Romans 1:16 says:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Most of the time, I feel confident saying that I am not ashamed of the Gospel. I don’t usually have the inclination to shrink back from talking about it or its power.

However, I am ashamed—very ashamed—to be associated with this:

(Can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube)

Just for the record, a ‘rough rider’ (which this group of youth pastors from ‘The Father’s House’ in California repeatedly calls themselves in this song) is a type of condom designed to enhance sexual pleasure. It’s also a (gross) sexual technique. Painfully lame and uninformed.

What the hell? Wake up people! Seriously, there is absolutely no part of this that’s okay.

The auto-fill function on my iPod Shuffle yesterday dropped a song from Shai Linne into the mix. While I was working out, I came upon the song. I hadn’t listened to it before because I thought the chorus had kind of an annoying ring to it. But while I was working out, I didn’t bother to change it.

As it turns out, the lyrical content of the song is out of this world. The final verse is particularly thought provoking and I decided I wanted to share it.

From the song "In Adam All Die", From Shai Linne’s The Atonement:

"We talk Adam and Eve, cats think we’re "throwed off", really
They don’t think it relates to thugs in North Philly
But it’s like Switchfoot said- we were meant to live
But in the garden Adam was our representative
So when the Judge executed the sentence
Adam’s guilt was imputed to his descendants
Global calamity
Major debt, pain, regret, the reign of death- total depravity
And yes, I’m aware that cats were not there
Which opens the door to charges of “that’s not fair”
But God is not subject to fallen notions of fairness
Besides, when it comes to God’s glory, most could care less
We can’t measure how we chase sand treasures
And banned pleasures- similar to our ancestors
So instead of saying if you were there what you would do
Seek your refuge in Adam number two"

You can listen to more of Shai Linne’s stuff at his MySpace page.

The past three days, I’ve posted videos from YouTube that deal with the topic of religion (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5). Namely, Christianity. Whether they be funny, convicting or inspiring, I feel they all have something for us to consider.

Shai Linne is a reformed Christian rapper. I’d heard him before, but I was formally introduced today. This video is actually something more of a podcast. It’s an interview with a radio personality of some kind listening to and commenting on a one of Shai Linne’s songs dealing with theological words. His reaction is interesting.

“Puritan rappers… that’s what you have right there… In most youth ministries, your kids won’t hear something even close to something like that!" Interesting.