Reconsidering Nine Inch Nails; Again

I went to a Nine Inch Nails concert when I was in junior high. I even bought a tee shirt! Yeah, I was a huge fan when I was young. At the ripe old age of fourteen I particularly connected with the song Closer with its most memorable line, “I want to f--- you like an animal.” I am not sure what it was, perhaps it was my teenage angst, or just the idea of having sex as a fourteen-year-old boy was…well always on my mind! But like many things I grew out of that phase. I didn’t exactly rebel against that kind of music, just moved on to different things.

Then I became pretty serious about my faith while in college. Unlike many of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ I did not have a secular CD breaking party. But I must say that my music sensibilities were refined with my new focus on Jesus and those sensibilities were appalled by such lines as “I want to f--- you like an animal.” How could I have ever been into such music? I was disgusted with myself for having gone to a Nine Inch Nails concert. And how did I ever convince my parents to drop me off and pick me up?

Well, fast-forward again to just two weeks ago. Whenever I heard that song Closer come on the radio I usually changed it but for some reason this time I did not. Suddenly I started listening to that song and I saw it and Trent Reznor (the artist) in a whole new light. That night, just an hour before, I had high school youth group and I was leading a small group of guys in discussion. The topic of sex came up and all of them thought it was ridiculous to not have had sex at their age (15-17). Sex was what made them real men, it is natural, and it must be done as much as possible. Having that conversation, along with listening to the song Closer something clicked.

Look at these lyrics from the song, and better yet listen to the song while reading the lyrics. Reznor says,

I want to f--- you like an animal
My whole existence is flawed
You get me closer to god
You can have my isolation, you can have the hate that it brings
You can have my absence of faith, you can have my everything
Help me tear down my reason, help me its' your sex I can smell
Help me you make me perfect, help me become somebody else

Suddenly I saw this song as the thoughts of a man crying out for help. It is a song about a man searching for something more then himself. A man admitting he is broken. And the only place our society believes a man can be “healed” is between a woman’s legs. That is Reznor’s answer. This is his (and many others) religion. Healing and perfection can only be attainted while between the sheets.

The problem is that this healing is only superficial. And you get addicted to it. You feel perfect for a few moments but then you are pulled back to reality. You become willing to do anything to get that moment of perfection back, anything. This is what my youth group guys don’t get and what I wish I could have them hear. Reznor writes in the song our beliefs about sex. In the church we have a different belief but I am glad I listened to this song again because it helped me see what my guys are going through and how they think. It is always interesting to me where one can find the Lord speaking, especially in places that God is not supposed to be.

I Pledge My Allegiance To…

Last year, still feeling relatively new at my church, I experienced our service for Memorial Day. I have to admit, I thought it was pretty messed up. I didn’t say anything, but seriously singing God Bless America and the Star Spangled Banner, saying the Pledge of Allegiance in church? Think about that, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.” Really? Isn’t Christian’s pledging their allegiance to a flag a little out of sink with the mission of the church? What ever happened to the whole ‘God is King’, or ‘Jesus is Lord’ thing? I for one felt like something was wrong with that service.

At the same time because of those critiques I had of the service and the church, I started feeling a little anti-American. I love my country. I feel truly blessed to be an American citizen. More importantly I want to be known as someone who supports our troops. Those who have sacrificed and those who currently are sacrificing their bodies, minds and even lives for me to experience the blessing of living in the United States. So to have a problem with patriotism in church made me feel a little conflicted.

Well, of course this year I find myself preparing to be the preacher in a week and a half; yes the day before Memorial Day! When I realized this had happened I tried to get out of it, but my pastor would have none of it. I told the pastor we couldn’t do any patriotic songs if I am going to preach, which he said he disagreed with but would support what I had asked. But now I am struggling. When I preach I can’t ignore the significance of Memorial Day, I can’t miss the opportunity to support those who have died for our country. But I also can’t ignore that Jesus tells us to love our enemies! I can’t ignore those who have died for our faith! I can’t ignore the fact that God is tugging at my heart to preach about peace, love, mercy, justice, devotion to God’s Kingdom and most importantly pledging our allegiance to Him alone!

I could slam the Bible down and tell the congregation that war is evil and God calls us to stand up against evil. I could point at the congregation and accusing them of loving their country more then they love Jesus. But as soon as I do that no one will be able to hear the message God has for them. They will stop listening. But I cannot pander to what people want to hear either. I have to do my best to preach the message God has for everyone to hear. That is a fine line that I must walk and it would be far easier to just not show up! But I am going to do my best to walk that line. I pray God gives me the right words to speak; and I pray he opens the ears and hearts of the congregation for them to receive the message God has for them.