It is the latest smash hit music video (no pun intended). “I Love the Way You Lie” by Eminem and Rihanna features Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan as a couple who have a tempestuous relationship to say the least. Eminem raps about his inner struggle to control his rage and abusive tendencies. Rihanna sings the chorus:
“Just gonna stand there and watch me burn. But that’s alright, because I like the way it hurts. Just gonna stand there and hear me cry. But that’s alright because I love the way you lie. I love the way you lie…”
The scenes with Monaghan and Fox are alternating ones of sex and violence. It’s definitely not a family friendly video. So why do we bring it to your attention? Aside from the fact that we want you to be culturally aware (the video has more than 30 million views on You Tube), we want to state:
- Violence against a woman is never right. Never. Even if she says she likes the way it hurts. She doesn’t.
- Men who have anger issues need to get help. They can rationalize with themselves all they want, but the cycle will repeat itself.
Now that I have stated the obvious, can I share from the heart? People struggle. All people struggle with something. For some of us, our struggle manifests itself as rage against God. For others, it manifests itself as withdrawal from Him. Some of us do both; alternating between rage and withdrawal.
In some cases, we strangely learn to live and even love being in a bad place. It becomes like a home and, because we can see no way out, we adapt to the new, sick reality.
I want to encourage you today to choose another alternative. Take your struggles to Him. He won’t hit you. He won’t stand there and watch you burn. He will begin to heal you by the power of His love. There is no other way to get real healing. If you need help to do that, ask. He is the Good Shepherd and He is ready to minister to you. If you have a friend, point him or her to the One who can stop the madness. He will hear the cry. Then together we can say we love the way He heals.
Randy is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America and has served on staff at Perimeter Church for the last thirteen years.
He has developed and led various ministries including discipleship and worship. Currently he is the Pastor of Shepherding.
Over the last few years he has produced four CDs including Our God Reigns, Worship Well and The Advent Experience. He has also completed a booklet called, Edwards For Five based on the edited resolutions of Jonathan Edwards and an original work entitled, Minority Rules, which brings to light the decline of Christianity in America. He is working on two new projects: one is a handbook for church leaders on shepherding tentatively titled, Like Sheep With a Shepherd and the other is a book on the importance of seeing the gospel in memorable quotations. Both are expected in fall of 2010.
Randy is one of the founders of Metro Atlanta Seminary, a new way to train men and women for ministry. He is the Stated Clerk of Metro Atlanta Presbytery and he is a popular speaker with both adults and youth. He has traveled to more then thirty countries and has been joyfully married to Dorothy for twenty-nine years. Together they have three daughters ages 24, 22 and 18 and a wonderful son in law.
Over the years Randy has taught on topics ranging from worship to forgiveness to current affairs such as the impact other religions have on Christianity. He has a heart for the world and the young so he likes to teach on missions and mentoring the next generation.
He currently publishes a blog called worshipwell@blogspot.com and he hosts a popular podcast called, One 4 the Road, which is available on iTunes with Bob Carter. He is on faculty with Metro Atlanta Seminary.
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1 comment
Apolonia Schuchardt
December 10, 2010 at 4:25 am (UTC -4)
I really love this webpage. Iwish I could come here all the time.