked on covering one of their tunes, but we broke up before we could perform it live.

Anyway, several years later, I started to look up the band to see if they put out anything else or were still together or what.  It took some hunting, but I found 2020 Blind and saw that they had some new music.  It was free, so I downloaded the songs and took a listen.

And it didn’t sound the same at all.  I mean, not even a little bit.

The TechnoFunkBoy's "Almighty"

This is part two of an interview I had with with the frontman of The TechnoFunkBoy recently about tDriver’s Seat.  Part 1 can be read here.  In this part, we will discuss track 2 of the album, “Almighty.”
heir debut release,

The whole album can be downloaded for free here or streamed online here.  Please do take a listen.  Kaenor and the band were very careful to not only make the music good, but that the lyrics and music would glorify God.

The TechnoFunkBoy's Driver's Seat

I had the pleasure of sitting down with the frontman of The TechnoFunkBoy recently about their debut release, Driver’s Seat.  The band allowed me to produce this album for them for a few reasons, one

because of my love of the same sorts of music that they love, but also because of a commitment for exactly what this blog stands for – that art should glorify God, especially when we are explicitly singing about Him.

I considered reviewing the songs individually here, like I would any other album, but Kaenor Apana was very willing to chat about them directly, so I thought that would be a much better and more interactive look at the theology in these songs.  The interview will be posted over several weeks as we look at the songs in detail.  This week’s interview will be an introduction to the band and the album.

The album is free, so please download it here and give it a listen! 

“Reborn” by Stryper

Song: “Reborn”

Artist: Stryper

Album: Reborn (2001)

Track: 2

The first track of this album is a call for the lost to “open your eyes,” but it doesn’t give a lot of information as to what they are opening their eyes to.  “Reborn” in an important track to follow that song, because it is here that we get down to it – a call to faith.  And not just generic faith, but faith in a specific Man.

If you believe . . .

One thing we must note right away is what this call is to.  Without saying so, the narrator is clearly Jesus in this song, and the focus is fully on Him.  The constant refrain is that, if you believe, you will be freed. 

“Open Your Eyes” by Stryper

Song: “Open Your Eyes”

Artist: Stryper

Album: Reborn (2001)

Track: 1

I didn’t start listening to hard rock until I was in High School, and so I unfortunately missed a great deal of Stryper’s popular years.  I’ve had to catch them mostly in hindsight, and I’ve really liked the stuff I’ve heard.  This one is a frequent go-to album for me, especially when driving.  From the first track, it just starts going and really doesn’t let up very much.

And after all this time, I still don’t recognize much of the lyrics, oddly enough.  I guess I hadn’t paid that close attention before.  Of course, this was well after the time in my life when I only had a few CDs, and I played those until I knew every note.  There’s good and bad with having a lot of music on the iPod.  The bad is that I don’t know the music as well as I did the stuff from earlier in life. 

This Present Darkness (1986) Part 2: Prayer and Power

This Present Darkness

By Frank Peretti

Crossway Books

As with part 1, I should note that I am reviewing the recently free audiobook from Christian Audio (which is no longer free, but was at the time), not the print text.  The audiobook is heavily abridged, so there are undoubtedly subtleties in the text that didn’t make it to the recording.  But since it’s been years, perhaps a decade or more, since I read the book, I will refrain from reviewing the full text.

Prayer and Power

One major theme of this book is the power of prayer.  Throughout the book, the angels are encouraging the saints to gather in prayer, and are in fact waiting to act until they have more prayer support.

Honestly, the book is a good reminder of the power of prayer.  The Reformed worshipper is tempted to over-emphasize God’s sovereignty and under-emphasize God’s use of means to accomplish His will.  This is not a weakness in the theology itself, but the practice of it.  Almost all Christians will lean toward one ditch or the other on this one.  On extremes, some charismatics think their prayers to be the deciding factor in all (or most) things, while Hyper-Calvinists might not think they matter at all. 

“Word 2 the Father” by DC Talk

Song: “Word 2 the Father”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 16

Ah, yes , here we are at the end of our examination of DC Talk’s Free at Last album.  On the whole, it honestly did a little better than I thought it would in a theological review, but my expectations were rather low.

But then again, we haven’t reviewed this song yet, and it’s so bad it might tank the entire album. 

“I Don’t Want It” by DC Talk

Song: “I Don’t Want It”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 14

I was about 15 years old when this disc came out, and I’m not sure I’d ever heard a Christian band talk about sex as openly as they did in this tune.  As just an indication of how “explicit” this song was, we were listening to the album in the car once, and my mom actually changed the track because they were so blunt in their lyrics.  Well, compared to some of the stuff “Christian” bands are saying these days, this is pretty tame, and I differ with my mother’s reaction.  I don’t think the boys crossed a line here.  This was a message that needed to be heard, and it inspired a lot of us who were right at that age where sex was becoming a very big temptation.  Their willingness to talk frankly about it was a very good thing. 

Revelation Road 2: The Sea of Glass and Fire (2013)

Previously, we did a review of the first part of the Revelation Road movie.  And when I say that it was the first part in this movie, that’s really what I mean.  This is a movie in two parts, not two separate movies with the same characters.  I just don’t want you to be disappointed when you reach the end of Part 1 and it doesn’t end.

Part 1, you will remember, was about this salesman who enters into the most unfriendly town ever (both because of the criminals and also the annoying Christians).  Some bikers try to kill him, and he suddenly reveals that he is some awesome Jack Bauer-like kung fu beast and kills them all.  It was actually pretty cool.  I very much enjoyed the movie, except the “Christian” parts of it, which were almost all bad.

The first part ended with the rapture, which had been building up for hours in a massive electrical storm, then ended with the Christians glowing for several minutes, then being fried into a pile of ash.

Then Jesus appeared beside a road and was hiding from everyone.  Because that’s what He does according to Dispensationalism – comes back and hides.

So let’s get to this one!

This Present Darkness (1986) Part 1: Angels and Demons

This Present Darkness

By Frank Peretti

Crossway Books

This month, Christian audio is offering an abridged version of This Present Darkness as a free download.  It’s been many a year since I read the book, but I was a fan of it, so I devoured the audio version very quickly.  As a note, this review is on the audio abridgment, not the original novel, since I don’t remember the original novel well enough to review it.  Also as a note, they abridged way too much of the story out.  It looks like they were trying to fit the entire thing on three CDs, and I really wish they had added at least one more disc.

I am not generally a fan of “Christian” novels, at least the ones published in the last few decades.  They are either really goofy, or outright heretical.  Peretti is different.  I like his work quite a bit.  He’s a good writer, capable of fast-moving plots and good suspense, and he appears to be basically Orthodox, as far as I can tell.  He is certainly Pentecostal in his theology, so we should have differences with him there, but based on what I’ve read, I’m under the impression that he is a Christian brother who also writes well. 

Revelation Road: The Beginning of the End (2013)

I don’t know why I watch Christian end-times movies.  I know what they will be.  They will be

Dispensational, because the actual historic and orthodox views of the Eschatology wouldn’t make for good movies.  In those views (A-millennialism, Post-millennialism, and Historic Pre-millennialism), things either get steadily better until the end or worse until the end, but once that trumpet blows, that’s it.  It’s difficult to make that into a two-hour movie, especially one that is artistically satisfying.

Dispensational Pre-millennialism is different.  In that scheme, Jesus returns in a secret rapture either at the beginning of the Tribulation or in the middle of it, takes away his believers, and leaves the rest for the remaining part of the seven year Tribulation.  Then He returns again and starts the millennial reign on the earth.

This view is not at all historic.  No Christian ever has believed it until the 1800s.  Beyond that, it is simply not biblical.  And I don’t have time here to explain why, though I do recommend Kim Riddlebarger’s extended lectures on this topic.  I’ve listened to all of them, but if you get through the first few of them, you’ll get the gist of what is being said.  Scroll halfway down the page and you’ll see them on the right.

But that makes for interesting movies, because Jesus coming back and things end is actually the very definition of a Deus ex Machina, which is something you’re not supposed to do when telling a story.  But if part of the world disappears, leaving the rest in a terrible Tribulation with all sort of problems and craziness, then that’s more interesting. 

“Lean on Me” by DC Talk

Song: “Lean on Me”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 12

While everyone got really excited back in 1992 about “Jesus is Just Alright,” “Lean on Me” seems to be the more enduring cover tune of the two.  Like in “Free at Last” (the song, not the album), this proved to be a really great mix of hip hop, soul, and rock, which was the thing that really set DC Talk apart in this portion of their career. 

Derek, series 1 (2013)

I got an email recently that series 2 of Derek has hit Netflix.  There are not many such announcements that I

had as eagerly anticipated.  I started watching series 1 because some of the stuff Ricky Gervais does is pretty good, so I thought I would give it a try.

I was not expecting what I got.

It’s a comedy, and a comedy that is, at times, rousingly funny.  One thing I appreciate about British comedies is that they are more concerned with the content and the delivery than the look of things.  American television has to have good-looking people fronting their comedies, but the Brits don’t seem to care about that as much as the talent of the people there.  My single favorite British comedy, Keeping Up Appearances, is exactly that.  Patricia Routledge was already in her sixties when that show started, but she was downright funny.  It wasn’t her looks that kept me tuned in – it was her.

Derek very intentionally gets a very talented cast and makes most of them look a little off.  Then all the extras are elderly, because the whole thing takes place in an old folk’s home.  The place is drab and grimy, and a lot of the people are too.

“The Hardway” by DC Talk

Song: “The Hardway”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 10

Besides “Jesus is Just Alright,” this tune was the big draw for the album.  It’s not the best song, but it’s the best ballad.  For a lot of people, those would be the same thing, but I’m more of a rocker myself, so I tend to like the songs like “Luv is a Verb” more than something like this.  However, the ballad is critical for a band like this, especially at that time.  Christian radio was hesitant to play songs with guitars or rhythm (only exaggerating slightly), so all bands had to put in something soft and pretty, even the Christian metal bands.

But musically, the song is fantastic.  Everything falls into place quite nicely here – the melody, the arrangement, the pace.  Let’s see if the theology does the same!

“Time Is . . .” by DC Talk

Song: “Time Is . . .”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 9

One of the hard rocker tracks.  Not the best song ever, but rocks pretty good, so worthwhile in that sense.  This is one of several tracks on the disc that is written in reference to a particular passage of Scripture, which is something I heartily applaud.  Most “Christian” music just has vague statements about Jesus being my bearded girlfriend, but DCT make a concerted effort to tie their work to the Bible.  Let’s see if they handle the text properly!

Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss (1971)

One of the things I want to do on this blog is not just review “Christian” “art” for theology, but also to point out when secular art really hits on something important.  In a lot of cases, unfortunately, I’m finding that the world expresses better theology, at least in part, than a lot of the Christian products we review here do.

The reason for this is simple.  The Bible teaches us that we all have an inherent understanding that there is a God and something of His nature.  In Romans, we find this statement: “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (1:19-20).  Again, “They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts” (2:15).

We are made in God’s image, and we reflect something of Him.  That is why we have concepts like justice, mercy, and love in even the most secular of places.  Evolution cannot explain things like morality, good, and evil, and yet we know that these things exist and that they are universal.

So it should come as no surprise to us when the world advocates Christian values without acknowledging that they are necessarily Christian.  When I wrote a book about Christianity and the show Firefly, some people criticized me because the creator of the show, Joss Whedon, is an atheist, so clearly didn’t mean to reflect Christian values in it.  But Christianity is true.  It is the only worldview that actually works.  So we should not be surprised when an atheist writer denies his atheism by writing about good and evil, love and justice.  We should actually expect him to do so.  Their understand of God’s revelation is incomplete, and damningly so, but there is an understanding there.

Which brings me to The Big Boss with Bruce Lee.  I’m a huge martial arts movie fan, so I really look forward to anything with Lee in it.  Even when the budget is very low and the plot is cheesy, it’s a pleasure to watch that guy do his thing.

Vacation

Hey all!

Going to be on vacation for the next week.  I've had some conflicts getting up two posts I had prepared for this last week, so I'll keep them in the hopper until my return!

“Free at Last” by DC Talk

Song: “Free at Last”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 8

Besides the rather goofy opening, this was actually one of my favorite tunes off of the album.  It has a very nice gospel / rock / rap blend that really represents the best DC Talk was doing at this particular time in their career.  It has always been and probably will always be one of my favorite tracks off the record.

Should we care what Scripture says is wrong?

Update: Dan Haseltine has clarified his statements in a post here.  While I would like a little further clarification on a couple of items, I think the post is a good one and important to read.  I leave my own post up because this approach is way too common, and I believe the discussion I've written below is worthwhile, but with the understanding that Dan's comments were more a result of rush and limitations of Twitter than an actual denial of the moral weight of Scripture.  I hope he will clarify very soon how much weight he gives Scripture.

I ran across this headline earlier today, and was just going to pass it by, but after thinking about it a while, it occurs to me that this is exactly what this blog is about – the issues going on in “Christian” music.

So here it is:  “DanHaseltine, front-man of Christian band Jars of Clay, takes to Twitter tosupport gay marriage.”

There are a number of issues we can look at here, and I’m really only interested in one of them right now.  Look, we can totally talk about homosexual marriage here, and we probably will at some point, but I’m going to avoid that topic right now because I really want to talk about something else, and whenever homosexual marriage becomes an issue, it tends to become the only issue.  Let’s not do that right now.  We can do that later.

“Socially Acceptable” by DC Talk

Song: “Socially Acceptable”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 7

I’m really not at all looking forward to reviewing this song, not because I’m expecting the theology to be bad, but simply because I don’t like it.  Musically, it always felt like filler to me, and I normally skipped it while playing through the album, and was doing so even ten years ago, when my musical tastes were less developed as they are now.  But, we’ve committed to give each artist a full hearing on this blog, which means reviewing the theology of all the songs and not just the good ones.  So here we go!

The Book of Esther (2013)

I do have to say that starting this blog has made watching bad “Christian” “art” a lot easier.  Now, it’s

actually enjoyable thinking about what I’m going to write about these films.  I used to dread any time that I would find myself sitting in front of some “Christian” film, but now I almost have a glee about it, just trying to figure out what better theology can be taught through the bad theology on the screen.

I probably wouldn’t have even watched The Book of Esther if it weren’t for this blog, but I saw it on Netflix, and grinned as I thought about what a train wreck it would be.  But it really wasn’t, at least as a film.  The production itself really isn’t all that bad.  It was entertaining as movies go, and the acting wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

But on the theology side (which is really the only thing we’re worried about here), the movie is easy to review because it makes the same critical change that almost everyone makes when narrating this story – the removal crucial pieces of plot and substitute something less, well, lurid.

"Say the Words" by DC Talk

Song: “Say the Words”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 5

As we continue our trek through Free at Last, we arrive at a tune that was never really in my favorites on the album.  Oddly enough, I always felt the music was meandering and aimless, and now that I’m examining the theology in the song, I’m finding the lyrics to be the same way.  But let’s get to it!

"Jesus is Just Alright" by DC Talk

Song: “Jesus is Just Alright”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 4

Just as way of background, this track was my favorite on this album when it first came out, and I know I was not alone.  I, like a great many others, worked really hard to learn the third verse and be able to keep up with Toby Mac rapping it.  As a side note, I sang along with him so much ten years ago, that I tried to rap this again yesterday, just to see if I remembered it, and I only stumbled on one line.  The song has lessened in my estimation over the years, mainly because the novelty of that rap has worn off, and the song itself isn't all that great.  Frankly, the Doobies did it well the first time, and we really didn’t need a hip hop version of the tune.  That being said, I do not think I'm overstating it when I say that this track was hugely influential and important to the album's success.

And it's a total theological train wreck.

The post where I go off on something I haven’t even seen

(or: What am I looking for in “Christian” movies?)

So I haven’t seen Noah.  Not planning to see it.  It’s just not one that interests me.  Besides the fact that I’m very suspicious of Hollywood trying to do either Christian or biblical movies, it just doesn’t look very good to me.

I may be wrong.  I’ve been wrong before.  When I was a kid, my parents took me to the theater to see “Crocodile” Dundee, and I literally cried in the car because I didn’t want to see it.  Turns out I really enjoyed it, and when the second one came out, I was first in line.

So maybe it’s brilliant.  Maybe it’s a masterpiece.  Maybe someone will convince me to see it when it’s on Netflix.  But right now, I’m counting down the days to Captain America: Winter Solider, and Noah is not on my radar.

But I’m interested in the Christian world’s response to the film.  The filmmaker admits he’s not trying to make a terribly accurate movie.  This is not some devout Christian who is trying to translate the text to the screen.  Someone is using the story as a jumping-off point to tell a different sort of movie.

"That Kind of Girl" by DC Talk

Song: “That Kind of Girl”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 2

Musically, this album starts the absolute right way.  You don’t even catch your breath after the first track before Toby Mac drops into a very skillful rhyme that leaves your head spinning.  There is literally no silence between these tunes, and they flow so naturally together.  As a side note, the tunes are so close together that the cut between tracks on the CD is actually misplaced by a fraction of a second, leaving the “T-” from “Toby” on the first track, and the “-oby” on the second.  That’s a bit annoying when you’re listening to songs on random.

But while we found “Luv is a Verb” to be a pretty cool tune, lyrically it fell pretty flat. Let’s see if the boys do better here.

The Good

This song comes (sometimes directly) from the Proverbs.  It very intentionally casts the “forbidden woman” described in the book (chapter 4, for example) with the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31.  The depictions of these women are clear and to the point, and the point is convincing.

To this day, I cannot read Proverbs 31 without hearing this song in my head, and that is because the second verse comes directly from that chapter, very often word-for word.  This is good stuff here, and not to be missed.  They take the exact same approach as Scripture does, and that is to be commended and applauded.

I want to stress this, because I’m going to touch on a couple of lines a little later.  The entire approach of the song is right and good.  We’ll nitpick a couple of points, but overall, this is the approach Christian music should take.

Neither Good nor Bad

Talk about nitpicky!  I bring this one up because I reacted to it wrongly when I first heard the song, and so I’m guessing others misunderstood as well.  At least I think it was a misunderstand, since the line is a bit vague.

When I was first listening to the album, I thought the reference to the girl in the first verse drinking and smoking as alluding to sinful activity.  Mainly because I believed those activities were sinful.  I now think they were just fleshing out a character here and weren’t trying to say that a beer is sinful.  I don’t put the line in the “bad” column because I think it was my misunderstanding here.

To be clear, drunkenness is a sin, but not drinking.  Alcohol has been the official drink of Christianity for 2,000 years.  Smoking is not a sin, but is probably unwise, and so probably should be avoided.  Now a good pipe now and then, well, that’s a gift from God and should be enjoyed heartily.

The Bad

Only a couple of lines here that need to be discussed.

First, Toby claims that “God with bring her to me so I don’t have to search.”  This sort of “Let go and let God” philosophy has been around for a while, but it’s not biblical.  We are called to wisdom as Christians, and often that wisdom will lead us to action.  We see the examples of the patriarch in the Bible, for example.  Abraham actively sent for a wife for his son, and later, we see Jacob make a similar himself.  They did not sit in the Promised Land and wait.  We are called to be wise and responsible, to seek the good.  Oddly enough, the Proverbs themselves teach us to seek a wife in 18:22, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”

Now, wisdom may call us to hold off for a time, or that the person we are with is not the right one.  This requires prayer and godly counsel.  But generally, we are called to seek a good wife.  (Or husband.)

Next, DC Talk tells us that “When I finally meet her, I’ll know how to treat her, but fulfilling all her needs.”  Good luck with that one!  This is the sort of nonsense that single people say before they get married, and it’s a statement made of ignorance or pride.  The truth is that we do our best, but it is Christ who fulfills all of our needs, not our spouses.  Marriages built on this sort of wishful thinking are going to be rocky.

Lastly, they say they will “cherish her forever.”  Not really sure what’s behind this one.  There is a sense where it is likely true that we will cherish our Christian brothers and sisters forever.  However, not as man and wife.  Jesus teaches us in Matthew 22:30 that marriage is a temporary thing, not carried with us in the resurrection.  The vagueness of the line makes me a little nervous here.

Overall

All things considered, we have a pretty solid tune here.  There are song lines I take issue with, but oddly, they all come in the same bridge.  The other verses are commendable.  I say good job to the boys of DCT.  The song is basically on solid ground.

Island of Grace (2010)

I’ve started a series on DC Talk’s Free at Last, but we’re going to interject a movie review here, because

this movie is an illustration of exactly why I started this blog.

It seems that the Christian movie world, much like the Christian music world, most often runs to cliché and vague “spiritual-sounding” lines rather than dealing with theological meat.  Well, we cannot blame the film-makers completely for that.  I’m sure a movie explaining Reformed theology would be a flop, while something that is just vaguely “Christianish” would do fairly well.  After all, Hollywood runs to the lowest common denominator all the time, but then Hollywood does not purport to answer to any higher authority besides themselves, while we do.

And there is a second difference between that Christian art should be and what Hollywood does.  An action film does not attempt to do much else besides entertain us.  A feel-good romantic comedy shoots squarely at the emotions, and so it doesn’t have to be more than ankle deep.  But if we are to make a movie that hopes to draw us closer to God, it should present a God that is distinguishable from any generic false god the world has created.

Which brings us to Island of Grace.  There’s nothing particularly wrong with this production, besides the acting.  The script isn’t bad, the pacing and tension fairly decent.  Why, it is even “Dove Family Approved.”

The problem here is that the understanding of God is so vague that it could quite easily be the Muslim or Mormon god that they are talking about.

But wait.  It is.

Island of Grace is really a repackaged Mormon film called Rescued with only a few scenes changed (I would direct you to this Mormon site for the specific changes, though their conclusions are obviously wrong).

They have literally taken a Mormon movie, changed a couple of lines and scenes, and called it Christian.  And it’s not the only movie they’ve double-released like that.  This particular media outlet has figured out that they can make more money with their Mormon films by changing some lines and convincing Christians that they are talking about the true God rather than the Mormon one.

Which isn’t a comment about them.  Mormons these days tend to think that they are Christian, and so this group probably thinks they are just helping merge the groups.  It is a comment on us.  When we have accepted such drivel and think it to be honoring to our God, we have set ourselves up to be fooled by false ones.

If you’re wondering why I’m doing this site – this is the reason.  Our art has become so bad and watered down that we watch a movie about a false god and think that it is about the true one.  We need to change, and we need to demand better.  I’ll say this – God demands better, and if we are going to honor God, then we need to get to know Him better.  This site is designed to call us out on this point and ask that we step up our game a little.  No more Mormon gods in disguise – we worship the true God.

"Luv is a Verb" by DC Talk

Song: “Luv is a Verb”

Artist: DC Talk

Album: Free at Last (1992)

Track: 1

I cannot overstate to you how much this song influenced me musically.  Growing up, we typically listened to soft adult-contemporary Christian music with my mom or early 60s Rock with my dad.  Whatever 80s and early 90s music I had heard by that point had only been overheard.  My parents at last let me get a DC Talk album because we read about the Christian rap movement in some Christian magazine, but Nu Thang wasn’t all that musically advanced.  Granted, it was advanced for me, since I hadn’t really listened to any music that was really good recorded after 1965, but it wasn’t really groundbreaking.  There was a massive musical leap between that album and this one, and when I heard this for the first time, I was blown away, and it had no small role to play in my musical development.

But we’re not here to look at the music.  We’re here to check out the theology.

The Good

Without doing research outside of the song itself, it appears that this song draws mostly out of 1 John.  The focus here is how we show love.  And that love must be shown, not merely spoken.  The whole story about being surprised to see that the word “love” is a verb is effective, if rather inaccurate (love can also be a noun).

The third verse is particular good here.  I appreciate the part of about love not being “all that stuff that you see on T.V.”  That is a good reminder for the very young Christian, which is assumedly the target audience.

Neither Good nor Bad

One thing that this song does that the album as a whole does is put the focus squarely on DC Talk.  It starts out with a chant “Down with the DC Talk.”  It would be a minor point except that we start seeing theological problems coming through ego later down the road, so it should be pointed out and exposed here too.  It does not present a theological problem yet, but we should note that the focus is off a little.

In addition, DC Talk has a habit of loading their lyrics full of witty phrasings and hip hop lingo, but not with actual substance.  It’s frustrating, because the primary advantage that rap has over other forms of song is the ability to load it up with far more words than anything else.  But DC Talk squanders those words, and while Toby is a very good rapper, it doesn’t appear that he has much to say.

The Bad

There is a major theological flaw in this song, and one that should cause a great deal of concern.  The lyrics go thusly:  “Luv is enough if it's unconditionally given, now you're living out the Great Commission.”

Uh-oh.  That’s a problem.  They could mean one of those things here, but neither one are right.  The first possible meaning is that God gave his love unconditionally, so we’re living out the Great Commission.  Well, the Great Commission is, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20), so there seems to be a missing step somewhere in there.

The more likely meaning behind the lyric (since the song is about our love, not the Father’s) is that we live out the Great Commission by loving unconditionally.  Which is not the Great Commission at all, and neither is it something we ever really do. 

And it is with this line that they take a song about living a Christian life in love for one another and step into a massive confusion about what the Gospel is and how it is spread.  The Gospel is not something we accomplish through our love, but is accomplished by God on our behalf.  And while it is loving to go into the world and tell about the Gospel, the only perfect love here is His, and we should repent always for our lack of love.

Which brings up my second problem with the song.  There’s no Gospel here.  I believe the song is based on 1 John, which is primarily about how we are to love one another, but 1 John does not abandon us when we stumble here, but instead tells us that “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2:1).  We are constantly cast back to the source of our righteousness in the epistle.  Not so here.  We are cast back to the dictionary in this song and told to love perfectly.

Which is something I have failed at on a daily basis.  So DC Talk’s message isn’t really seeming that hopeful to me.  Instead, it just makes me feel inadequate.

Overall

There is only just a little theology in this song, despite all the lyrics, and what theology is there is more tainted by the bad than overcome with the good.  The opening track to Free at Last leaves much to be desires.

Can we get the ad hominem attacks out of the way, please?

I’ve never had a “discernment” blog before, but I’ve been to enough of them to know what to expect.  There are certain people who just don’t think this is a valid expression of the faith.  I would clearly disagree, and I would argue that from Scripture.  I hope you would do the same with me.  That discussion is welcomed here.

But then there are other reactions that are actually ad hominem attacks.  This is a Latin phrase that means, “Against the man.”  It’s a logical facility where you cast doubt on point the person is making by attacking the person directly.  For example, my buddy Frank says, “I think Senator Joe Blow makes a good point when he says that taxes are too high,” and I respond with, “Yeah, well Senator Blow cheats on his wife!”

Well, that may be true that Senator Blow cheats on his wife.  It doesn’t mean that his point about taxes are too high is wrong.  My statement is ad hominem and is fallacious.

So we’re going to get the major one out of the way now so I don’t have to respond to them over and over again as we go.

You’re just a hater.

Actually, I’m a lover.  That’s why I’m doing this.  There is a place for loving criticism, and I hope you would agree with that statement, because you just criticized me.  So if offering any criticism whatsoever is just being a “hater,” when welcome to the club, my friend!

You live in your mother’s basement, eating Cheetos, sleeping on Star Wars sheets, and all you do is sit behind a computer all day and snap at people.

Star Wars sheets would be awesome!  The wife won’t let me get them.  Yes, I have asked.  Otherwise, I own a house, I have a job, and I prefer Sun Chips.  I do sit behind a computer all day, but it’s at work, not for blogs.

You’re being divisive!

This is one of those accusations that rest more on the accuser than on me, since in opposing my writing, you are being divisive too.  But being divisive is not necessarily a sin.  After all, Jesus did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  The question is, are we dividing over truth, or something petty?  I personally think the people who are spouting bad theology and false Gospels are terribly divisive, but those who come to correct the doctrine and set people on the right path are very loving.

Why don’t you try to do better if you know everything?

It is not a precondition to point out theological errors in a film that I produce a film of my own.  I think I would actually enjoy doing that, but I don’t have the money or time.  I am a musician though.  I teach guitar, and I perform at certain church functions, hopefully to the edification of the Body.  I hope to be releasing some tracks in the near future.  I will post those here, and I would encourage you to do a biblical critique of them, and of all Christian music you listen to.  We are called to be discerning, after all!

If you do a critique of my stuff, let me know about it!  I want to make sure my own music and writing is faithful to my Lord and Savior.

In addition, I do have some books out, with more coming soon.  One is theological, but others of my novels are “mainstream.”  That being said, I do try to interweave themes consistent with the Christian worldview in my novels, so I would invite critique of those as well.  I do not want to be advocating values contrary to Scripture, even in books that are not necessarily “Christian.”

You just criticize what others believe!  You only tear down!  You never build up!

I hope my posts will prove you wrong on this one.  I do want to give a positive case for good doctrine while explaining why bad doctrine is bad.  As to what I believe, I am Reformed, and I subscribe to the Westminster Standards.  If you read them, you will have a very thorough understanding of what I believe.

People like you would rather criticize the church than take part in it!

Now, I think this is a topic we should all actually consider very carefully.  It is absolutely true that there are people out there that are not members of a local church, who do not submit to an elder of the church, who are not involved in the Body of Christ, but still throw stones at her.  This is sinful and unacceptable, and those people should repent for the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus.  I pray that I do not become one of these.

I am a member in good standing at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas.  I am very involved there.  My elders all know me and keep up with my family to make sure we are doing okay.

You’re wrong!

Let me know how by using Scripture and plain reason, and we can discuss.

What is this? Who are you? How did I get here??!?!

I grew up in the 80s, but didn’t grow up on 80s music.  My father listened to Oldies, and my mother to CCM – Contemporary Christian Music.  My first introduction into more modern music was DC Talk, and when I went to see them in concert, I discovered a little-known band (at the time) called the Newsboys.  My first four CDs ever were DC Talk, Newsboys, the Beatles, and the Monkees.  This is what I was listening to.

All the music I listened to until High School was either Oldies or Christian.  This is the stuff I grew up on.  But it never occurred to be to actually test what was being taught in these songs.

By the way, this is exactly what we are expected to do.  The Bereans tested Paul’s teaching and they were commended for it.  Keep in mind what I just said – they were testing Paul’s teaching.  Paul the Apostle.  The guy who was writing the Bible.  If they are commended for testing Paul, then we should doubly be testing modern musicians and writers.