Is the use of the F Bomb in P.O.D.'s 'I Am' Unneeded/Unjustifiable?

[ChristIsSovereign]

There is a Christian metal band called 'Revulsed' and their lyrics are no different than gore metal except for the subtle hints of Christian doctrine throughout which does nothing.

 

[RDKirk]

There is a Christian metal band called 'Revulsed' and their lyrics are no different than gore metal except for the subtle hints of Christian doctrine throughout which does nothing.

Christian doctrine is simple but specific. Most religions have some general themes that are not incompatible with Christianity, but that doesn't make them Christian doctrine.

 

[ChristIsSovereign]

Christian doctrine is simple but specific. Most religions have some general themes that are not incompatible with Christianity, but that doesn't make them Christian doctrine.

I saw, if I dug at it hard, subtle references to the depravity of mankind, Satan the tempter, and Revelations, I think. Other than that it's just gore metal. (The drummer was from the ostensibly Christian metal band Mortification.)

 

[Yanni depp]

What an incredibly depressing song.

In the context of the verses, It sounds like the chorus is also coming from a dying world and the message of salvation is being rejected by the same people in the verses. (coming from that context im not sure if this will ever impact anyones life in a positive way. but stranger things have happened i guess.)

If david could premeditatively kill a man to steal his wife, im sure this recording doesnt affect whether Sunny is "truly christian" or not, as you were wondering, OP.

But either way this isnt a song that would be on my playlist.

 

[ChristIsSovereign]

What an incredibly depressing song.

In the context of the verses, It sounds like the chorus is also coming from a dying world and the message of salvation is being rejected by the same people in the verses. (coming from that context im not sure if this will ever impact anyones life in a positive way. but stranger things have happened i guess.)

If david could premeditatively kill a man to steal his wife, im sure this recording doesnt affect whether Sunny is "truly christian" or not, as you were wondering, OP.

But either way this isnt a song that would be on my playlist.

My dad was into this band big time so I couldn't forget P.O.D.

 

[Yanni depp]

My dad was into this band big time so I couldn't forget P.O.D.

They definitely have had an impact. Southtown and the world is a ghetto are my favorite tracks. my buddies and i used to play southtown in their garage, nobody could sing it tho, so the neighbors probably appreciated that it was loud enough as it was without someone screaming and popping blood vessels in their forehead

 

[ChristIsSovereign]

They definitely have had an impact. Southtown and the world is a ghetto are my favorite tracks. my buddies and i used to play southtown in their garage, nobody could sing it tho, so the neighbors probably appreciated that it was loud enough as it was without someone screaming and popping blood vessels in their forehead

I'm hip with every other release of theirs except 'Murdered Love' and anything after that, because of Sonny's unrepentant sin.

 

[Yanni depp]

I'm hip with every other release of theirs except 'Murdered Love' and anything after that, because of Sonny's unrepentant sin.

After marcos was kicked out for cussing (ironically) is when i lost interest. The guitarist from living sacrifice wasnt a great addition dynamically. Sleeping awake or dreaming awake is when i pulled the plug

 

[ChristIsSovereign]

After marcos was kicked out for cussing (ironically) is when i lost interest. The guitarist from living sacrifice wasnt a great addition dynamically. Sleeping awake or dreaming awake is when i pulled the plug

Interesting. How ironic.

 

[Yanni depp]

Interesting. How ironic.

Ikr.. Straight facts

 

[ChristIsSovereign]

Ikr.. Straight facts

I used to swear a bit in between falling away from Calvinism and reaccepting Christ without Calvinism about 8/9 months later. These days if a habitual swear comes out of my mouth, I quickly rebuke myself. It's annoying how habits are hard to break.

 

[RDKirk]

I saw, if I dug at it hard, subtle references to the depravity of mankind, Satan the tempter, and Revelations, I think. Other than that it's just gore metal. (The drummer was from the ostensibly Christian metal band Mortification.)

I saw that as well--looking through Christian goggles. But those themes are not unique to Christianity. A Hindu would see them as reflecting his religion as well.

 

[ChristIsSovereign]

I saw that as well--looking through Christian goggles. But those themes are not unique to Christianity. A Hindu would see them as reflecting his religion as well.

Saw that through the faith of the Mortification member involved. Agreed anyways, though. Sounds pretty good music-wise if you're into Defeated Sanity, e.g.

 

[DogmaHunter]

While I admire the message that the song itself portrays, the like 'who the (BEEP) is he?' makes my stomach turn sour in a spiritual sense and I wrote a poem about the matter which can be viewed here: I Am Not by ChristIsSovereign

Yet while I admire the message, I see the message being butchered by the use of the word. The LORD specifically tells us to not let filth come out of our mouth. How is a message supposed to be shared when the verse is explicitly disobeyed in the process. It's like a pastor saying, 'FOLLOW THE (BEEP)ING LORD' or something. It's inexcusable.

From what I see, the Christian version of the album has the track excluded, which I suppose is a good thing, but the fact that they, for a long time, wanted to use that word in the song... I don't want to be judgmental but it makes me question if they're actually truly Christians.

Also, from my behavior years ago as an Internet hateposter/spammer, I know about controversy. And there was a lot of controversy surrounding the song. The commenters would fit into five camps, starting with the most numerous and going to the least common.

1. Christians who are on board with the 'raw and honest' usage of the said vulgar word.
2. Christians who (in my opinion, rightly) decried the usage of the said vulgar word but approved of the overall message.
3. Christians who (read above) decried the usage of the said vulgar word, saying it tainted the message completely. I view the song this way, personally.
4. Atheists who love the song.
5. Atheists who tell the Christians to 'get over it, it's just a (beep)ing song.'

The artists who created the song knew that it would yield these sort of reactions, according to the interview. Why can't I get the thought out of my head that they intentionally sowed a seed of discord? It's very, very troubling.

I'ld fit in camp number 5. Indeed, get over it... it's just a word/song.
The world has bigger problems to worry about.

 

[DogmaHunter]

He's arguing that the usage of the word somehow intensifies the sentiment.

Well, it does.

The vast majority of times I hear the word being used in english, that is exactly the function of it in the sentence it is used in.

 

[ViaCrucis]

There's a Tony Campolo quote that I often find relevant,

"I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a [censored] What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said [censored] than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."

I get that a lot of people find certain words unpleasant, bad even. And I often see other Christians quote various passages of Scripture such as Ephesians 4:29 not to use corrupt or rotten speech. Of course just as a matter of context that passage was written in a time, place, and culture in a language that didn't have "cuss words"--that's basically a modern English invention. What irritates me is the moralistic attitude that tends to come with this, let's call it "easy law".

What the apostle condemns is language that is abusive, hurtful, destructive. The use of language to harm, rather than to encourage and help. The moralistic fit against certain "bad words" is what I'm calling "easy law" because that's usually what moralism is: finding ways to make ourselves feel moral by latching on to easy to follow self-proscribed commandments. We see this all over the place in different ways, for example dictating how people should dress, what they should wear, forbidding any number of innocuous activities such as games, or television, or music as "worldly". It's "easy law" because instead of needing to address serious matters of right and wrong--how I treat my fellow human being--it provides a nice, easy way to feel good about oneself as a moral, righteous, or godly person.

How does the emphasis on "bad words" do that? Because the emphasis isn't on how we are speaking to our neighbor, how our behavior and actions may be harmful and hurtful to other human beings; instead the emphasis is on certain words themselves.

Case-in-point, one recent event is that it was reported that President Donald Trump referred to certain countries as "poop"-hole countries. There were many who, if they found the statement wrong, they found it wrong because of the word "poop"-hole itself; instead of the derogatory way it marginalized other living, breathing human beings. Which gets us back to the Tony Campolo quote above.

So, okay, fair enough--you may not like certain words because our culture considers them naughty. But are you also, at least, just as bothered by mistreatment of your fellow human beings that happens all around you? I've seen people pride themselves in that they never curse--but without any qualms of speaking nasty things about other people behind their back, or being needlessly cruel, or any manner of hurtful language and behavior. But they don't say certain naughty words, so they are "good Christians".

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ChristIsSovereign]

There's a Tony Campolo quote that I often find relevant,

"I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a [censored] What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said [censored] than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."

I get that a lot of people find certain words unpleasant, bad even. And I often see other Christians quote various passages of Scripture such as Ephesians 4:29 not to use corrupt or rotten speech. Of course just as a matter of context that passage was written in a time, place, and culture in a language that didn't have "cuss words"--that's basically a modern English invention. What irritates me is the moralistic attitude that tends to come with this, let's call it "easy law".

What the apostle condemns is language that is abusive, hurtful, destructive. The use of language to harm, rather than to encourage and help. The moralistic fit against certain "bad words" is what I'm calling "easy law" because that's usually what moralism is: finding ways to make ourselves feel moral by latching on to easy to follow self-proscribed commandments. We see this all over the place in different ways, for example dictating how people should dress, what they should wear, forbidding any number of innocuous activities such as games, or television, or music as "worldly". It's "easy law" because instead of needing to address serious matters of right and wrong--how I treat my fellow human being--it provides a nice, easy way to feel good about oneself as a moral, righteous, or godly person.

How does the emphasis on "bad words" do that? Because the emphasis isn't on how we are speaking to our neighbor, how our behavior and actions may be harmful and hurtful to other human beings; instead the emphasis is on certain words themselves.

Case-in-point, one recent event is that it was reported that President Donald Trump referred to certain countries as "poop"-hole countries. There were many who, if they found the statement wrong, they found it wrong because of the word "poop"-hole itself; instead of the derogatory way it marginalized other living, breathing human beings. Which gets us back to the Tony Campolo quote above.

-CryptoLutheran

Informative.

 

[Moral Orel]

I get that a lot of people find certain words unpleasant, bad even. And I often see other Christians quote various passages of Scripture such as Ephesians 4:29 not to use corrupt or rotten speech. Of course just as a matter of context that passage was written in a time, place, and culture in a language that didn't have "cuss words"--that's basically a modern English invention.

The irony I see is that since the Bible isn't going to tell you which words are wrong, and humans define language, you have to look to "the world" to tell you what words are wrong to say.

 

[Sketcher]

It took many years for P.O.D. to use a swear word in a song; the Christian response should be to pray for them to repent of it.

 

[Sketcher]

After marcos was kicked out for cussing (ironically) is when i lost interest. The guitarist from living sacrifice wasnt a great addition dynamically. Sleeping awake or dreaming awake is when i pulled the plug

Their self-titled was OK but not great. Testify however, was very good.