metal

it's kinda described as something that doesn't quite fit in with christianity - i beg to differ. all of the metal artists that lean on bible verses as their inspiration are actually the people that unwittingly hit the mark - in terms of the reason those scriptures being there is so that you can be honest and in some cases, brutal, to God, about the near unbearable things about life. celtic frost for example, as they lament "my god my god, why have you forsaken me?"

it is fitting that for most people metal is unbearable to listen to, since the subject matter that it often chooses to face is equally as unbearable, yet for the cross we must face these things, for he faced ugliness. we can't accept god's love and forgivesness without believing that he died a gruesome and torturous death for our sakes, and that through suffering he chose to epitomise his ministry of reconciliation to us.

i haven't listened to metal for a long time - but i think thats mainly because being in a band that plays it tends to make you rebel against the genre that you try to stand for - made me hate it so to speak. itll be different to the reason why most people decide to turn their face away from metal. but the negative side of life exists. and the emotions that are manifest in it are sometimes dormant in us - and it doesnt necessarily mean sinful hate. who turned he tables? who, in non passive terms, told the storm to shut the hell up? what man gave a lament to the unfaithfulness of the generation that he was surrounded by? who called his own disciple by the name of the devil, in abhorrence of what he was saying? who cast seven woes upon the pharisees? a god of love did all this. hate itself is not evil. the command is made to "hate What is evil" - so that our love is pure, that there may be no fear in love.
i hate the t-shirts that talk of marriage as 'game over'. am i sinning? absolutely not. there are personalities that we have, that aren't meant to suddenly disappear just because we are christians. it is a lie to think that as christians we are to be consistently and unswervingly happy about everything all of the time, and if not then we're 'being naughty'. tosh! any anger i have, i can channel towards what is evil and unjust. if i have to be clingy, then i can cling to 'what is good'. if we are of the boasting kind, then we are given jesus christ to boast in. if, as peter was, we are violent, then we can be violent in the way we choose to cut off sin in our lives. if we are pedantic, then the letter of the law allows us to be conscious of sin - which is no bad thing to be conscious of, since it is the beginning of the end of slavery. the emotions that we are inbuilt with are not incompatible with God and his plans, no matter how wayward they seem. i believe the ultimate intention of all the personality that we possess is that through our uniqueness we each can demonstrate a facet of God. jesus is able to demonstrate all of these facets, but i am glad to be given the gift of grace to display any at all.