Featured Explicit Lyrics Prompt Lifeway to Yank Album from Shelves

So how many hymnals have tunes referencing Ezekiel 23?

 

I sure hope the toddlers aren't offended.

 

Not sure, but I know how many Bibles do.

 

If he wore something like this, we would know who he is because of the swoon-fest on Drudgebart.

 

And? This man's album is not the Bible.

The Bible contains instructions on how to perform a circumcision, but that does not mean that I believe a song detailing the procedure needs to be made.

 

Make Lifeway great again...

 

Ezekiel 23 is an illustration of the extreme perversion of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. This rapper wouldn't know anything about Ezekiel 23.

Ezekiel 23 isn't a song, and isn't marketed to teenagers, unlike rap (if you allow me the liberty to refer to rap as a song).

Ezekiel 23 refers to the judgement of these whores. The one representing Israel is killed by her lovers, per God's judgement, and she becomes a cautionary tale against unfaithfulness.

This illiterate, vulgar rapper implies there was no consequences for his whoring, God has "been good" to him (he doesn't confess to whoring, just to thinking with his genitals). The song itself is full of otherwise vulgar and unbiblical thinking, such as proclaiming he's no longer "scared of the Holy Ghost" but rather fears "holy folk".

White Evangelicals are trying too hard to prove they're not racist, so they allow this garbage into their bookstores and homes. White Evangelicals themselves have become so far away from God that some of them still think Lifeway is being racist for removing a CD with vulgar lyrics.

 

Yet there is a biblical song (psalm) that mentions (with pleasure) bashing children against rocks. (Psalm 137)

 

I'll make you a deal, as soon as this guy's song gets accepted as canon, I'll quick questioning his word choices.

 

Why are you so certain he does not? Please be specific and provide evidence or simply admit you are making wild accusations.

I don't care for rap myself, but I do know that rap is marketed to adults, not just teens. I also know that Bibles are marketed to teenagers and children.

Should you be using the wh*re word on a family site?

Why do you think he is illiterate? Please provide evidence or simply admit you are making wild accusations.

How are the statements I called out above examples of biblical thinking? I sincerely question whether or not you are a fair judge of biblical thinking.

Really? You are assuming motives. Some people genuinely like rap music and are not operating out of any "white guilt." I know more than a few folks like that.

I never thought Lifeway was racist, I just thought they were being hyper reactive. I have no idea what they decision making process was, but I think it is strange. They have allowed music by a number of artists that does not doctrinally jibe with mainstream Southern Baptist life, so I find it strange that they are drawing the line at this place.

They can do whatever they want, but it is strange to me. I rarely do business at "Christian" bookstores anymore because of the lack of discernment and the lack of real substantive books. When I need a serious Christian book, I can rarely find it at a Christian bookstore.

 

The KJV says "Happy..." Modern translations like the ESV might say something like "Blessed..." "Blessed" implies God approves. "Happy" implies nothing beyond what the Psalmist believes about the people's feelings toward their brutal enemies.

 

His songs are my evidence. His highly religious songs shows little knowledge of the Bible, as per an example I already give (about fearing men, not God, in this same vulgar song).

I'm not teaching kids to sing songs with "whore" in it. And, I have no objection to any word being properly used, and my use of "whore" is completely appropriate.

I accused Lifeway of trying too hard to prove they're not racist. That's about public-relations self-defense, not white guilt. I doubt the people who run Lifeway like rap. Are you going to ask me to prove that? Haha!

These days, anyone white lives under the presumption, prejudice of others, that he's racist. They would have still allowed this vulgar and doctrinally poor CD in their stores if not for the one word. They would have still allowed vulgarity if it weren't in the form of a single graphic word.

We can agree on this. Christian book stores don't carry much I'd be willing to read.

 

I think there are things that are for adults only - like an explanation of some of the imagery in the Song of Solomon and some of the prophetic passages.

Yes, and that's what he is describing in a contemporary metaphor. I actually heard nearly those same words from youth leaders when I was a teenager in church as a word of moral caution on more than one occasion.

The Bible says cruder and more vivid things than that. And Lifeway definitely sells that translation, because it is the Southern Baptist translation of the scriptures - Holman Christian Standard Bible.

 

Lol, justice? I mean, decry censorship of you like, but who is being denied justice in this situation?

 

My guess is that neither of these options express what happened. They had push-back against the album, thought the simplest thing to do was remove it and didn't expect the push-back they'd have against removing it. That's be my guess.

 

IF THE RAPPER HAD USED THE SAME LANGUAGE USED IN THE MOST SEXUALLY SHOCKING VERSE OF THE BIBLE, no one WOULD HAVE BEEN OFFENDED.

Original:
I was an insecure boy who just thought he was a genius
But always ***** off, that's because I thought with my *****

The rapper's verse would be:
I was an insecure boy who just thought he was a genius
But always angry, that's because I thought with my flesh
(It could be tweaked for rhyming.)

But, still, that "most sexually shocking" verse in the Bible is not a song aimed at children and it serves a legitimate doctrinal teaching. That rapper's song is garbage, doctrinally speaking.