Like many people my age, I remember listening to Prince
on the radio in High School and college.
I wasn’t as discerning back then.
I am glad I listened to some really great stuff for my soul (lots of
Keith Green and other Christian music).
I regret that I also listened to a lot of worthless stuff. When I heard that Prince died, a few lines
from some of his most loved music (“Purple Rain”, “1999”) started to play in my
mind. I didn’t remember more than a line
here and there, so I found a couple of them on YouTube and listened to them.
When I listened to “1999” and “Let’s Go Crazy”, I quickly
recognized something that was far less clear to me as a high schooler. I saw how sad and backwards some of Prince’s
theology was. Before I discuss that
theology . . .
A Couple of
Disclaimers
When I discuss Prince’s “theology”, I am looking mainly
at the content of the songs I remember most (which seem to be the songs most
people remember most). These songs go
back some thirty years. I do not know
what Prince believed more recently. I
have no idea whether or not he believed the true gospel before he died. I read that he became more “religious” at
some point. If I was ministering to his
family or close friends who knew him personally, I would certainly be thinking
about what he might have believed his last years. But that is not my purpose in this blog
post. Here I’m writing to people who,
like me, mainly remember Prince in light of his most popular songs.
Also, when I write below about Prince’s “theology”, I am
not referring to what you may think of as a “formal” theology. Everybody has theology. Everybody has beliefs about God, about where
we came from, about what is wrong with the world, and about how all this will
turn out for us personally and for our world.
Some people can express these beliefs in a clear, systematic way. For others, these beliefs are confused and
jumbled. Even “I don’t care about that stuff” is a theological view with
profound implications. Whether it is based on the Bible or on a mix of pop
music and TV talk, each person’s theology deeply affects how they live life
each day.
The Theology of
Some of Prince’s Most Well Known Songs
Most bad theology is a mix of half-truths added to lies. In songs like “1999” and “Let’s Go Crazy”,
Prince includes some important truth:
1. He recognizes
that this life is going to end, and it might end sooner than we expect.
2. He fears judgment
day.
3. He talks about a
future life which will be better than the one we have now.
That all sounds pretty good. Sadly, he comes to the exact opposite
conclusion that the Apostle Paul came to when considering these truths. Prince’s response to the truths above is to
encourage everyone to party a lot and have all the fun we possibly can before
we die. By fun, it appears he mainly
means sex and partying.
Paul says that a philosophy of “party while you can” only
made sense if there was no resurrection:
If
the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (1Corinthians
15:32b NIV)
Apparently, Prince did not have all the pieces of true
Bible based theology. Perhaps he felt
that there was no hope for him to survive judgment, so he might as well have
fun now. If he thought like that it
means he did not really understand the deep love and amazing grace of God which
led to the atonement Christ made for our sins.
Or perhaps Prince thought that he would go to Heaven no
matter how he lived. If he thought like
that it means he did not understand the holiness of God who rightly hates all
sin.
We’ve all seen people who foolishly lived according to
Prince’s “party while you can” philosophy.
It is a destructive lifestyle which may bring a brief period of “fun”,
but quickly produces brokenness and despair.
But we might fail to notice a less severe form of the
same life philosophy. It seems to me
that most people, including many who claim the title “Christian”, live life
with the goal of getting the most comfort, pleasure, and happiness for
themselves as possible in this life
while avoiding danger and suffering at all costs. This type of “comfortable life philosophy” is
really based on the same broken theology that was sung by Prince. It is a lifestyle which practically ignores
the reality of God’s grace, judgment day, the seriousness of sin, and the
promise of eternal rewards for those who choose to follow Christ.
And by follow Christ, I mean obeying His most radical
commands:
"Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves
do not break in and steal.” (Mathew 6:19-20 NIV)
"Whoever
wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow
me.” (Matthew 16:24b NIV)
Christ calls us to live a life on earth that involves
loving others sacrificially and also involves saying “no” to the sinful desires
of our flesh. If we do, He promises eternal rewards. This is the exact opposite
of “party while you can”.
It’s
too Late for Prince, but not for Us
Again, I don’t know if Prince found salvation in Christ
before he died. If the initial reports
about a drug overdose contributing to his death prove true, that will be a
tragic illustration of the outcome of the theology he sang about. Prince was given an extraordinary gift. I wished he had consistently used it to
glorify Christ.
But for myself, and for all of you reading this, God is
still giving us grace. If we look back
at our lives and see times and ways in which we lived for this world instead of
living for Heaven, all of that can be forgiven.
Really. God’s grace is enough. There is no sin you’ve committed that is so
bad that the blood of Christ is not sufficient payment!
And not only can we be forgiven, with God’s help we can
live in a new way based on a better theology.
A theology that takes seriously both God’s wrath and judgment as well as
God’s grace and mercy. A theology that
understands the reality of both Heaven and Hell. A theology which calls us to imitate a far
better example than our pop icons:
Ephesians 5:1
Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children
2 and walk in the way of love, just
as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God.
3 But
among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of
impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.
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