Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen

Sliding in on the last day of the month again. Maybe I’ll just write another post tomorrow and get June’s post over with. I’ve gotta write this quick because I’m going to see Snow White and the Huntsman tonight with some friends. So, as a result, this will probably be a little shorter than other posts. Also, I couldn’t decided on a song again, so I just listened to the top few songs on iTunes. As of me writing this post, this song is #1 on the iTunes Top 10 chart (which is odd, because I would have sworn that it was lower earlier today – it just goes to show you how “hip” I am!… Ha ha, yeah right).

Enough with the intro paragraph though, let’s get to it. This month’s (May) song is Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. The song is about a girl who meets a boy and becomes infatuated with him at first sight. She starts out the song by describing this guy she’s just met, along with a little bit of the situation. The background of this song (or rather the person in the song) is someone who wasn’t looking for love, but then suddenly develops a crush for someone she just met. Presumably she talks to this guy, and tells him:

(Chorus)

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?

It’s hard to look right, at you baby, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?

I think that most of the lyrics are fine, and that overall, the song is…cute (I find this word annoying and somewhat ill fitting, but it’s the best one – I suppose I might say that I find it assuming or mildly appealing too). Since it doesn’t have (sufficiently) bad lyrics for me to take apart, I’d like to look at the attitude of this song – the message if you will.

This song is all about love at first sight. Is that a bad thing? Maybe. At this point you’re probably thinking to yourself, “ah, Teegan, you’re just a grump, whose still single, so you’re taking it out on the song.” While that may be partly true, it doesn’t mean that I’m wrong for second guessing love-at-first-sight relationships. I’m sure they happen sometimes, but most of the time they end. Why? Because ultimately, who you are matters more than what you look like – at least, it should. And who you really are is not usually seen during a first encounter.

One thing that as frequently amazed me is how good Christian men describe meeting their wives. Most of them say something like, “I remember meeting my wife, I was just sitting there doing home work, and then I looked up and there she was. She had just walked into the room – she was so beautiful – and I knew right then. ‘That’s the girl I’m gonna marry.’” Seriously? That’s how you decided you were going to marry her? By the way she looked when she walked into the room? And I’ve heard this story from more than just one guy. The basic story is there with most of the men I’ve talked to – and some of these guys are serious Christians – pastors and teachers and stuff. They know their theology and their Bible well, but they still tell the same story. It’s gotten so ridiculous over the years that I sometimes suspect that all men take an oath to tell the same story about meeting their wives – something about how beautiful she was, how their jaw dropped, how they knew right a way, etc…

Maybe I just haven’t met the girl that will cause this reaction in me, but I seriously doubt, no, I hope that I will not decide who to marry by how she looks when she walks through the door. First impressions are important, but love at first sight is a bit extreme. Deciding who to date, or marry, is a decision that careful thought should be put into. And careful thought require more that the knowledge of a first name and what they look like.

So, is this a song that we should avoid, or is it ok to listen to? I would honestly say that this song is fine, but the premise, or idea, behind the song is one we should be wary of. It’s the time old saying ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover.’ Love-at-first-sight relationships are probably not going to be deep, let alone lasting relationships – since they are all about spur of the moment feelings. So, listen to the song if you want, but be wary of accepting its underlying message.

I hope this makes sense, I’m leaving for the movie soon, and friends are talking to me.

-Teegan

Imputation, Propitiation, and Expiation…What does that even mean?

You’re in church listening to the sermon, when all of the sudden your mind falters, tripping over the jargon the pastor just used to describe his most important point of the message. What are you going to do? If you can’t figure out the meaning of that word, then you might miss the meaning of the message itself! This is bad, you don’t want to be left behind as the pastor moves to his next point, but you have little choice. Even worst are the times when they start up a new series at church with a title like: “Reconciliation by Imputation – How God Justifies, Sanctifies, and Glorifies His Adopted Children.” …Well, I guess this is the month you get a free 40 minute nap on Sundays…

But wait a minute, what if there were an easy and convenient way to learn all these crazy terms? Not only would you stop stumbling over words in the sermon, but you might also glean some deeper theological truths from what you’re learning – Of course, it would also mean forgoing that chance at a Sunday morning nap, but you don’t get to do that right now anyways.

Well, you’re in luck, because this month’s Song You Should Listen To is just what you need to start learning all those big theological terms. Atonement Q&A by Shai Linne is a rap song, so I apologize to everyone who can’t stand rap. Normally, I don’t like it either – in fact, there are probably only about 5 rap songs that I will even listen to (and all of them are by either Shai Linne or Trip Lee). So just trust me on this one and go listen to it – you will be glad you did. Atonement Q&A as the name suggests is a song that is full of questions and answers, and so much of this song is like this: “Who is God? God is the universe’s Creator, and Sustainer plus the only Savior, there is no one greater. He’s triune, holy, omnipotent, omniscient, absolute, loving, sovereign and righteous are a few of His attributes.” And that’s just the first few lines, pretty good right? If you liked The Invasion (Hero) by Trip Lee, then you will also want to check this song out!

Spotify: Shai Linne – Atonement Q&a
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/atonement-q-a/id271728101?i=271728265

I find myself listening to this song about once a month. It’s catchy, informative, and really useful! The only “problem” I have with it is that now whenever a preacher says one of these words, the whole phrase that goes with the word quickly plays in my head. So when someone says: “Jesus is the propitiation for our sins,” this plays in my head: “Propitiation means since the Lamb has died His work is finished- God’s wrath is satisfied.” So that’s the Song You Should Listen To for this month. I hope you enjoy listening to it, and maybe you’ll like it so much that you go out and buy it!

P.S. This is the song I’ve been meaning to post for the last two months.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Teegan

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For – U2

Well, this post is late once again…

I’m using Easter and Finals as my excuse…except for this past week…I don’t have an excuse for that…

At any rate, This month’s (pretend it’s still April) song to review is I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2. Interestingly enough, I ran across this song a few years ago at a Promise Keepers conference. FYI Promise Keepers is an annual Christian conference for men. One of the speakers referenced it in his talk, and then had the band play the last part of it, but we switched up the lyrics (see end of post)

This song is about a man’s journey to find the meaning of, or fulfillment in, life. I found myself think about Ecclesiastes 2 a lot during this song. Both the man in the song and Solomon try seemingly everything to find purpose, meaning, and/or fulfillment in life. The difference between this man and the King with wisdom beyond measure, is that Solomon found what gives significance to things – that being God alone.

Let’s take a quick overview and then we will look more closely after that. In the first verse he relates that he’s climbed mountains, run through fields, crawled, and scaled walls to be with “you.”

I have climbed the highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you.

I have run, I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you.

I’m going to interpret “you” here to be a women – it’s the route that makes the most sense and it seems to fit with the rest of the song. Then he says: “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” He then seems to take a purely physical approach in verse 2.

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her finger tips
It burned like fire
This burning desire.

And then he tires a variety of things, from being outwardly kind, to being a ‘bad boy.’ This seems to cause his emotional state to fluctuate wildly between being warm and fuzzy and cold and hard.

I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone.

After all this, he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. So the next thing he does is turn to religion.

I believe in the Kingdom Come
Then all the colours will bleed into one
Bleed into one.
But yes, I’m still running.

You broke the bonds
And you loosened the chains
Carried the cross of all my shame
All my shame, you know I believe it.

Now, this is the hardest verse to explain away, because he seems to make a direct reference to Christianity, and then claims that as his belief. But goes on to say that he is still searching and empty. What do we say to this? Is Christianity just a pacifier like everything else? Does it leave you empty and unfulfilled? To answer these questions, let’s go back and look and some of the earlier verses a little more.

In verse 1, he has clearly elevated this person to the position of God. He climbs, runs, crawls, jumps, etc… just to be with this person. I recently found a quote from C.S. Lewis that I like very much, and I think might apply to this situation: “Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.” From what I can tell, it seems that this guy put all his identity into this girl, and their relationship, but found that neither could fill he empty soul.

Having failed in finding fulfillment in a “deep” connection, he changes strategy in verse 2 to one that is merely superficial. He tries to satisfy his longing with physical relationships – and fails. He tries to make everyone like him, and improve his emotional relationships, finds it pointless. He tries being bad, committing crimes, doing what he feels like, ignoring rules, etc… and yet he is left confused and mentally distraught. He’s ‘warm in the night’ – a time when people are usually cooler. And he’s ‘cold as a stone’ – a phrase usually used to describe someone who is emotionally closed off.

Having failed in his first few attempts, our man turns to religion as a last-ditch effort. He says: “I believe in the Kingdom Come, then all the colours will bleed into one.” To me this sounds very much like an ‘all roads lead to the same God’ line. And this idea is clearly refuted in the Bible: John 14:6: Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (cf. Matt 12:30) Something to remember is that Pantheists only accept Pantheists. As soon as someone says “I’m the only way” they are eliminated as quickly as possible by people who previously said ‘I accept and love everyone.’ Don’t believe me? Check out what happened to the early church in the Roman empire. The religion/practice of Rome was Pantheism, and they killed Christians hardcore. Why? Because Christians say that Jesus is the only way.

But getting back to my main point. What I’m saying is that we should be wary of his beliefs if he is saying all religions lead to the same God. But the second part of that last verse is a pretty close match to the Gospel right? That’s right. The problem here may be, that he never was a Christian. Of course, he says “you know I believe it,” but lets remember, there are references to people in the Bible who “believe” but are not really Christians. In Matthew 25, we have the story of the Sheep and Goats. The Goats are the people who said “I believe in Jesus,” but never did anything that proved that. Likewise in James 2:18-26 we are given a very good picture of what Faith is:

“But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (Emphasis added)

I would like to suggest that the guy in this song was mostly about doing things to make himself happy. Even the chorus/name of the song is self-centered “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Both James 2, and Matthew 25 tell us that faith is proved by works – not that works is the author of faith – but that faith is shown to be genuine via works. So I think that we can reasonably say that this man never had true Christian faith, because if he did, he would have demonstrated it with his deeds – and most importantly, he would have found what he was looking for.
Because in the end, Jesus is all that we’re looking for. (That, by the way, is what we changed the lyrics to at the Promise Keepers conference)

So what do we do with this song? I say keep it, but change the last chorus and give God some Glory. Because Jesus really is the only person who can satisfy. I leave you with another quote from C.S. Lewis: “He who has God and everything else, has no more than he who has God only.”

Not looking, but found.
-Teegan