Thursday, September 29, 2011
You Spin Me Right Round, Jesus?
Here's another example of "worship" that speaks volumes about what's wrong with Praise Bands, if you have ears to hear (and eyes to see). I mean, either we have to say, "OK, nothing wrong here, folks, it's all adiaphora, and there's no detectable false doctrine, so you can't judge," or you have to agree with us that the divine liturgy is not a matter of indifferent things. If you take the time to read the uploader commments at the youtube site, you'll see that this is in fact the discussion people are having there.
It's also another example of the kind of thing I was seeking to show in my most recent Liturgical Observer (for a subscription to the print version of our quarterly journal, click here), of a singer taking a popular rock song and changing the words a bit to convince himself that he has made it acceptable for worship. The example I had listed in the Observer was George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," for which someone replaced the background lyrics from the Bhagavad-Gita with references to Jesus. This example is actually creepier than that one, because it takes a song which is unquestionably about hedonistic sex -- "You Spin Me Right Round, Baby," by the overtly homosexual band Dead or Alive (to see for yourself, click here) -- and seeks to make it Christian. I expect few of those kids in the audience who were, um, spinning right round for Jesus were aware of the ugly origin of that tune, and who knows, perhaps some of those dancing Israelites were similarly unaware that their "worship" was unacceptable to God (for the final word on it, check with Moses).
So raise your hand if you think these people are actually worshiping Jesus. And if you raised your hand, it's likely you wanted to take of your shoe and spin it around too, like the people in the video, right?
I can't decide, but I think maybe this is Gnosticism, the ancient religion named some of its gods "Truth," "Word," "Life," and "Church" but was as far from Christian as darkness is from light.
HT: Dr. William Tighe
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I'm not ordained, so if you want an honorific title, Dr. will have to do.
ReplyDeleteSorry; fixed.
ReplyDeleteWell, I made the mistake of looking up the original lyrics before I read the entire blog post (which would have answered my question) . . . let's just say that some of the material I found related to this "song" is especially scandalizing.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help thinking of the LSB's inclusion of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"; whenever I sing it, it always suggest a place other than the Divine Service.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a high school campus pastor, I was compelled to allow other "worship leaders" (ordained or not) to lead chapel. One of them was a rostered DCE who used a "hymn" sung to the tune of an Eminem "song" - the original of which was peppered with the f-word.
ReplyDeleteMy students returned from that "service" complaining about it. One kid (actually an Atheist) thought it was in such poor taste, she complained to the principal (who himself on one occasion led a "service" with a three-dimensional image of Sponge Bob in the sanctuary.
I'm sure these folks mean well (both are baby boomers), but how can they not see the effect of trivializing the faith of young people? How can anybody synthesize such flippancy with the Word of God? I just don't get it. And well-intentioned or not, it is harmful to the faith of young people and makes the Church just look like a big joke.