Alright so I know I won’t be the first person to pick on Lady Gaga, but this comment has nothing to do with her over the top personna or outrageous outfits. Actually I think she’s kind of creative and unique and I respect that. But, I can’t help make some comments on her latest hit “Born This Way.” The lyrics to the song are as follows:
It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M Just put your paws up
'Cause you were born this way, baby/ My mama told me when I was young
We are all born superstars/ She rolled my hair and put my lipstick on
In the glass of her boudoir/"There's nothin' wrong with lovin' who you are"
She said, "'Cause He made you perfect, babe"/"So hold your head up, girl and you you'll go far,/Listen to me when I say"/I'm beautiful in my way,
'Cause God makes no mistakes/I'm on the right track, baby/I was born this way
Don't hide yourself in regret,/Just love yourself and you're set/I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way/(Born this way)/Ooo, there ain't no other way
Baby, I was born this way/Baby, I was born this way
Ooo, there ain't other way/Baby, I was born this way
I'm on the right track, baby/I was born this way
Don't be a drag, just be a queen/Don't be a drag, just be a queen/Don't be a drag, just be a queen/Don't be!/Give yourself prudence and love your friends
Subway kid, rejoice the truth/In the religion of the insecure
I must be myself, respect my youth/A different lover is not a sin
Believe capital H-I-M (hey, hey, hey)/I love my life, I love this record and
Mi amore vole fe yah/I'm beautiful in my way,/'Cause God makes no mistakes
I'm on the right track, baby/I was born this way/Don't hide yourself in regret,
Just love yourself and you're set/I'm on the right track, baby/I was born this way
In case you decided not to read it all, the theme of the song seems to be that you are born a certain way, and instead of fighting that or feeling ashamed you should be proud of it and accept it.
This is a common message of our culture today. Be who you are.
But what does that mean? Who are we and how do we find out?
We give “finding ourselves” a lot of play in our society, but it is such a nebulous concept as to be almost valueless.
For what its worth, I believe we could probably loosely define “finding ourselves” as doing that which deep down we really like to do. As if there is an intrinsic list that is inherent to every person upon birth simply waiting to be discovered.
Now in fairness, I believe people are created with gifts and abilities that are unique to them. And these ought to be used. 1 Corinthians 12 lists many.
But for what?
For our own glory? For our own good? For our own pleasure?
Romans 12 says we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God and that we are not to think of our selves more highly than we ought.
This is a countercultural message.
Why?
Because it will often mean subverting our own pleasure and dare I say perhaps our own concept of identity for the good of another and the service of God.
Am I crazy?
OK I'm gonna get a little graphic here, but how would it be if every person after having sex with the person they want to sleep with, had a kid and then took no responsibility for that child?
What if instead they pursued their dreams, desires and passions at the expense of the child?
What would you end up with?
A society that aborts a lot of babies, puts a lot of kids in foster care, and boasts a high number of divorces and single family homes.
Sound familiar?
I'm not saying that all divorces and single family homes are the result of the sin of the people in them, and I wouldn't dare to trivialize the hardworking single parents who do the best they can in the situations they are in.
But I do not think its unreasonable to say that many people in these circumstances have at the very least often experienced the business end of someone's selfish choices .
So how does this come back to Lady Gaga?
Well, what I have experienced message-wise from people like her and others is that we ought to be “ourselves” as long as it does not “hurt” anybody.
The problem is that its not always direct pain, but rather the indirect pain caused by the accumulation of the consequences of bad or selfish decisions that have the potential to destroy the lives of others well out of our field of view or immediate experience.
Decisions that have only or mostly our own self interest at heart are like doses of poison that do not immediately kill but build up over a long period of time until we suddenly keel over dead.
Christians are called to be submitted to God, and to love and serve one another. Therefore any decision that has only our own interest at heart without considering others or one’s place before the Creator is toxic to true Christ-like living.
To clarify, I’m not talking about small decisions such getting roast beef or turkey for lunch, but rather the decisions that include such things as who am I, what should I do for a living, or who should I “fall” in love with?
Like I said while we all have inherent gifts and abilities, that were given to us not for our own glory (see the parable of the talents in Matt 25) but to be used in the service of the King for His kingdom.
Romans 6 says that if we died with Christ, we also live with Him. As believers, then, our identity is bound inextricably with the person and work of Christ.
We focus too often on genetic predispositions and not enough on character development. The very things the Word has called us too. These are not nebulous or difficult to discover, but rather they decorate the pages of every book of the Word of God.
According to Psalm 51:5 the way we were born was into sin.
To follow sinful inclinations or philosophy that promotes that is folly.
We have been given a new life in Christ.
We have been reborn.
Let us live up to the calling of that birth.
1 comment:
I hear what you are saying. The truth is that all poison has mostly good stuff in it. To kill a rat, you feed him most of the stuff he will eat and a little of the stuff that will kill him. In the end the little bit of stuff will end his life even though a lot of what he ate was good for him. Some of what Lady Gaga is saying is good but there is some real poison in her words. She belittles Christians in the song yet says that we are all supposed to be who we are. That is irony for you. Christians are a growing minority in our self concerned, live for myself society. The danger in being who you are is that that means living like a sinner. In reality it is an easy and temporary escapism from accountability an responsibility. Like you said, the actions have consequences that may not be seen immediately. I see those consequences everyday in the classroom as lost kids walk in with no sense of who they are. They want direction from anyone but are being fed the lie of "be who you are" by schools, the media and society at large. Submission to authority has kept society going over the ages. When we throw off ultimate authority we make ourselves suseptible to whatever new power is out there. Right now is about PC acceptance of all religions, less one, and sexual orientation. Each year we come closer and closer to looking like the Sodom and Gamora of old. How long will God's hand be held back on our society? I wish I could say that Christ will return soon but he may tary while merely letting this age pass away in it's own debauchery.
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