For the fear of blaspheming, most Christians refrain from asking God genuine questions. But there is a huge difference between asking questions and doubting God. Jesus Christ asked a question on the cross that I sometimes deem inappropriate. He asked ‘…my God, my God why have thou forsaken me?’. It may seem inappropriate to me, a beneficiary of the cross, but I am sure I wouldn’t have the same view if I was the one up there on that rugged cross. All I am saying basically is, Christians should learn to ask questions. Questioning isn’t bad, it is when you express doubt that is blasphemous. This is why I have fallen so much in love with Da Truth’s new album ‘It’s Complicated’. It doesn’t only provide answers to some pertinent questions concerning the faith; It actually causes you to ask more questions and that is great for your faith and pursuit of God.

If there is anything I expect you to walk away with after reading this review, it is the fact that ‘It’s Complicated’ is a Christian Apologetic resource. Oh yeh, that means you can quote lines from the album in your dissertations and academic write-ups. From the beginning, we are not introduced to an omniscient rabbi who has answers to every question. But we are introduced to someone who is as hungry for answers as we (probably) are. I can tell this by the childlike excitement in the rapper’s voice as he greeted Ravi Zacharias. I must say, Da Truth is more composed than I am. Yo, I don’t know what I would do if Ravi and I were under the same roof. His ministry has been such a blessing to me. Just like this album, Ravi has got me asking more questions about life, reality and my faith than I ever thought I would. Let’s call it  Da Truth and Ravi’s joint album. In actual fact that is what it is, since the rapper engaged Ravi in a question-and-answer session and later fused snippets of Ravi’s responses into his songs brilliantly.

The first track on the album after the intro is ‘Greatest Need’. This song basically portrays Jesus as the greatest need of humanity and the doorway to heaven. The first line that got my attention in the first verse was ‘Doing right is the new wrong’. In our world today, right is wrong and wrong is wonderfully good. Nevertheless, Da Truth isn’t preaching behavior modification in any way. He goes on to state that believers are sometimes people with the worst behaviors while unbelievers do the nicest things. Against the backdrop of Jesus being the way to the father, does that mean unbelievers can get into heaven by their good deeds? Aren’t our good deeds supposed to be filthy rags before God? I love how he goes into the second verse to describe a dream he had about notable religious leaders: a pastor, a Dalai Lama (Budhist Monk) and an Imam. In the dream God didn’t allow any of them into heaven. Da truth seemed confused – as many of us would – at this event. The fact that the pastor didn’t make it through the pearly gates should be a rude-awakening to Christians: you can know Christ and still miss heaven as Jesus himself stated categorically.

The song ‘Mixed Signals’ deals with the problem people have with the revelation of God in the Old and the New testaments. At a glance, he appears to be two separate characters that is why in the chorus the singer asks the question, ‘Are you one and the same?’. Who, after reading both testaments, didn’t pose this question too? In the Old Testament you read how Uzzah died because he reached out his hand to save the falling Arch of the Covenant (which is symbolically God’s presence). And in the New Testament, you read how Paul who persecuted Christians was given a second chance to become one of God’s choicest generals. Are we talking about the same God here? Does this make God mysterious or it presents him to us as a two-faced God? I was particularly drawn to Ravi’s commentary in this song. He quotes James Stewart when he said:

No one was ever half so kind or compassionate to sinners: yet no one ever spoke such red-hot, scorching words about sin. (The startling coalescence of contrarieties that you find in Jesus – James Stewart)

So God isn’t wicked in the Old and kind in the New Testament; He is love. In that love is a pure and undiluted hatred for sin. This is where the confusion is. He loves you and hates the sinful life you live at the same time. He loves the sinner and hates the sin. The guys in the Old testament had to pay for their own sins, that is why there were so many deaths, pestilence and disasters back then as payback for their sins. But Hallelujah! our sins have been paid for so we have mercy if we sin and Grace to keep us from sinning.

The next song on the album is ‘Judge’; hypocrisy is the central theme of the song.  If you are a Christian reading this, then you’ve probably been accused of judging at least twice in a debate on morality or some other subject. It is true some of us are judgmental, but the rest aren’t. How do you break free from this stereotype as a Christian? Once again, I would like to highlight what Ravi said. He stated that in Romans, we are admonished to judge ourselves. When you do that and see your own flaws, you tend to be more gracious towards others. People who overlook their flaws are the ones who judge easily. That is what it actually means to be a hypocrite. The fact that people assume all Christians are judgmental, they tend to turn a blind eye to the good things we have done in this world. You can feel the frustration of the rapper as this compels him to make a list of the good initiatives and social interventions started by Christians like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Alcoholics Anonymous etc.

Though the album is inundated with so many ‘quotables’, my personal favorite is in the song ‘why so serious’. It is simple, Da Truth doesn’t want to waste his time addressing petty issues. He wants to address the most important issues that can give people life and the assurance of eternal life. To this effect he said ‘people are dying, they hunger and thirst, why would I give them bubble gum?’. Yo this is so deep. Christians are often just satisfied by the fact that they didn’t give that hungry guy on the street poison. As if poison is the only thing that kills. When you give a hungry man chewing gum when you could have given him food, you are worsening his plight and quickening his steps to the grave. When you can preach the undiluted gospel of grace but choose to mix it up or sprinkle a little Old Testament law in it, you are a dispenser of bubble gum. As a spoken word artist myself, I am often faced with either being overly lyrical and skillful in my writing or just going straight to the point. Now, I have nothing against lyricism, but sometimes it drowns the message. Therefore I have resolved to be as poetic as I can be but I will never let that affect or water down my message. I want to be a free-food distributor to the hungry not a bubble gum dispenser.

I doubt there has ever been a time in my life where I have pondered over the realities of heaven as I have in the past few weeks. It is all because of the song ‘Heaven’. ‘Heaven’ is my favorite song on the album. Once again, we see the rapper exhibit childlike curiosity in both verses. He has a ton of questions to ask God about the scenery and what to expect in heaven. We all do, don’t we? The icing on the cake for me is the hook … Christon Gray vocals… heavenly. My favorite line in the song is ‘sit my crown at his feet and rejoice’. That’s all I want to do. Just like the 24 elders, I want to lay my crown before the King of Kings having conquered in his name and rejoice!

In ‘Misconceptions’, he talks extensively on the reality of hell. In ‘reason’, he makes one statement: when you look at the splendor and majesty of creation, it is only right to assume there is a genius behind the scenes who created it for a purpose (reason). To assume everything happened by chance, according to Da Truth is like walking into a room filled with dictionaries and assuming there was a random explosion at the printing press that brought all the dictionaries into existence. It is indeed quite outrageous, but yeh, people believe such stuff these days. Also in ‘religion’, the rapper asks a dozen questions that got me thinking. The one that stood out for me was:

“When I’m old enough to decide” huh?

Will I be bold enough to deny

This struck me. Christians are quick to pressurize people of other faiths to accept the gospel – that is good in a way. But sometimes you need to understand that this is the person’s worldview and it is difficult to change it. So what if Christianity was a lie? Would you easily switch religions? If not, then you need to approach people of other faiths with the understanding that the desired results may not come instantly. Another important topic that the rapper deals with is how identical Christianity is with other religions and its effect on our faith. He dealt with this in the song ‘Copycat’. Also in ‘color purple’, the rapper talks about how we need to associate ourselves with our fellow believers who hold various doctrines and belong to other denominations in Christianity today. Instead of being either blue or red, how about we recognize that a lot more binds us than separates us. Therefore let’s be okay with being the color purple: which is a combination of both blue and red. If you haven’t already, please get yourself a copy and listen to this album, from the intro right down to the last song ‘The vow’.

I can’t really do a detailed explication of all the songs (though I wish I could). I just want to make the point that it is an awesome album. It is a lecture. I don’t see it as just music, we are only fortunate to have such knowledge laced with music to make it easier to digest. Big ups to Da Truth for blessing humanity with this album.

Do you guys really think if a person uses “profanity” (words we’ve given meaning) in their music they couldn’t possibly b Christian? Why?

— Andy Mineo (@AndyMineo) February 13, 2016

I can’t figure out his intentions. It appears to have something to do with Kanye West’s latest album and the fact that kanye said it is a gospel album though it contains profane lyrics. Whatever compelled Andy to pose this question isn’t my focus here.
To the many who lashed out at Andy, I think you were all wrong. I get your point though. Profanity in Christian music seems so obviously wrong that you think the topic needn’t come up for discussion. But hey, he said he was just trying to start a conversation. Believe it or not, that’s what he said his intentions were, so let’s all just leave it at that.
Is it cool for a Christian to cuss in a song? My answer is a big NO. Simply because the bible is very clear on the matter. The bible speaks against the use of profane words in our speech. These days it is very difficult to point out someone’s mistake without appearing to assume moral superiority over the person. So to all who may think I am judging you by stating what the bible says … I am not. No one is perfect. Nevertheless, I find it extremely offensive that the bible is the last book people expect you to make reference to in a debate on a Christian topic. That doesn’t even make sense. How do you get offended when I refer to the constitution of this country during a debate on any of the laws of the land? The bible is the standard. Forget the standards set by Hollywood or the West. This isn’t one of those issues that the bible isn’t too clear on. It isn’t one of those pesky issues in the bible we are expected to apply wisdom in its interpretation against the backdrop of the values of the world today. In more than one verse, we are told to desist from the use of foul words. Here are a few of those verses:

Ephesians 4:29 ‘Let no foul word or polluting language come out of your mouth…’
Colossians 3:8 ‘Now you must put all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth’
Ephesians 5:4 ‘Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking which are out of place…’

Matthew 12:36-37 ‘“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

I could go on and on and on with quoting scripture. At this point I believe it is clear what the bible says on the issue of profanity. Does a person lose his salvation by using cuss words in his speech? Of course not! To even assume that, means one has little respect for God’s grace. You cannot out-cuss God’s grace. There is forgiveness for anyone who sins but this isn’t a license for anyone to consciously continue in sin. However, what is wrong here is to put up an argument against the fact that cussing is a sin. You and I do not determine what is wrong. I could have quoted from the book of Ezekiel concerning how wrong it is to mix the Sacred and the Profane, but I didn’t. Often people dispel anything quoted from the Old Testament on the grounds that it is outmoded. So there you have it above, God’s view on profanity in the New Testament.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine a few years ago concerning Christian rap music. And he made a very interesting comment. He commended the rappers for the sort of work they put in making their songs especially because they don’t cuss – seeing that cuss words convey certain emotions that clean words cannot. There is some truth in this assertion. ‘I love basketball’ sounds way too mild compared to ‘I f#&king love basketball’. Therefore he has a point; but is it a good enough point to support the use of cuss words in a song composed by a Christian? According to the bible, human languages are already inadequate especially during prayer.  In Romans 8:26 it states that the holy spirit himself, in view of the limitations of our speech in prayer, helps us out by interpreting our groanings that are too deep to be expressed in words. The inadequacy of human languages is probably one of the main reasons why Christians speak in tongues. God is too big to be described with the same words we use on trivial things. Therefore if the argument for cussing in a Christian song is that certain emotions cannot be expressed in clean language, then that argument doesn’t even hold a drop of water. If the Holy Spirit has to interpret our groanings that are too deep to be uttered in words to the Father, that should tell you how inadequate any human language is. Are you making it any better or worse by cussing?

Secondly, today’s set of profane words are highly sexist and mostly sexual slurs – the F word for example. Even ‘bitch’ is highly sexist when you think about it. A bitch is a female dog. The question is, why is it insulting to call someone a bitch? Especially when it is a show of affection in informal parlance to refer to a guy as ‘my dog’ (a male dog)? That sounds very sexist to me.  The gospel of Jesus has the ability to save souls. Therefore it must be presented in a socially acceptable way. People are highly sensitive to gender issues now. Imagine yourself evangelizing to someone who takes offense at the slightest case of sexism and using the word ‘bitch’ in your submission. Do you honestly expect the person to take you seriously? We can come up with as many seemingly logical arguments as we want, but the fact remains, the existence of profanity in anything Christian, will do more harm than good. Would you be ok with your pastor cussing in church? No? Why? Because the church is a holy place, right? Guess what the bible says about your body. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. What isn’t appropriate to be done in church is very inappropriate to be done by a Christian. I doubt any church will allow its congregation to sing profane songs in the auditorium. Anything produced by a Christian should be worth consuming within the walls of a church. Therefore if a song, written and performed by a Christian isn’t church-worthy, then it is a misrepresentation of Christ.

It is very true that some words in themselves are not profane but gather filthy connotations with time. We must desist from the use of such words too. Black people call each other ‘nigga’ because that is what they are, black. But over the years, especially after the era of widespread slavery, the word has gathered a very derogatory meaning. Hence, most black people take offense when referred to as such by white people – and rightly so. However, the bible uses the word in Acts 13:1 in reference to Simeon who was affectionately called ‘Niger’. We cannot refer to this as an approval of the use of the word even in an informal setting. Why? Because at the time the word was used in the bible, it didn’t mean anything other than the color of a person’s skin. Now it invokes all manner of painful memories of slavery hence black people cannot stand being called that, especially by white folks. We can use this same analogy in dealing with other words that might have gathered a derogatory connotative meaning with time. So far as society deems it unclean, crass and profane we have no business letting it slip out of our speech or even carefully weaving it into songs we write.

Would you cuss at a job interview? Would you cuss on TV? TV stations edit cuss words in their shows, why? Is it a simple case of a secular organization being ethical? I write, so I know inspiration doesn’t come along with a matching language or set of vocabulary, the writer decides which set of words to encode the message in. Therefore though the language used doesn’t determine the worth of the message, it can contaminate it. Clean water is good for consumption but when poured into a dirty cup and poured out again, it is still water but it is just not clean and good for drinking.

Let’s talk about engaging culture for a bit. Very few people have engaged culture better than the Apostle Paul, in all of Christian history. He is a master of the art. In Acts 17, Paul went to Athens, a city ‘wholly given to idolatry’ and debated with their philosophers. That is a typical example of a Christian engaging culture. It was he who said ‘I became all things to all people, that I might save some’. The interesting thing here is, it was he who wrote almost all the verses I have quoted above that speak against profanity. Therefore, if the goal is to engage culture in order to save souls, let’s follow what Paul did and not lose our Christian values while trying to save people. In our world today, Lecrae stands out as one person who is actively engaging a culture that is drenched in the glorification of violence, misogyny, profanity, sexism etc. What does he have to say about cussing? In his song ‘Believe’, he said ‘Me learning how not to curse was like learning to write in cursive’. In this song Lecrae spoke about the things he did right after giving his life to Christ while in college. He actually made a conscious effort to stop cussing. Wow!

One of the greatest misconceptions in Christianity today is that, the only things we are supposed to desist from are sinful acts. A big NO to that. Paul said if eating meat offends his brother, then he would rather not eat meat at all. Eating meat is not a sin. We have the freedom to do a lot of things but both Paul and Peter said we shouldn’t abuse our freedom by using it is an opportunity to please ourselves. Boundless freedom is as ensnaring as the chains of slavery. This is a fact that people do not know. Please, watch your mouth and what comes out of it.