Hozier's "Take Me To Church"

Last night, my wife Ashley and I watched The Voice together.  One of my favorite singers this season, Matt McAndrew, sang a song that I had never heard before (I have never been particularly hip.  Do people still say hip anymore?).  The song is called "Take Me To Church," and was originally done by an artist known as Hozier.

When the song began, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  I couldn't understand everything that was being sung (Yes, I felt old), but what I could hear was deeply troubling.  So I looked up the lyrics.  Needless to say, I found the lyrics to be every bit as disturbing as my initial impression of the song.

The best I can tell by reading the lyrics is that it is about the singer having given up on the church as a religious institution in favor of his lover.  He then refers to his lover throughout the song as his "church" and the one that he worships.  Some explanations of the song that I read indicate that it is about a homosexual relationship.  Regardless, whether heterosexual or homosexual, the whole thing is very dark and disconcerting.  It is idolatrous and demonic, centered on sexual immorality.

Now this is not a blog post to rail on Hozier, Matt McAndrew, NBC, and a culture that applauds such filth.  The performance was a wakeup call for me.  The purpose of this post is to remind us all that we are not in 1950 anymore.

Don't misunderstand me.  I am not really suggesting that 1950 was better, when sexual sin was just more hidden, and certainly was not flaunted on national television as something to be celebrated.

I am also not suggesting that these things are new.  I am currently preaching through 1 Corinthians and we have already dealt with the very same issues mentioned above in the first ten chapters of Paul's letter to the Corinthian Church.  Idolatry, sexual immorality of all kinds, and demonic activity were all prevalent in ancient Corinth.  This is not something Hozier invented.

I am reminded also of the Apostle Paul's words in Romans 1.

Romans 1:18-25
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Sound familiar?

This is not intended to be an apologetic piece that would cause Hozier and others, were they to read it, to recognize the error of their ways, repent, and be reconciled to God through the shed blood of Jesus.  It is, in fact, the kind of "religious" teaching found in Romans 1 that Hozier rails against in the song.

I write for you who are seeking to navigate this perverse world in which we find ourselves.  I write for you who desire to flee from sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18a) and idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14).  I write for you who are constantly told that you are boring, closed minded, and bigoted because you know what the Bible says about worship and sex and you actually believe it.

Some of you who will read this are teenagers growing up in a day when you are told that Bible is outdated and useless.  Others are twenty-somethings seeking to navigate adulthood as those who are SUPPOSED to adopt the morality of the culture.  Then still others are parents and grandparents seeking to raise kids to love and honor Jesus in a day when any Jesus other than one made in the image of the culture is shunned.  Of course, Jesus was shunned and then crucified during His own life and ministry.

I read something this morning on Facebook from Voddie Baucham.  He wrote that we simply must get over trying to be nice, sweet, gentle, and compromising enough to satisfy those who hate us and our God.  He was talking about same-sex "marriage," but the idea behind what he said was broader than that.  The reality is that nothing short of absolute surrender on our part will be accepted by the sexual revolutionaries of our day.

As I scrolled my news feed, I found an article posted by John Piper where a public school in Chicago had included material on "safe" anal sex in their sex education curriculum for 5^th and 6^th graders.  The curriculum was complete with drawings and advice on how to maximize pleasure.  John Piper commented briefly, "Teaching safe anal sex to fifth graders.  Is this the culture you are trying not to offend?"

I realized this morning that he and Voddie Baucham both hit the nail on the head.  There is nothing that we can do to make the Bible and its teachings more palatable without compromising its truth and authority.  The gospel is an offense.  We need not add to that offense by being intentionally offensive, but we must not take away from that offense either.

God created everything, and He created it very good.  It didn't take long for man to determine that he knew better than God.  He rebelled against God, thus introducing sin into the human race.  Since that day, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). 

Except one.  His name is Jesus.  Jesus, being God, took on flesh and dwelt among us.  He lived the sinless life we could not live, and died the death we should have died.  He died in our place as our substitute.  Not only did He die, but He rose again three days later, demonstrating His power and authority over death.  Therefore, if we would repent of our sin and place our faith in Jesus, we can be reconciled to God our Creator.

This message is offensive because it begins at the beginning.  It begins with a perfect creation that went horribly wrong because of man's sin.  It acknowledges the reality that we are all sinners in need of God's grace.  It acknowledges that right and wrong do exist.  It acknowledges that what feels good does not determine right, but rather right is represented in the holy character of God and revealed to us in His Word.

The culture around us will never come to grips with these truths.  We must never allow these truths to lose their grip on us.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

                                                      -1 Corinthians 1:18

Natural Disasters and God's Judgment: A Response to John Piper

Are natural disasters such as tornadoes an act of God’s judgment?

Yes and No.

Yesterday John Piper wrote a blog post in response to recent tornadoes in rural America. You can find the post here (http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/fierce-tornadoes-and-the-fingers-of-god). In this post he asked why God sent His judgment to rural America instead of one of the country’s major cities. He does not really make an argument for why he believes the tornadoes were an act of God’s judgment. He simply appeals to God’s sovereignty and assumes that they were an act of God’s judgment.

He then goes on to try and answer the question, “Why there and not here?”

Many of you know that I am not quick to criticize John Piper. In fact, I am quicker to come to his defense. I have profited greatly from his preaching and writing ministry. Many of my theological positions have been formed in light of things John Piper has taught me from God’s Word. There is enough truth in his blog post to cause hesitation on my part in writing a response. However, I have tried to articulate below what I believe to be a more accurate view, based on Scripture, of the recent tornadoes and other natural disasters. I have also given a brief critique of a couple of the articles I have read that were written in response to Piper’s article.

Scripture clearly teaches that prior to the Fall there was no pain and death (Genesis 1:31, 3:19). After the Fall, as a punishment for sin, both pain and death entered the world (Genesis 3:16-19). Therefore, we can conclude that all pain and suffering is a result of original sin. This includes tooth aches, pain in child bearing, cancer, war, and devastation caused by natural disasters. The glorious truth in all of it is that Jesus came and conquered death on our behalf and that one day He will return to make all things new (John 16:33; Revelation 21:5).

Scripture also teaches that in His sovereignty, God does control nature (Luke 8:24). It also teaches us that God sometimes uses natural phenomenon in judgment. The flood, as recorded in Genesis 6-8, is the primary example of this. We also see in Genesis 19 God sending fire from heaven to destroy Sodom. The story of what looks like a tornado in Job 1:19 destroying the house that Job’s children were in and taking their lives is the example that Piper points out. However, the book of Job does not say that this was an act of judgment. It says that Satan was allowed to test Job.

Could God have prevented it from happening? Yes. Does Scripture teach that God caused these things to happen because He was judging Job? That is not how I read the story. Unfortunately, Piper quotes Romans 11 and calls it the response God gave Job. He also puts the references for Job 15:8 and 36:22 in the same parenthesis to show the similarities between Romans 11 and these two passages. However, Job 15 and 36 do not contain the words of God but rather Job’s friends, who most say often gave unbiblical counsel in the story of Job. All Piper had to do was turn over to Job 38 to find God’s response to Job. The idea there is not that unlike the words he quotes from Romans 11.

I think the proper conclusion is that God does sometimes use natural disasters to bring judgment. However, that is not always necessarily the case. We ought to be careful when calling things God’s judgment when we do not know the mind of God as Romans 11 says, “How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’” This goes for the attacks on 9/11, earthquakes and tsunamis abroad, and tornadoes here at home.

It would have been correct for Piper to point out the devastation these tornadoes caused and say that they ought to serve as a wake up call to all of us that we are not promised another day. That seems to be the message of Luke 13:4-5 which Piper quotes. I don’t think Jesus is saying there that the tower fell as an act of God’s judgment. I think He is saying that life is brief and unless you repent you will perish spiritually. It would not make sense for Him to say that you will perish physically unless you repent considering we will all one day perish physically unless Christ returns before that time.

Piper has a very strong view of the sovereignty of God. Unfortunately, I think he has come to an unnecessary and unbiblical conclusion regarding why natural disasters happen as a result of that strong view. I too hold a very strong view of the sovereignty of God. John Piper and I are on the same team when it comes to Reformed doctrine. However, I think I have outlined a more biblical response to natural disasters above. Some natural disasters are God’s judgment. Not all of them are. We can use tragedy to proclaim repentance and faith to people as they consider their own mortality. We also ought to remember that God, in His sovereignty, is able to use even the most evil of situations for His glory and our good. The story of Joseph is a prime example (Genesis 37, 39-47, 50). Paul says as much in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God for those who love God all things work together for good,…”

Some have responded to Piper’s post with emotionalism and science. The emotional argument is that God doesn’t cause anyone to die. For them, the love of God is His supreme attribute and anything that conflicts with their view of His love must not be true. I would caution that we need to allow Scripture to guide what we believe to be true about God not our emotions. The other line of arguing makes a similar mistake. They say that tornadoes are a natural occurrence and that John Piper needs to read a science book to find out where tornadoes come from. The reality is that God is the Creator of nature and He is powerful over it (Luke 8:24). If God wanted to cause a tornado in order to judge people, He certainly could do it. He did something similar with the flood.

We must be careful to make sure that Scripture is our authority as we seek to know how God interacts with the world. If Scripture teaches that God causes all tornadoes as acts of judgment then we need to affirm that. I do not believe Scripture teaches that He does.

What do you think?