Covenant Faithfullness According to Dr. Dre and Eminem

     


     I've had this song in my head for a few weeks now, It's "I Need a Doctor" from Dr. Dre's "Detox" album. It's a three verse ballad (can I call a rap song a ballad?) featuring Eminem in the first two verses and Dre in the last with Skylar Grey providing the melodic chorus. I've reproduced the lyrics here censoring the coarser language for our more discerning readers.

[Chorus - Skylar Grey]

I'm about to lose my mind
you've been gone for so long
I'm running out of time
I need a doctor
call me a doctor
I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life

[Eminem]
I told the world one day I would pay it back
say it on tape, and lay it, record it
so that one day I could play it back
but I don't even know if I believe it when I'm saying that
doubt starting to creep in, everyday it's just so grey and black
Hope - I just need a ray of that
'Cause no one sees my vision when I play it for 'em
They just say it's wack
they don't know what dope is
and I don't know if I was awake or asleep
when I wrote this,
all I know is you came to me when I was at my lowest
you picked me up, breathed new life in me
I owe my life to you
but for the life of me, I don't see why you don't see like I do
but it just dawned on me you lost a son
demons fighting you, it's dark.
let me turn on the lights and brighten me and enlighten you
I don't think you realize what you mean to me
not the slightest clue
'Cause me and you were like a crew
I was like your sidekick
you gon either wanna fight me when I get off this f******g mic
or you gon hug me
But I'm out of options, there's nothing else I can do 'cause

[Chorus - Skylar Grey]
I'm about to lose my mind
you've been gone for so long
I'm running out of time
I need a doctor
call me a doctor
I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life

[Eminem]
It hurts when I see you struggle
you come to me with ideas
You say they're just pieces so I'm puzzled
'Cause the s**t I hear is crazy
But you're either getting lazy or you don't believe in you no more
seems like your own opinion's not one you can form
Can't make a decision you keep questioning yourself
Second guessing and it's almost like you're begging for my help
like I'm your leader
your supposed to f******g be my mentor
I can endure no more,
I demand you remember who you are
it was you who believed in me
when everyone was telling you don't sign me
Everyone at the f******g label, let's tell the truth
you risked your career for me
I know it as well as you
nobody wanted to f**k with the white boy
Dre, I'm crying in this booth
You saved my life, now maybe it's my turn to save yours
but I can never repay you, what you did for me is way more
but I ain't giving up faith and you ain't giving up on me
Get up Dre, I'm dying, I need you, come back for f**k's sake 'cause

[Chorus - Skylar Grey]
I'm about to lose my mind
you've been gone for so long
I'm running out of time
I need a doctor
call me a doctor
I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life
bring me back to life
bring me back to life

(I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life)

[Dr Dre]
It literally feels like a lifetime ago
but I still remember the s**t like it was just yesterday though
you walked in, yellow jump suit
whole room, cracked jokes
once you got inside the booth, told you, like smoke
went through friends, some of them I put on
but they just left, they said they was riding to the death
But where the f**k are they now?
now that I need them, I don't see none of them
all I see is Slim
f**k all you fair-weather friends
all I need is him
f******g backstabbers
when the chips were down you just laughed at us
Now you 'bout to feel the f******g wrath of Aftermath, f******s
you gon see us in our lab jackets and ask us where the f**k we been?
You can kiss my indecisive a******k, maggots, and the cracker's a**
Little Cracker Jack, beat-making w******s backwards producers
I'm back, b******s
one more CD and then I'm packing up my bags and as I'm leaving
I'll guarantee they scream, Dre don't leave us like that man 'cause

[Chorus - Skylar Grey]
I'm about to lose my mind
you've been gone for so long
I'm running out of time
I need a doctor
call me a doctor
I need a doctor, doctor
to bring me back to life

     I love this song, I have loved it since I first heard it, I bought it on iTunes, learned the lyrics, sing along. But there was something else about this song, something that got to me at a deep spiritual level, it reminded me of something, of someone.

It reminded me of David and Jonathan.

     The storylines and narratives of these two groups of men's lives certainly have nothing in common, but what struck me was the depth of commitment between Eminem and Dr. Dre, how they have covenanted with each other, seen each other through both good and bad.

    This all got me thinking about something I think about often: Christians and Media. Can the redeemed learn from the world? I've been of the belief that we can, and should learn and seek to connect and understand worldly events, people and even art in relation to biblical metanarrative.

     How many of us would give almost anything to have the kind of deep, intimate friendship that David and Jonathan had or that Eminem and Dr Dre have? This song gives me shivers in certain sections because of the feelings of hopelessness and devastation that come with the loss of a friend who may not come back. Eminem pleads for the life of his friend: "Get up Dre, I'm dying, I need you, come back for f**k's sake!"

     Not only does Eminem plead for his friend's life, he has the courage to tell Dre like it is even though the truth will hurt. You can almost put a scripture reference at the end of the first verse. (Proverbs 27:6)

     We can learn about friendship and covenant from David and Jonathan.
     We can learn about friendship and covenant from Eminem and Dr Dre.


-Kevin

I LOVE Christian Satire...

I stole this from The Gospel Coalition, it's awesome, I have reproduced it here...

A Recently Discovered Letter of Critique Written to the Apostle Paul

A satire, co-authored by Justin Taylor and Jared Wilson
Exclusive: In an exciting example of scholarly cross-collaboration and interdisciplinary research, textual critics and archaeologists have just published a translation of a recently discovered first-century letter, apparently authentic, written to the Apostle Paul himself. Scholars believe it was likely written in the late AD 40s or early 50s. The parchment was remarkably well preserved in a jar buried in a cave on the island of Satiricus. It is surmised that the author of the letter, Parodios, was an elder who had met Paul on one of his missionary journeys.
The translation, published here for the first time, reads as follows:

---

Parodios, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, to our brother Paulos.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our church recently received a copy of the letter that you sent to the church of Galatia. We hope you will not mind hearing our humble concerns. In the past we have noticed you are more interested in confronting people rather than conversing with them, but we hope you will receive this letter as an invitation to further dialogue.
First of all, we are uncomfortable with your tone throughout the correspondence. We know it is difficult sometimes to discern tone of voice from written communication, but you should keep this in mind as well. One could gather from your careless use of words that you are losing your temper. You certainly sound angry. This is unbecoming a spokesperson for the faith. As you say yourself, one of the manifest fruit of God’s Spirit is gentleness.
Aren’t you being a hypocrite to preach grace but not show it to our Judaizer brothers? They may not worship as you do or emphasize the same teachings you do, but our Lord has “sheep not of this fold,” and there is certainly room within the broader Way for these brothers. Their methodology may differ from yours, but certainly their hearts are in the right place.
You yourself know that our Lord required personal contact when we have a grievance against another. Have you personally contacted any of these men? Have you sat down to reason with them personally? Have you issued a personal invitation? Some of them may even reconsider their viewpoints if you had taken a different tack. We know that your position is likely that public teaching is open to public criticism, but we can do better than what is expected, can’t we?
In one portion of your letter, you indicate you don’t even know these persons! “Whoever he is,” you write. Our dear Paulos, how can you rightly criticize them when you don’t know them? It’s clear you haven’t even read their material, because you never quote them. We implore you to see that they are plainly within the tradition of Moses and of the Prophets. They understand the context of the covenant in ways you appear deaf to.
Similarly, we find your tone and resorting to harsh language not in keeping with the love of Christ. “Foolish Galatians.” “Let him be accursed.” “Emasculate themselves.” Really? Can you not hear yourself? You think this is Christlike? Does this sound like something our Lord would say? Do you think this flippant, outrageous, personal, vindictive manner of speech speaks well of God’s love or the church? It is clear you are taking this way too personally. Indeed, you ask the Galatians if you are now their enemy. Does everything have to be so black and white to you?
Paulos, what will unbelievers think when they read this letter? Do you think this will commend the gospel to them? This kind of harsh language just makes us look like a bunch of angry people. They see we can’t even love each other, and over what? Circumcision? This is a terrible advertisement for God’s love to an unbelieving world. You have given plenty of people permission now to disregard Jesus, if this is what his mouthpieces sound like.
We hope you will reconsider your approach. We know that you catch much more flies with honey than with vinegar. We are concerned that your ill-worded letter signals a divisiveness that threatens to fracture the church. We beg you to reconsider how important these minor issues are, and how in the future you may speak in ways that better reflect God’s love.
The grace—and the love!—of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brother.

---

It is unknown whether the Apostle Paul actually received and read this letter, and history has left no record of a response.
But we think we can make at least two observations.
First, Paul’s words to the Galatians were not inappropriate. They were true words, and they were loving words. Even if it runs contrary to our presuppositions and expectations, they were an example of “speaking the truth in love.” These words were inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that to critique Paul and his language is ultimately to critique God himself.
Second, this language was not Paul’s default. He did not respond to every controversy in the same way. He would be appalled if people took this letter to the Galatians and made it the norm for Christian discourse. Christians should seek to guard their tongue, using gracious speech seasoned with salt, delivered in love, and designed for edification (Col. 4:6; Eph. 4:15, 25, 29). But false doctrine and false teachers can infiltrate the church, and when the gospel is at stake, the means of being loving, edifying, salt-flavored, grace-filled may require harsh words in order to protect the flock, the church for whom Christ died.
May God give us much wisdom in how to speak the truth in love, especially when we have to call a spade a spade.

What the Church can Learn From AA

I went to an AA meeting a couple of weeks ago. No, I am not an alcoholic, and no I didn't crash some random meeting. I went to an AA meeting this weekend because of my father. He was receiving his medallion for being sober for a year. For an alcoholic, the one year medallion is a big deal, the whole meeting was about my dad. I'm proud of my father, and I'm happy and grateful that he has come this far, but this post is not about dad, it's about what I learned, and what I think the Church can learn from AA.
During the meeting, one of the men my dad asked to speak for him read the 12 traditions of AA, and what got me was the tenth and eleventh ones:

"Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy."
"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

What if the church did this? What if we shut down the media blitzes, and the PR, and the battling bus ads and just lived attractionaly and stayed away from controversy? What if we could say:

"The Church has no opinion on outside issues; hence the Christian name ought never be drawn into public controversy."
"The Church's public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

Before you immediately disagree with me on the first one "Of course the church has an opinion on outside issues! the world is full of SIN!" (One may say) consider these two items. 1) Sin is not an outside issue, but is at the core of Christianity and what we believe. 2) Why do we insist on discussing and denouncing the moral actions of people who are not Christian? Is it not a waste of time? Did Jesus not die precisely because our moral acts can not and will not stand up to the Father's expectations? It is inappropriate to talk about morality until after we talk about the Gospel.

But what about the second statement? don't we need promotion and flashy ads for the church today in this consumeristic product-driven culture? Sure, if you're selling a product. Sure, if you want to compete with the World. Simple truth is, the Church will never be able to compete with the advertising world. We'll never be the Old Spice Guy, or Diamond Shreddies (If you didn't get this in the States Google it, brilliant campaign) and that's fine, we have something that consumerism and fads will never have, staying power. Jesus died 1972 years ago (give or take) and His Church has stood up to (and thrived in) ridiculous persecution and out and out wars to kill it. So why don't we just do what we do best, preach Christ, teach the Gospel and leave morality of unbelievers to Philosophers.

With Love For The Church
-Kevin

Justice Wins: A Post About Franz Stangl, Treblinka, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

 

     Last night I watched a documentary on the History channel. It was about Franz Stangl, the one time Kommandant of the Treblinka extermination camp. I won't go into the details of Treblinka's operation (you can read about that here) but I will say that over the course of it's operation, Treblinka is estimated to have seen anywhere from 700'000 to 1'400'000 Jews pass through it's fake train station and into its gas chambers.The camp was staffed byless than 150 people.

     One hundred fifty people were responsible for the deaths of up to one million four-hundred thousand people. Stangl himself was eventually tried and convicted of war crimes and the deaths of nine-hundred thousand people. The numbers are staggering alone, and all night I've been trying to imagine a just outcome to all this, on this world. The simple fact is that there isn't. What can we do? Line up the offenders and shoot them? Is that justice? Do we torture them, and then kill them? Is that Justice?

     There is nothing that we can do to mitigate the enormity of Treblinka. Nothing we can do for justice, to make any of this right.

     Franz Stangl died in Dusseldorf prison in Germany of heart failure in 1971. Is that Justice?

"Cargo. They were cargo. I think it started the day I first saw the Totenlager in Treblinka. I remember Wirth standing there, next to the pits full of blue-black corpses. It had nothing to do with humanity-it couldn't have; it was a mass-a mass of rotting flesh. Wirth said, 'What shall we do with this garbage?' I think unconsciously that started me thinking of them as cargo."

"My conscience is clear. I was simply doing my duty..."
                                                                                                 -Franz Stangl

Winning?

Charlie, Charlie, Charlie…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days, you’ve heard about Charlie Sheen and his recent tailspin/trainwreck. I spent about 20 minutes today, on the TV watching Charlie make a fool of himself in a self deluded perhaps sober/perhaps not state. On top of that, I’ve been trolling #winning and #tigerblood on Twitter on my iPhone all day as well. Why am I doing this? Same reason as the rest of us are, it’s entertaining, it’s funny.

My wife, on the other hand, can’t do it. It’s too sad she says.
She can’t watch someone destroy themselves like that.
She can’t watch their kids get taken away. (Though she agrees that that was for the best.)
She can’t watch someone tear their own life apart while she sits on the sidelines.
She can’t be part of the mob.

Charlie Sheen is sick. His father knows it, the internet knows it, the Church knows it.
Where is the church by the way? Where are we? Where am I? I’m on the sidelines looking in, I’m part of the mob, I’m laughing, I’m being entertained.

I am the world.

What would happen if the Spirit of God came down and did something miraculous in Charlie’s life? What if next week, we could call him a brother? How much would God be Glorified then?

There’s time, let’s do this this weekend. Let’s be the Church, love people, see a life changed.

Now that would really be winning.

Let’s add a new hashtag to the Twitterverse

For His Glory

#prayforcharlie

Valhalla vs. Heaven

 

     I watched a video today over at Vimeo, called "The Saga of Biorn" It's a cool little short about this old Viking named Biorn (above) and his quest to die in battle and gain entry into Valhalla. Theology and mythology aside, it's a fun, well done, entertaining, and funny short film.

     What really got me though, was the ending. (I'm going to ruin it here, so go watch it first, no, seriously, it's only seven minutes long. Go) Ok, funny right? and that thing with the wheel when he gets buried by the nuns? Classic. Seriously though, what struck me about this was the depiction of heaven.

     See in the short, heaven is this bland, boring and lame. It's where nuns literally stand aroung doing nothing, wearing their halos. Valhalla on the other hand is a fun, wild party. The message is clear. Nuns go to heaven, men go to Valhalla.

     Is this how we see heaven? As a culture? Harps, lyres and all that jazz (but no Jazz - Elevator music)? That's how I saw it for a long time. Then I went through an ascetic phase, where I was planning on prostrating myself before the Lord for all of eternity. Neither of those things are very appealing to us now. Then I realized that there will be a new earth as well as a new heaven.and God has always wanted us to enjoy and shepherd His creation, heaven may not be the debauchery of Valhalla, but it will be a party.

-Kevin

Spineless Small-groups, Sycophants and Shallow Saved Sinners

     So, the other day, Twitter showed me this article written by Brian Jones over at the Christian Standard about Small groups and why they (essentially) don't work. The argument is that 90% of all church small groups only ever produce is self confident believers but not missional disciples. The artilce stresses the weakpoints of what I will call "Organized Community" that is, small groups that are organized and you sign up for. these have become pretty standard in evangelical churches. I have personally been a part of about four of these types of groups; two of those, I have led. The one thread that I have realised is that the article is right. Small groups, in an overwhelming majority of cases do nothing or next to nothing to make disciples. Which is a shame, because the heart of Christianity is community and loving others, but that can't be manufactured, it has to be real. The best growth I've seen in my own life has been accidental. 2am conversations in Bible College, impromptu prayer meetings, and the breakfast club that a few close friends and I started a few months ago. Those breakfast meetings are real, we share eachother's burdens, pray for each other, share our successes and failures and fears.

     I'd love to expand on this, but there's nothing I can add to what Jones says. He nailed it.

-Kevin

-edit-

     I have been taught not to complain about something unless you have a solution to offer as well, so here is mine,  let's place less emphasis on small groups the way they are, namley a leader, in a chair, with a curriculum. let us instead preach and teach the value of intentional community and individual growth and discipleship. Followers of Christ need to take responsibility of their own part in the process of sanctification, not to minimize the work of the Spirit, but if we are not open to Him, His words will fall on deaf ears.

With love for Christ and His church
-Kevin