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I have bought a few Stryper albums in the past, and I got an album or two of Sweet's solo effort. I like some of their music. But no, I would not buy that album based on the title. And I respect Walmart for taking the stance they do. I have no clue if they apply the same standard to other genres of music. I'd be curious.
They do. You won't find any CDs with the Parental Advisory sticker at Wal-Mart. They sell the censored (radio) versions of all secular music.
They probably knew fundies who love condemning sin would be outraged by it being banned, great publicity for the album and sales. You might as well be calling down fire from heaven like the sons of thunder when you are calling down condemnation from heaven. Christianity as gone to the dogs as far as i am concerned.
I'm rather surprised that a few of the more conservative stalwarts are here on this board - jeffbase40 and BaptistFundie spring to mind - defending what is oftentimes little more than a 'worldly' rock beat with a few 'Jesus loves you' catch-cries thrown into the mix to give it the appearance of being 'Christian'. But then, anyone can apply the "Christian" label to themselves and the 'worldly' label to anyone else without any specific permission, even when spouting 'worldly' language to one another in general conversation. With each passing day I distance myself more and more from those who wear the label ..."Christian".
That said, I DO acknowledge that there are any number of Christians who do appear to 'walk the walk' and I admire them for that. It's rather the 'self-labeling' and the often derogatory 'labeling of others' that I have an issue with.
Being offended at 'God Damn Evil' is quite petty, and reveals our heart, and just where is the discriminatory line we walk of what is right and wrong - our judgements. It is understandable a business making those decisions, but the individual believer/person is not the corporate institution, and societal taboos are strong - come up against them and you know about it. Society is however loosed from strongholds by individuals blazing the trail.
God doesn't damn evil anyway. He increases his presence and you don't see it anymore - it just disappears. This is the same as not judging - YOU become more righteous for it, and that is a fire brand in the hand of the Lord.
They probably knew fundies who love condemning sin would be outraged by it being banned, great publicity for the album and sales. You might as well be calling down fire from heaven like the sons of thunder when you are calling down condemnation from heaven. Christianity as gone to the dogs as far as i am concerned.
You sound mighty fundamentalist in your little rant there.
I used to listen to more pop oriented CCM stuff so I'm not as familiar with Stryper's music. But I like Michael Sweet. He said in a recent interview that the title referred to all the crazy stuff that's been happening in the world lately like with all the shootings.
At first I thought the title sounded vaguely like Reverend Jeremiah Wright's similar quote, except he replaced "evil" with the word "America". His alternate version of "God bless America". He really bothered me when I first heard that, but it makes a lot more sense to me now.
I used to have a problem with evangelical Christians. Now I don't think that a person's belief means anything. There are a lot of progressive evangelicals who are just as good people as anyone of the Liberal Christian belief. I don't think one kind of church, liberal/mainline vs evangelical, is any better than the other, now that I have come to this realization which is fairly recent. Mainline churches have conservative people also.
You sound mighty fundamentalist in your little rant there.
Thanks. I prefer speaking up for something rather than speaking against something. There's good to be seen all around you if you let go of all the biases and prejudices that veil your vision. Ever wondered why God never gave us eyes in the back of our head? I see the Lord before me i shall not be moved.. Behind you is the illusion of evil.
Last week, Stryper released their 10th studio album which is one of their best ever. The song writing, music and vocals are outstanding and this is one of the best new rock releases I've heard in years.
For those who don't know, Stryper is a Christian hard rock band, and has always been a bit controversial in the Christian community from the start in the 80s as rock music was seen as devil's music and the band shared the same label as acts like Poison who promoted a sin soaked lifestyle. It's pretty amazing that out of all those 80s hair metal bands, Stryper is one of the few who survived and still going strong.
This is a band who does not shy away from the Christian label. Lead singer Michael Sweet is often quite outspoken about their faith and desire to bring people to Christ through music. Just look at the lyrics on one song:
It's a great album, but just one problem. They chose to title the album with a phrase that is so controversial that Walmart won't carry the album and even for me personally, I just can't support this or buy the album because of those words. I'm really disappointed in this band. It feels like a cheap ploy to get attention. Cmon guys. You knew this would stir up a lot of criticism and resistance. Their explanation that the phrase is a plead for God to rid the world of evil doesn't fly. There are many other ways they could have conveyed that message. Or even just use a comma. God, Damn the Evil for instance.
Also, isn't God's plan to do this anyways? Why would we need to pray for God to destroy or damn the evil in this world?
Not everything labeled Christian can be accepted as Christ like.
Taking God's name in vain is a sin.
It doesn't matter if the label is used to gain attention to what is basically a product of capitalism - for profit. It is still SIN.
Walmart thinks its inappropriate. Christians, who ought to know better, don't seem to know what sin is any more. Case in point is the 'Christian' group who released the music. They would rather display sin in public for the sake of making a few dollars than to honor the name of God.
I wonder if Christians know the truth about anything any more - or is it all just religious buzz words and hokum to make them feel all warm and fuzzy?
The album should be taken off the shelves and burned.
that's me, hollering from the choir loft...
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