My husband was telling me about an encounter he had today with a man that recently went to a concert. I'm not real clear on whether it was supposed to be a country concert or a 'Christian' concert. I didn't recognize the man's name as it's been years and years and years since I listened to whatever the popular music is. I'm more than just out of the loop, I'm so far from it that I wouldn't recognize it if I stumbled into it.
Whatever type of music this concert was, the singer performed at least one song that my husband was told was 'Christian'. The person telling him of this concert proceeded to play this song for my husband, who in turn proceeded to tell me as much of the words to the song as he could remember. I must admit that based solely on my husband's memory I was not impressed with the song. I did, however, pull it up online later and actually listened to the whole thing, complete with lyrics written on the screen.
I must admit that the tune of the music wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It did have a bit of a country flare to it, at least that was something. At least it was to me, someone that used to favor country music very much and can't stand the tune of other types of music. I could at least stomach this tune.
But the words...
Well, that was a different story. The tune was the best part of this song. Before my husband finished sharing what he remembered of the song with me I told him he needed to write about this song. To which he replied that I needed to listen to it so I could write about it. To say I'm the writer of the two of us would be an understatement.
So here I am, with that song freshly in my mind and a copy of the lyrics before me. My husband did a good job of sharing his thoughts with the man that had him listen to the song, now I'm going to do my best to share my thoughts after having listened to it. I find myself unsure of just how to do that, though, without copying down the lyrics here in my blog. Something I am not willing to do. So I'm going to try to find a way to share just enough without telling word for word what the song says. I am however going to go ahead and give the name of the song and the singers name because I can't find a way to speak of this song without all but naming names and giving lyrics. The song is called, 'I cast no stones' by a man named Cody Jinks.
I want to say here that I know NOTHING about this man, nothing about his music. I am not in any way trying to point to anything he has done or has not done. Until today I have never even heard of him. I am only sharing my thoughts on what the words in the song say.
I want to say here that I know NOTHING about this man, nothing about his music. I am not in any way trying to point to anything he has done or has not done. Until today I have never even heard of him. I am only sharing my thoughts on what the words in the song say.
Let me start by saying this song is an excellent...EXCELLENT...example of 'come as you are', love everyone, accept everyone, modern American "Christianity'. I think it could probably be the poster song for every American "Christian'. If it's not at the top of the charts it probably soon will be or it really should be. It's that perfect for 'Christianity' today.
And so the song opens, speaking about not casting stones, a reference, I assume, to John 8:7 where Christ says 'he who is without sin among you let him cast the first stone'. I am going to go ahead and say that this is in defiance of Matthew 7 which says one should FIRST remove the log...or sin...from their own eye before removing it from 'your brother's eye'. I will go further into this in just a minute though.
There's a reference, I assume, to Scripture but that reference isn't real clear if that's the intended meaning or not. It could just as easily be a reference to trying to live a certain way. Either way, the line after that one refers to resorting to sin and staying in it for a time before coming back to what I assume is supposed to be the straight and narrow way.
Anyone besides me seeing a problem yet? If not wait just a couple more lines and it should become clear. But in just those first few lines I'm left to make assumptions that the singer is even referencing Scripture. I find that to be a common thing with modern professing 'christians' today. One must often look real hard and make many assumptions to even know for sure if they are living a 'christian' life. From there the singer once again claims to not cast stones and then questions what gives anyone the right to tell him what to do. He all but says, mind your own business.
Is that a Christian response to anyone rebuking a professing 'Christian'?
But isn't it the standard response of most, if not all, professing 'christians' today? Don't they want to show up to 'church' on Sunday, dressed in their Sunday best, all 'dressed up for Jesus', and put in their time, doing their christian duty...one might even say, paying their pennance or serving their time...before they head back out into the world. I don't normally quote preachers but I once heard a preacher give a whole sermon on how people come to 'church' every week to get recharged just as we charge our phones. It's the best example I know of. 'Church' is now orchastrated to be an emotional high. It's like the strongest drug. It must hit on senses and emotions and draw a person in, charging them up, reassuring them that they are good 'christians' and giving them just enough of a push to feel like they have something to strive for over the next week until it's time to come back to 'church' and get charged up again.
I suppose we could call them churchaholics.
And these churchaholics get so charged up, so pandered to...so encouraged in their lives that no one dares to tell them that they are living in a way that if someone really looked at their life they would be hard pressed to tell most of them from every other non'christian' in the world. One is left to make great assumptions to come to the conclusion that they are 'christian' by any stretch of the word. But back to the song...
And then...what may well be the worst part of the 'Christian' song...the singer uses God's name in vain. As far as I can tell he takes a name that should be reserved for reverence and uses it as all but a curse word.
Which is really pretty common among many that profess a faith in Christ. I have stood in 'churches' before and heard people do the very same thing.
There's a reference, I assume, to Scripture but that reference isn't real clear if that's the intended meaning or not. It could just as easily be a reference to trying to live a certain way. Either way, the line after that one refers to resorting to sin and staying in it for a time before coming back to what I assume is supposed to be the straight and narrow way.
Anyone besides me seeing a problem yet? If not wait just a couple more lines and it should become clear. But in just those first few lines I'm left to make assumptions that the singer is even referencing Scripture. I find that to be a common thing with modern professing 'christians' today. One must often look real hard and make many assumptions to even know for sure if they are living a 'christian' life. From there the singer once again claims to not cast stones and then questions what gives anyone the right to tell him what to do. He all but says, mind your own business.
Is that a Christian response to anyone rebuking a professing 'Christian'?
But isn't it the standard response of most, if not all, professing 'christians' today? Don't they want to show up to 'church' on Sunday, dressed in their Sunday best, all 'dressed up for Jesus', and put in their time, doing their christian duty...one might even say, paying their pennance or serving their time...before they head back out into the world. I don't normally quote preachers but I once heard a preacher give a whole sermon on how people come to 'church' every week to get recharged just as we charge our phones. It's the best example I know of. 'Church' is now orchastrated to be an emotional high. It's like the strongest drug. It must hit on senses and emotions and draw a person in, charging them up, reassuring them that they are good 'christians' and giving them just enough of a push to feel like they have something to strive for over the next week until it's time to come back to 'church' and get charged up again.
I suppose we could call them churchaholics.
And these churchaholics get so charged up, so pandered to...so encouraged in their lives that no one dares to tell them that they are living in a way that if someone really looked at their life they would be hard pressed to tell most of them from every other non'christian' in the world. One is left to make great assumptions to come to the conclusion that they are 'christian' by any stretch of the word. But back to the song...
And then...what may well be the worst part of the 'Christian' song...the singer uses God's name in vain. As far as I can tell he takes a name that should be reserved for reverence and uses it as all but a curse word.
Which is really pretty common among many that profess a faith in Christ. I have stood in 'churches' before and heard people do the very same thing.
If that last line isn't the worst then the next one definitely is. He tells whoever he's speaking to, presumably everyone that ever listens to his song, to put up their Bible or ''let me get mine''.
What does he mean by that???
Is it a reference to the fact that he uses something other than God's holy Word? Is it... I can't even think of an alternative to what else that could mean. If I tell someone to put up their Bible or let me get mine, it would mean...what? First, again, I assume, he is saying he doesn't want to be corrected through Scripture. Second, again, I assume, he is saying if we are going to look at a Bible then I want it to be mine not yours.
Why?
What difference would it mean unless he, or anyone, doesn't believe that the Bible being used is an accurate version, or they don't like what an accurate version says and they want a perverted version that can be used to support their way of life?
The only other explanation I can think of that one could get from that statement, ""put up your Bible or let me get mine'' is that maybe he is saying either let's both have our Bible's and do Bible study or put your's away and let's not speak of it. Trouble with that assumption is that it does not fit with the rest of what that song seems to speak about.
From there the singer goes on to say he's not taking other's to hell and anyone correcting him is wasting their time. I've heard my uncle say the exact same thing so many times in my life that hearing that line was like taking a walk back through my life. At least my uncle had one thing right, he used to say he didn't need to go to a 'church' if he wanted to pray or read a Bible. He always said he could do that at home or under his shade tree. I've seen 'church' loving family members tear into him for that statement. Most 'christians' don't even seem to understand that, although most of them are well versed on the 'I'm not harming anyone else so leave me alone' thought process.
Then comes the part where the singer claims not to pray or read his bible like he should but he hopes others find their way. That pretty much sums up the song. But there's that little part about not praying or reading his Bible. No, of course He doesn't. If he did it might tell him something he doesn't want to hear. Prayers are probably offered in a 'bless me', 'give me', kind of way until something goes wrong in their life and then all of a sudden it's a 'make it better' kind of prayer. They don't pray to Jesus or read their Bible very often because those things are far from their hearts and minds. I do realize there are exceptions to that statement. I know some professing 'Christians' that spend a great deal of time in Bible study and prayer. But the majority...do not.
I've been in large 'churches' that hold to the 'come as you are', nondenominational nonsense of American 'Christianity' today. I've held the perverted Bibles in my hands and read bits and pieces of them. I've listened to professing 'Christians' all but say exactly what this song says. As I mentioned earlier this song should be the poster song for every professing 'Christian' in America today.
I recently wrote several articles about sin in good taste, something that seems to be the accepted norm nowadays. So long as my sin doesn't infringe upon your sin...so long as I don't dare to 'judge' you for your sin...so long as I accept you and your sin and keep my opinions, and more importantly my Bible verses, to myself, than sin is okay. Not only that but it's the accepted thing so long as it looks good before others. Don't let your sin show it's base roots in front of others, don't portray the darker side, and if it's in 'good taste' then it should be accepted and loved by all.
That is the summary of several recent blog posts and I'm going to go ahead and tack this post on to those. This song seems to be the very example of sin in 'good taste'. Just so long as "I" cast no stones and don't take other's to hell then "I" should be left alone...don't judge "me"...don't dare to tell me what to do or not to do...Just...mind your own business.
That's what this song is all about. That's the mindset of just about every professing 'christian' in America. And it's the point behind what seems to be just about every sin being flaunted before others today. It's all about not casting stones, not judging, never mind that Scripture says one can and should judge others based off SCRIPTURE. We should hold everyone that professes to be a Christian to what Scripture says a Christian should be. But never mind all that...after all, professing 'christians' don't want to hear that. They want you to put up your Bible, not rebuke them from Scripture or anywhere else. Just leave them alone, accept them and their sin as they are.
It's just another case of sin being in good taste.
What does he mean by that???
Is it a reference to the fact that he uses something other than God's holy Word? Is it... I can't even think of an alternative to what else that could mean. If I tell someone to put up their Bible or let me get mine, it would mean...what? First, again, I assume, he is saying he doesn't want to be corrected through Scripture. Second, again, I assume, he is saying if we are going to look at a Bible then I want it to be mine not yours.
Why?
What difference would it mean unless he, or anyone, doesn't believe that the Bible being used is an accurate version, or they don't like what an accurate version says and they want a perverted version that can be used to support their way of life?
The only other explanation I can think of that one could get from that statement, ""put up your Bible or let me get mine'' is that maybe he is saying either let's both have our Bible's and do Bible study or put your's away and let's not speak of it. Trouble with that assumption is that it does not fit with the rest of what that song seems to speak about.
From there the singer goes on to say he's not taking other's to hell and anyone correcting him is wasting their time. I've heard my uncle say the exact same thing so many times in my life that hearing that line was like taking a walk back through my life. At least my uncle had one thing right, he used to say he didn't need to go to a 'church' if he wanted to pray or read a Bible. He always said he could do that at home or under his shade tree. I've seen 'church' loving family members tear into him for that statement. Most 'christians' don't even seem to understand that, although most of them are well versed on the 'I'm not harming anyone else so leave me alone' thought process.
Then comes the part where the singer claims not to pray or read his bible like he should but he hopes others find their way. That pretty much sums up the song. But there's that little part about not praying or reading his Bible. No, of course He doesn't. If he did it might tell him something he doesn't want to hear. Prayers are probably offered in a 'bless me', 'give me', kind of way until something goes wrong in their life and then all of a sudden it's a 'make it better' kind of prayer. They don't pray to Jesus or read their Bible very often because those things are far from their hearts and minds. I do realize there are exceptions to that statement. I know some professing 'Christians' that spend a great deal of time in Bible study and prayer. But the majority...do not.
I've been in large 'churches' that hold to the 'come as you are', nondenominational nonsense of American 'Christianity' today. I've held the perverted Bibles in my hands and read bits and pieces of them. I've listened to professing 'Christians' all but say exactly what this song says. As I mentioned earlier this song should be the poster song for every professing 'Christian' in America today.
I recently wrote several articles about sin in good taste, something that seems to be the accepted norm nowadays. So long as my sin doesn't infringe upon your sin...so long as I don't dare to 'judge' you for your sin...so long as I accept you and your sin and keep my opinions, and more importantly my Bible verses, to myself, than sin is okay. Not only that but it's the accepted thing so long as it looks good before others. Don't let your sin show it's base roots in front of others, don't portray the darker side, and if it's in 'good taste' then it should be accepted and loved by all.
That is the summary of several recent blog posts and I'm going to go ahead and tack this post on to those. This song seems to be the very example of sin in 'good taste'. Just so long as "I" cast no stones and don't take other's to hell then "I" should be left alone...don't judge "me"...don't dare to tell me what to do or not to do...Just...mind your own business.
That's what this song is all about. That's the mindset of just about every professing 'christian' in America. And it's the point behind what seems to be just about every sin being flaunted before others today. It's all about not casting stones, not judging, never mind that Scripture says one can and should judge others based off SCRIPTURE. We should hold everyone that professes to be a Christian to what Scripture says a Christian should be. But never mind all that...after all, professing 'christians' don't want to hear that. They want you to put up your Bible, not rebuke them from Scripture or anywhere else. Just leave them alone, accept them and their sin as they are.
It's just another case of sin being in good taste.
No comments:
Post a Comment