Head Heart Hand

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question, "Is Holy Hip Hop holy?" I hope I hear the sound of iron sharpening iron. I hope I also hear the sound of hearts softening as we graciously hear the concerns and responses of fellow believers.

1. Hip Hop or Rap

First, some clearer definitions of terms is necessary. The culture is Hip Hop but the music is Rap. I'm told that most who advocate the Church's use of Rap do not necessarily advocate the adoption of Hip Hop culture.

2. Four venues

I'm also told that although I asked a question regarding the place of Rap in public worship, that I slipped into discussing its broader role as well. I think that's probably right. So let's clarify the four possible venues in which Christians are using Rap.

i. Public worship: the regular Lord's Day meetings for hearing the Word, worshiping, etc.
ii. Evangelism: using Rap to reach out to Hip Hop culture
iii. Concerts: Gospel Rap performances in churches and other places where few of the audience are from Hip Hop culture
iv. Personal: private listening to music/watching of videos

As my question made clear, my main concern was to establish whether Rap had a place in public worship. The feedback I've received in public and private is that the vast majority of Christians who want to use Rap in venues (ii) (iii) and (iv) do not advocate its use in "ordinary" public worship (i).

I wanted to establish the public worship dimension first because, as the feedback confirms, it's an easier question to unite on. It also makes us ask "Why not in public worship?" And if there are reasons for not using Rap in public worship, are any of these reasons applicable in evangelism, concerts, and personal use?

3. The Medium is (part of) the Message

A number of respondents argued that the container (Rap genre) is neutral, it's only the contents (the words) that we should consider.

Leaving aside for the moment the question of whether the Rap genre is neutral, I'm quite surprised that anyone who has observed the impact of marketing and packaging on political and popular culture can deny what Marshall McLuhan concluded, "the medium is the message," meaning that the form of the medium is so embedded in the message that the medium heavily influences how the message is perceived.

Would President Obama go to peace talks with Iran's President wearing combat fatigues and carrying a machine gun? Would he deliver the State of the Union address in Bermuda shorts and a beach boy T-shirt? Would you evangelize in Alabama wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit? The medium may not be THE message, but it's usually a large and inseparable part of it.

That's why when God came to earth to save sinners, His medium was a weak and vulnerable baby boy in an animal's feeding trough. What a medium, what a message!

That's why the Lord ordained plain preaching as the primary way to evangelize the lost and build up His Church. It's so stripped of every human addition and adornment, that the medium itself contains a powerful message. It says to all listeners, "We are relying only on the power of God and His Word." To the extent that we add to preaching in our churches (or in our evangelism?), we are at risk of turning aside from the power of God. Our message may be "Salvation is of the Lord" but our medium may be (unintentionally) saying "and of man."

4. Are all cultures morally neutral?

No culture or musical genre is morally neutral. Thus, I have been a stern and steady critic of WASP culture for almost twenty years (ever since I was converted actually). I am grieved by our selfish individualism, our materialistic greed, our cruel abuses of power, our blatant and subtle racism, and so much more.

I've been helped to see this more clearly by moving outside my cultural comfort zone over the years: a year among the gypsies of Eastern Europe, five years of outreach among the homeless and the male prostitutes of the inner city, three years of living as one of a very small white minority among thousands of Indians and Pakistanis in the "mini-India" part of Glasgow, etc.

On a recent Connected Kingdom Podcast, Pastor Conrad Mbewe said that one of the advantages of African pastors studying in American seminaries was that when they return they act as mirrors to show their church their faults. (I see it the other way as well through our wonderful African students at PRTS).

It's frighteningly easy to simply assume that our own culture is normal, morally neutral, and everyone else's is sinful. Our belief in total depravity should make us respect external critics far more than our own feelings of comfort and familiarity.

So, just as I expect and demand that you expose me and my culture to the loving glare of biblical scrutiny, so I hope Hip Hopping Rappers will from time to time welcome the same challenge.

5. What's wrong with Gospel Rap?

Let's assume for a moment that we can detach Rap music from Hip Hop culture. And let's also assume a Rap song that's full of Gospel words, full of biblical doctrine. Is that enough to make it OK?

Well no, because, as we saw above, the medium also has to be considered. I'm sure few would argue that the way to reach American white supremacists is to dress up in white sheets, pointy hats, and carry flaming crosses while preaching the Gospel. Dietrich Bonhoeffer also resisted the idea of the German church taking on the symbols, emblems, and organization of the Nazi government in order to reach the Germans who were embracing National Socialism (an argument that was being made in the church at that time).

So what's wrong with the medium of Rap music. Why am I questioning its use by Christians? Is it just because I don't like it? Well to be honest, the first time I heard it, it impacted me powerfully. One of my students played a few tracks to me in the course of a long car journey, and I was deeply moved. And challenged. Even confused.

But the more I thought about it the more I remembered how I have also been powerfully moved (even to tears) by Meat Loaf, Queen (in a past life!), Hungarian gypsy funeral songs, the Star Spangled Banner, Bagpipes, etc.

I then decided to listen to more and watch more of the videos associated with this music. What I found was that there was quite a range in the Christian Rap genre. For example you have Atonement Q&A by Shai Linne and Stephen the Levite. Its words are substantial and intelligible. It is more "conversational" and less confrontational.

On the other hand there's Lecrae and Tedashai's "Go Hard" which I think is more typical of the genre.

The words are less prominent (and intelligible) and the beat much more so. But it's the presentation that disturbs me most. If there's one word that comes to my mind it's "aggression." If you turned down the sound and compared it to a secular Rap video they both seem to communicate angry aggression, even in the use of Christ's name. I know these men are not like that in real life; I've seen and heard moving, Christ-centered, and humble interviews with them.

I know I misrepresent Christ at times by words and actions that contradict my profession of faith. My own sinful nature, my background and my prejudices warp and distort everything I want to do for Christ. I'm glad for everyone who has painfully pointed out these inconsistencies, and I battle against them daily. But may I be permitted to raise a question about the inconsistency of joining such seemingly angry and aggressive expressions and movements with the Gospel of Peace? I grieve over the weak and effeminate presentations of the Gospel that fill so many pulpits, but I still have to ask if this is not going to the other extreme. Does this accurately represent the meekness and lowliness of Christ? Do people take away from this music an accurate picture of the character and conduct of Christ?

It might be argued, "But if we are to reach the violent gangs of our inner cities, we need to use the same aggressive posturing." But remember Paul was living in the Roman Empire, one of the most militaristic and macho cultures ever, and he still relied on the "weakness" of preaching. He didn't dress up as a gladiator ;)

Maybe I'm over-sensitive. I've had a couple of horrible and painful encounters with violence in my life. Also, for a number of months, I was targetted by two (WASP!) gangs in Glasgow. My twin brother was not as fast a runner as I was and ended up beaten close to death beside a railway track one night. He still suffers the consequences of that. I'm feeling sick and breaking out in a cold sweat even as I recall these terrifying months. So, I'll admit, I'm not probably the most objective viewer of Rap. Although maybe that qualifies me more?

6. Roots, fruits, and associations.

A number of respondents challenged the roots, associations, and present associations argument I made. Here's an excellent article which explores that in more detail than I was able to. 

I hope by now that I have done enough to demonstrate that I agree with the large number of comments that urged me to think about the roots, fruits, and associations in my own cultural background.

Let me be very clear: I believe that the worst elements of WASP culture have done more to destroy the Western Church than Hip Hop has or ever will. But I still don't believe that the answer is to bring in another sin-warped culture.

7. Stepping-stone evangelism

I spent some time last night discussing this question with my African American neighbors. (His father was a leading figure in Martin Luther King's Civil Rights movement). If I'm honest, I'd hoped they would be among the large proportion of African American Christians who still oppose the use of Gospel Rap in the churches. But they weren't.

They told me that they also had been very reluctant to accept rap music in their churches, and still don't like it. However, while agreeing with me that the associations are grim, they challenged me on a few of my arguments. They said they had seen Gospel Rap reach and change the lives of young African American men (don't know about women). But they also said that eventually, under the Word, these young men moved away from Rap and its culture more and more. They viewed it more as a stepping-stone to reach the lost, but that maturity and biblical teaching would move them gradually away from it and to a more sober, orderly, and reverent form of worship.

The stepping-stone argument is powerful. Our inner cities are certainly not going to be won by be-suited, white men swooping in for a few minutes a week with soup, sandwiches, and a sermon. But where do we draw the line with the stepping-stone? How do we reach Islamic suicide bombers? How do we reach strippers? How do we reach callous Wall Street traders? We all draw the line somewhere, but why? and where?

Conclusion

We will never all fully agree on what is allowable for Christians in the four venues (see above). However, we will surely all agree that Christians should be challenging and learning from one another about what is sinful or holy, and what is wise or unwise in these four venues.

I am sure we do all agree on the desperate need of the inner cities (see this heart-rending article from yesterday's New York Times), and on the long-term failure of the Church, especially the Reformed Church, to meet that need. Gospel Rappers are doing more than me in this regard at this time in my life, and in that I salute them.

And though I wish them to re-consider some of the means they are using (or at least the venues and the extent to which they are using them), I also need much more of the spirit of Philippians 1:18 when trying to evaluate their approach.

*Update: "Lunch with a Christian Rapper?"