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Monday, December 08, 2008

Pop Heresy

Driving down the road the other day, an old song came on the radio. It was a familiar classic from decades ago, called "Let It Be." Even though I hadn't heard the song in years, I instantly remembered the lyrics and started to sing along. Then I began to actually listen to the words, and was appalled at what I heard. Take a look at these lyrics:

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.

Let it be, let it be, .....

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be, let it be, .....

I blogged recently about Catholic beliefs that simply aren't Biblical and cited their alleged deity of Jesus' birth mother, Mary as an example. I don't know if the Beatles were Catholics, but the Catholic influence is all over this song. What does it purvey? That a women who died thousands of years ago suddenly appears from heaven to encourage us? That when people living in the world agree they are right? Give me a break!

Since Jesus, there has been no human who died and reappeared on the face of this earth to anyone. It may be Biblical to look at troubling circumstances and say, "Let it be." But it won't be because mother Mary --- or anyone else said so. What can we make of this mother Mary business, which appears to be the basis for this song? If anyone truly believes that the mother Mary appeared to them "speaking words of wisdom" there are only a couple of possible explanations.
  1. They are misguided by heretical teachings - or ignorant of the truth and believe anything.
  2. They are delusional and possibly mentally ill - hallucinating.
  3. They are being deceived by the devil himself. (Demons can appear to us for that purpose.)
None of these is a good answer. Who would want to admit to being misguided by heresy, delusional or mentally ill, or deceived by the devil himself? But folks, those are the only plausible sources of truth here.

Now the sad part is that we take something religious and vaguely Biblical --- but untrue --- and we extend it in pop culture with songs. But that is the challenge in a fallen world - to be so grounded in Biblical truth that you aren't swayed by popular culture.

And there it is, my point for today. For generations now, our so-called pop culture seems to be an excellent purveyor of heresy! How many of us can recognize it as we appreciate pop culture?

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