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.