Eminem and Sunday School

Eminem...I'm sorry. I do not think he is an artist a Christian should be listening to.

It is one of these things that I sometimes get very convicted about at my job. I sell CDs. Some CDs are good, some are not good. While I know God has me where I am at and I feel completely in His Will, it is sometimes difficult to work in a secular place. But when my assistant asked me one day why I don't go work at the Christian bookstore I said "Who would I witness to there?" She responded (keep in mind she is an non-believer) "yeah, that's true." I see the cover art and I hear the lyrics that are anything but, and many times the opposite, of Godly.

Philippians 4:8
'Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.'

Proverbs 15:26
'The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but those of the pure are pleasing to him.'

2 Corinthians 11:2-4
"I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough."

Titus 1:15
"To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted."

Luke 6:45
"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks."

What comes out of the mouth of this star, Eminem, is hatred, bitterness, disrespect and plain disgusting stuff. He is hailed as a great "musician", songwriter, and his story as told in the movie "8 Mile" is one of "hope and perseverance" from his bad childhood through to his stardom. He thrives on hate and many of his lyrics specifically target people, politicians, other musicians, and most notably his mother.

Here is a great exchange between a reader and a Christian reviewer.

Yesterday a woman, possibly about my age, entered my store and purchased the "More 8 Mile" soundtrack. She was all excited about it too. She is collecting anything and everything Eminem. I told her that the "8 Mile" DVD was coming out on March 18th and she could reserve a copy and with the reservation she would recieve an "8 Mile" movie poster. She was telling me how much of a fan of Eminem she was and when she saw my expression she noticed that "you are not a big fan of Eminem are you?" I told her firmly "no".

The woman continued on to justify her interest in Eminem. "I really like his story, from how he has gained success from such a horrid upbringing. It's inspiring"

She also volunteered this tidbit of information. "The sad part is" she said "is that I teach Sunday School."

I had to agree with that and replied "Yes, that is sad. Very sad." I went on to say "We all have choices in life. We can choose to live in the light, or walk in darkness. Eminem is in darkness and chooses to stay there. His lyrics are not healthy at all. He talks from anger, bitterness and hate." She agreed that he is in darkness but waited for me to go get her her movie poster.
As I handed her the poster I said "It would probably not be a good idea to hang this up in your Sunday School room" and she laughed and said "no, no, it's not going there!"

This has bothered me ever since. I fought the urge to say "What church do you go to? I won't be going there."

I am far from living a perfect life. Instead, Christ led it for me. I am ashamed at times by my thoughts and my actions. I am constantly weighing everything against the Word of God. I ask forgiveness from God when I sometimes wish I could walk around doing whatever I wanted to do, listening to whatever I want, seeing whatever movies I want, saying whatever...but then I hear that "still small voice" remind me that "you already do that." I am listening to whatever I want. I want to listen to music that glorifies God and stimulates my heart to prayer. I watch the movies I want, I read the books I want to. I have freedom, and there is no freedom without discipline. I am learning that God will deal with the discipline, and the freedom, that other Christians have in their walks and that I can only be concerned with mine. By God's Grace He has given me the discernment to recognize evil and flee from it. He has given me the forgiveness when I have failed. His Blood continues to cover me and all believers, so that I can not, CAN (not may) NOT be held in bondage.

If Eminem loves the fact that "everyone" hates him, and he pushes the line with each new song...why is he enjoying his success? And what would he do if everyone loved him?