The Ugly Truth

I sit here half a world away from the people I call my own, and as of late I have noticed more and more that so often the things we say are evil say so much about the world.  I have been listening to a lot of music as of late and I remember when I was little how my mother in her ways would say the evil on how home was due to the satanic music my sister was listening to.  I grew up in a home that was less than conducive for a child, but that is not what I want to say here today.  Let us examine some music most Christians wouldn’t listen if their life depended on it.  Let’s begin with a classic…

Example #1

Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise

<Play>

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I take a look at my life and realize theres nothin left
Cuz Ive been blastin and laughin so long
That even my mama thinks that my mind is gone…

Im the kinda G the little homiez wannabe
Like on my knees in the night
Saying prayers in the street light…

Too much television watchin got me chasin dreams
Im an educated fool with money on my mind
Got my 10 in my hand and the gleam in my eye
Im a loced-out gangsta set-trippin banger
And my homiez is, so dont arouse my anger, fool
Death aint nuthin but a heartbeat away
Im livin life do or die, what can I say?
Im 23 now, will I live to see 24
The way things is goin, I dunno

Power into money, money into power
Minute after minute, hour after hour
Everybodys runnin, but half of them aint lookin
At whats goin on in the kitchen
But I dont know whats cookin
They say I gotta learn, but nobodys here to teach me
If they cant understand it, how can they reach me?
I guess they cant
I guess they wont
I guess they front
Thats why I know my life is outta luck, fool

Chorus:
We've been spending most our lives
living in the Gangstas Paradise

Tell me why are we so blind to see
That the ones we hurt are you and me

<End>

Now tell me what do you see here?  Most white Christian Americans hear a black man talking about killing people and doing drugs.  The reality is very different…  If you begin to truly step inside the realm of the people who can relate to this music you see something very different.  You see people who are living a life in pain and misery.  A proud people who feel like the world has abandoned them and turned away leaving them to fight out the rest of their lives in the filth of those who came before them!  

I say these things because I grew up listening to music and began to realize that the music that I connected with so much was the music that talked about broken homes, pain and living in a world of terrible acts.  Music is the one thing that expresses more clearly than anything else I have ever known what the world is feeling.  So why are we not listening?

Example  #2
Whitey Ford -  What It’s Like

We've all seen the man at the liquor store beggin' for your change
The hair on his face is dirty, dread-locked, and full of mange
He asks a man for what he could spare, with shame in his eyes
"Get a job you fucking slob," is all he replies
God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues

<Pause>

How many of us have seen such a situation?  How many of us have thought the same thing?  We as Christians should be the ones not condemning, but asking the questions of why.  We should not simply say he could choose to get out of this because the reality is, just like we were once in the filth of our sin, Christ did not simply say we deserve it and walk away.  He said I will become like them, and I will see it through their eyes.  He then came to save us from our misery and release us from the chains of sin that bound us to the death we so truly deserved….

<Play>

Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom that said he was in love
He said, "Don't worry about a thing, baby doll
I'm the man you've been dreaming of."
But 3 months later he say he won't date her or return her call
And she swear, "God damn, if I find that man I'm cuttin' off his
balls."
And then she heads for the clinic and
she gets some static walking through the door
They call her a killer, and they call her a sinner
and they call her a whore
God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to choose

<Pause>

Again here we find something that most Christians agree upon.  The death of an innocent child is a horrific thing to happen, but when did we become cold-hearted to condemn them?  I understand standing against the sin of the world, but did Christ tell the people who knew no better to go to hell?  Why do we not simply stand silently head down next to the clinic not to condemn, but to show our love.  Anger and hatred only creates anger and hatred.  We need to be reaching these young women because the reality is their failure is our failure.  We have failed them.

<Play>

I knew this kid named Max
who used to get fat stacks out on the corner with drugs
He liked to hang out late
he liked to get shit-faced and keep the pace with thugs
Until late one night there was a big gun fight and Max lost his head
He pulled out his chrome .45, talked some shit, and wound up dead
Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of this pain
You know it crumbles that way
at least that's what they say when you play the game
God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to lose

<End>

I want to make the note that throughout this song the artist talks about God.  He may not refer to Him is the best light, but why is that?  You know the reason we are called Christians?  We are called this because we are the representatives of Him who has sent us.  So who wants to be like a bunch of blind sinners who act like the world is perfect as they drive back and forth on Sunday morning to their piece of dirt surrounded by wood and stone?  I don’t…  We need to change the way we view the world.  We need to examine the world around us, and we need to realize that as Coolio so plainly put it, “If they can’t understand it, how can they reach me?” 

I move on to the final thoughts, the music of our culture is the ugly truth we so blindly ignore.  Our children do not learn immorality through the music they listen to.  They accept it because we have chosen to ignore it.  The world is pushing it on them and we act like it doesn’t exist when we need to be preparing them for the things to come.  If you give a child the truth in love then they will see the lies of the world.  Therefore I finish with this simple phrase….

The music of our culture is not the problem of our culture.  It is the expression of it….