Taboo

ta-boo: proscribed by society as improper or unacceptable

Over my years in student ministry we often talked about the radical nature of Jesus. We sang songs like Radical Man. I heard gifted teachers like Tony Campolo tell me about the radical nature of following the Christ. We talked about becoming radical ourselves- maybe extreme enough to be considered Jesus Freaks. But most of us shrink from those thoughts in a world where following Jesus is becoming taboo. I'm not talking about being "christian"- just take a stand against the right things and for the right politicians and you can claim to be "christian." I'm talking about standing strong and telling the world who Jesus is and why He came. I'm talking about living like the resurrection actually happened and like Jesus is alive. And perhaps most importantly, I am talking about loving people the way Jesus told us to love each other. God does not care what country you are from, who you voted for or if you protested the "right" issues. According to Jesus in Matthew 22:37-39, the greatest commandment is to "love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second is like it- love your neighbor as yourself." If we truly believe that Jesus is "the Way, the Truth and the Life," then we will let nothing stand between us and living like we know Him. So be improper and unacceptable. Love the unlovable. Offer peace when the world wants aggression. Forgive when the world wants vengeance. Almost everything Jesus taught goes against the "normal" of the society we live in. Are you ready to be taboo?


Read these lyrics. And answer for yourself the last question posed- "Do you claim Jesus' name as the ultimate truth?" Have a blessed Sunday!

Taboo-  Ian Eskelin (from the album Save the Humans) 2004

For the sake of argument
Say Jerry Springer were the president
“No Inhibitions!”
The national theme
There’d still be one thing
Makin’ Donahue scream

“Taboo!”
We’ve come to the last
Taboo
There’s an audible gasp
When you claim there’s a God
Who’s objectively true
It’s taboo

Party on, let freedom ring
For the shock jocks and the gangsta kings
But mention Jesus in the public square
The tables turn and the tempers flare

Taboo
That’s a no-can-do
Taboo
The A.C.L.U.
Say when we sneeze
Could we please
Drop the ‘God bless you’
It’s taboo

God isn’t really dead
He’s under house arrest
Will Amnesty protest?
No I don’t think so

I could kiss a kangaroo
Sic my Spitz on your Shih Tzu
No one blinks at anything I do
Until I claim the resurrection is true

“Taboo!”
I’m breaking the last
Taboo
How about you?
Do you claim Jesus’ name
As the ultimate truth?
It's Taboo...

Because of Jesus,