Kingdom Come
For those of you who don't know Jay-Z came out of retirement late last year with a brand new album titled "Kingdom Come." In the title track he claims:
When kingdom come, you ready?
When kingdom come, uh huh
Not only N.Y.C. I'm hip hop's savior
So after this flow you might owe me a favor.
Just when they thought it was all over
I put the whole world on my back and broad shoulders...
The parallels to Jesus are very eerie; here a man is claiming that he not only came to save a certain select group (N.Y.C.) but all of hip hop. While we see that Jesus came not only to save Israel, but for the redemption of the entire world. Paul wrote in Romans 15:8-13:
For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised [Israel] to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
"Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name."
And again it is said,
"Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."
And again,
"Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him."
And again Isaiah says,
"The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope."
May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
For those that are celebrating Jay-Z's return and apparent saving of hip hop, look to the original savior. Look to the one that Jay-Z ripped off and came not only for Jews, but also gentiles. Celebrate the One that didn't merely save hip-hop but the entire the world. Look to the savior - Jesus.
5 comments:
it is funny how culture so many times will reflect the bible. this is a great example - and i think eerie is a good word for it. in my opinion, Jay-Z doesn't no how to rap; he just knows how to spell lots of words that end with "b", "p", "c" or "d"! that's my opinion.
mark driscoll talks a lot about how the protagonist of 24 is a Christ figure as well, ready to be killed in order to save many. it seems that people are looking for the Savior, but they settle for saviors.
Mark Driscoll is a homophobic, woman-bashing, hot-headed fundamentalist.
If he's drawing a conclusion between a pop culture TV show and Jesus, then we can conclude that he is also dumb. That's my opinion!
I am interested in hearing why you think Driscoll is a homophobic, woman-bashing, hot-headed fundamentalist? Could you please site your sources? And why is it dumb to contextualize the Gospel? By saying Driscoll is dumb for drawing conclusions between pop culture and Jesus you are calling me dumb, because that is what I did with this post.
Finally, it unfortunatly sounds like you are hot headed close minded individual who is not willing to listen to other people's opinions...doing exactly what you are claiming Driscoll does. Plus he isn't afraid to own up to what he says, while you remain anonymous.
Hey Kyle-
Seth's wicked stepmonster here. I linked over from his blog and like your writings and choice of reading material.
I didn't know you were such a huge reader--I'm a hopeless bibliophile and read tons and tons.
Interesting parallel between Jesus and Jay-Z. That's not enough to make me listen to Jay-Z, mind you, but I rather like the analogy.
As for Anon's comments:
First, he/she is a troll. Don't let them get to you.
Secondly, Anon isn't ALL that off the mark, excepting the dumb comment.
Mark Driscoll does have a reputation in the blogosphere for being anti-woman (remarks on his blog about ordaining women and then in November, he basically said that Ted Haggard's wife was responsible for Ted's downfall), and quick to go on a rant (he's had to apologize at least two times in 2006 for blog posts that were poorly considered or in poor taste). The anti-gay, I don't know anything about, so if Anon's still lurking, could we be enlightened on that?
Driscoll should consider not blogging any more. He keeps shooting himself in the foot and based on his blogging I've come to feel that if what he preaches is really Christianity, then I'm happy to count myself out.
i'm really glad mark driscoll has stopped blogging. although i think he's witty, it is too often at the expense of others. he admits one of his biggest faults is his inability to tame his tongue. hopefully not blogging will help him keep tabs on it. but what he preaches salvation through faith in Jesus for the glory of God. he works to teach the bible and to love everyone because he knows that God loves them. what is it about that gospel that you disagree with?
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