A couple of days ago, Terry Wogan, in the midst of his early morning witterings, played Robbie William's latest ditty, "Bodies", asking after it had finished "has Robbie got religion?" A few moments before, Owain, my teenage son, had asked a another question: "What on earth is he on about?" I'm not sure about the answer to either question... Even less so after looking at the lyrics below for longer than I should have...
The words are all there: God, Jesus, died for me, save me, perfection, rapture... Assembled in a different order they would be perfectly at home in a revivalist tent-meeting... (Although the reference to a Bodhi Tree clearly owes more to Eastern religion/new-age pick and mix spirituality)
But what's all this stuff about looking good naked? That certainly owes more to Gok Wan than the gospel, although it may be an easy summation of what the gospel is up against in modern western culture. If the big questions that others are asking are of the order of "how do I look good naked?" (not a question I have wrestled with personally or in my preaching) then perhaps the church is actually answering questions that no-one is asking...
But that is probably reading far too much into this piece of pop pap... The problem is, it is annoyingly memorable, "an ear worm" as my youngest son Ciaran calls it.
If only the sermons that use the words God, Jesus, died for me, save me, perfection and rapture, were as memorable... and made as much sense!
(If anyone would like to offer a coherent exegesis of this "text" please feel free to comment)
God gave me the sunshine,
Then showed me my lifeline
Then showed me my lifeline
I was told it was all mine,
Then I got laid on a ley line
What a day, what a day,
And your Jesus really died for me
Then Jesus really tried for me
UK and entropy,
I feel like its s****in’ me
Wanna feed off the energy,
Love living like a deity
What a day, one day,
And your Jesus really died for me
I guess Jesus really tried for me
Bodies in the Bodhi tree,
Bodies making chemistry
Bodies on my family,
Bodies in the way of me
Bodies in the cemetery,
And that’s the way it’s gonna be
All we’ve ever wanted
Is to look good naked
Is to look good naked
Hope that someone can take it
God save me rejection
From my reflection,
I want perfection
Praying for the rapture,
‘Cause it’s stranger getting stranger
And everything’s contagious
It’s the modern middle ages
All day every day
And if Jesus really died for me
Then Jesus really tried for me
Bodies in the Bodhi tree,
Bodies making chemistry
Bodies on my family,
Bodies in the way of me
Bodies in the cemetery,
And that’s the way it’s gonna be
Bodies making chemistry
Bodies on my family,
Bodies in the way of me
Bodies in the cemetery,
And that’s the way it’s gonna be
All we’ve ever wanted
Is to look good naked
Hope that someone can take it
God save me rejection
From my reflection,
I want perfection
Bodies in the Bodhi tree,
Bodies making chemistry
Bodies on my family,
Bodies in the way of me
Bodies in the cemetery,
And that’s the way it’s gonna be
Bodies making chemistry
Bodies on my family,
Bodies in the way of me
Bodies in the cemetery,
And that’s the way it’s gonna be
Bodies in the Bodhi tree,
Bodies making chemistry
Bodies on my family,
Bodies in the way of me
Bodies in the cemetery,
And that’s the way it’s gonna be
Bodies making chemistry
Bodies on my family,
Bodies in the way of me
Bodies in the cemetery,
And that’s the way it’s gonna be
All we’ve ever wanted
Is to look good naked
Hope that someone can take it
Hope that someone can take it
So God save me rejection
From my reflection,
I want perfection
Jesus didn’t die for you, what do you want?(I want perfection)
Jesus didn’t die for you, what are you on?Oh Lord(Jesus really died for you)
Ohh(Jesus really died for you)
(Jesus really died for you) Ohh
Comments
comments could you let me know if you get this
Never mind about questions like "how good do i look naked?"
when yer over 30 who cares today anyway?
Is it not better to question .
the laws laid down in the Good Book. It could be benficial to your health in the long run.
I was reading the other day a collection of God's rules and regulations. Boys a dear God hands down a nightmare of a human code for us to live by.
I'm not sure Methodists are up to this you know.
According to some scholars the number of victims who paid the ultimate price in wars that are claimed to be instigated by God is hard to determine, but it is thought to be around 5 million this includes wars and plagues.
This God is a mass murderer plain and simple. and this does not include fights and wars going onto day.The only good thing is that these murders never took place because a vivid human imagination was most definately the source as is the case today with regard to Gods existance. and which is being shown for what it is worth.
The very first book of the Bible is now declared fiction by religious leaders. Dare we mention Revelations.
A good God "do you know one".
This from the good book?
Anyone who goes uncircumcised is to be exiled from his people. thats me for one.
a man who marries a mother and daughter must be burned to death, so he should be.
if two men have sexual relations both must be put to death. egh!I could name a few. but would i miss them.
if a man has sex with an animal he should be put to death, i'll kill him myself.
anyone who attacks their mother or father must be put to death. if i had attacked my father i'd be dead long ago.
anyone who kidnaps must be put to death. what?
anyone who commits murder should be put to death. good
anyone who commits adultery must be put to death.
well there goes at least half of us.
now if you kidnap someone yer a gonner
if you disobey a judge or priest your put to death. i'm glad i don't mix with either. don't tell me your a priest but a prod one.
anyone who works on the sabath is dead except Methodist MInisters i suppose or else its not true, so it mustn't be true then.
now if you don't worship God yer dead for good and ever. its in the book.(2 chronicles 15:13 )
any prophet who turns you against god must be put to death.
do you have to do exams to be a prophet?
what if you make a wee mistake is that a big one
if your ox gores someone, not only is the ox in big trouble but your stoned to death. do you want to buy an ox?
anybody who claims to talk with spirits must be stoned to death. if i remember right we used to encourage that during alpha? talking to spirits i mean.
that's enough already.
Having read that I'm very happy being one of the others.
Finally, whoes Robbie anyway?
Didn't look god naked when I was less than 30 so it certainly won't be any better today...
As for your other comments... well, I could refer you to any number of books that could answer them much more coherently than I would, but I don't believe that's what you're interested in... Let me go so far as to say that most "religious" wars have little to do with the teaching of Jesus, and the combined activities of Hitler & Stalin (2 professed atheists) alone account for over 5 million people. But just because of those deranged individuals I'm not going to write off all atheists as genocidal maniacs.
As for the OT laws you quote... try comparing them with the code of Hammurabi and you might find them coming out as marginally more humanitarian... I don't believe that the laws you quote were absolute and eternal, but they were certainly an advance on the anarchy that prevailed in the ANE of the time.
As for the law regarding those speaking to spirits... I think its a bit extreme to stone those speaking in tongues to death... tho I could be tempted on occasions...