Yes. Somebody had to do it. They had to go there…they just had to. If you don’t know by now there are a boatload of gospel remixes to Beyonce’s “Drunk in Love.” This happens to be the best one on a pure talent level in my opinion:
I know what you’re thinking. What does this have to do with my last post about whether Easter is a pagan holiday and whether we should celebrate it or not? Let me get into that. Easter and the gospel version of “Drunk in Love” have a lot in common:
1. They both originated from non Christians celebrating drunkenness and sex
2. They both have been appropriated by Christians and used to worship God
3. They both have been bashed by Christians as not appropriate due to their origins
So here’s the question. Where do we draw the line? If remixing Easter is ok then remixing “Drunk in Love” is ok as well right?
Well. Yes and no. See no one alive today remembers Easter being a pagan holiday. I mean none of us have celebrated Easter by walking around in togas getting drunk and sleeping with anything that’s breathing (If you have I won’t judge. There is still room at the cross for you). To put it simply the biggest objection to these “Drunk in Love” remixes is that currently people know the lyrics and original intention of Beyoncé’s song. No matter how you try to change them when you hear the music all you can think about is “Surfbort!” Nobody wants to be in church thinking about Bey and her Surfbort (well that all depends on your pursuit of holiness but you know what I mean).
It’s a matter of conscience (con=with science=knowledge) or the knowledge of what we are doing and whether it’s right or wrong. Since we all grew up thinking Easter is about bunnies, eggs, candy and oh yeah Jesus it’s not a big deal when we find out the origins of many of our festivities around this time of year. On the other hand using Bey’s song about drunkenness, dance floor grindin, and kitchen floor lust is enough to dent the conscience of the strongest Christian alive. If you don’t get what I’m saying by now study Romans 8.
Taking things from pagan culture is not a new phenomenon in regards to Christianity. Fanny Crosby took many popular songs and turned them into great hymns. William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army did the same with popular drinking songs of his day. The Apostle Paul quoted Greek philosophers and poets in his preaching and writing (Acts 17:28, 1 Corinthians 15:32-33). Even Proverbs has parallels in Egyptian wisdom literature.
So what does this mean? Is Christianity a copycat religion? Does all of this appropriation make the gospel false? Not!!! Some people like the makers of the Zeitgeist movie and those who are into Kemetic roots of civilization think this is true. They say Christianity borrowed from other ancient religions and therefore is a false copycat religion but the story of the gospel is unique.
The power of the gospel is that it is adaptable to all cultures. It is not tied down to a specific culture, ethnicity, or language but wherever it goes it impacts your culture, ethnicity, and language. Just be careful when you try to adapt to things in the culture that are sinful. It just might show you are worshipping Beyoncé (yes there is a church of Bey) and not God
Stay tuned for my next post where I dig into more Christianity and culture and whether Jesus is just a copy of Egyptian or Babylonian messiah figures.
