Note to Robin Thicke: Your massive awesomeness cannot be overestimated. Though I can abide the occasional semi-slinky line here and there ("Lost Without U," looking in your direction, and I am a Babyface/Marvin Gaye fan after all) I must call biblical shenanigans on an album entitled "Sex Therapy." And it has a warning label! So I picked up "The Evolution of Robin Thicke" instead. (Fred the Fundie: But it says 'Evolution'! Oh, heavens to Betsy! Whatever shall we do?) There must be a happy medium somewhere. I figure it's this: If your pastor can't affirm something in a song as reflective of marital love as God intends without firing himself, it's wicked. [Is it a bad time to mention that every time you attend a marriage/dating/sex seminar, you hear "Whip Appeal" in your head for the next three hours?--ed.] Look, I'm not gonna play it for the youth group, OK? But I think we should congratulate the songwriters in that case (Perri Reid and Babyface) for assisting in the conception of what, 4 million children since 1989? I'll let people worry about their own sins. But we gotta think demographics on this one, too. Great song. Sue me. But how square am I really? Every time I hear "Thank You In Advance" by our friends Boyz II Men, I think, "Seems like they did a few things out of order." I think we understand each other.
I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p
Comments