TIGHT LYRICS -- da T.R.U.T.H. ("The Faith" album)

Was Christ really buried—is there a chance/
That He really married Mary and fled over to France?/
Did they really find His bones /
With a fine toothed comb/
Or did He walk out of His tomb to His throne?/
Was He God—was He not/Was He alive when they dropped /
Him in a tomb/ Did He swoon—was He moved?'/
Was He removed by delusional dudes /That refused /
To believe in the truth/Were they fools?/
Were the disciples hallucinating?/
Was the truth evaded/ ‘Cause they wanted to boost His ratings?/
Did the Catholic church from the Vatican work/
At keeping the bag of dirt /
Under the rug?/
Was He God from above?/ If He was.../
Do you blink, do you shrug?/
Do you hate, do you love? /
Christ on the poster/Christ of the culture/
Christ on the stained glass, Christ of the future /
Christ on the video/ Christ on the radio /
The Christ of Da Vinci/ What does he really know?/
Christ on award shows/ Christ that the Lord knows /
Christ that’s sure to come back in His war clothes/
In which Christ do you believe?/
You gotta know before you leave!/
YES he did arrive, YES He was alive/
NO —he wasn’t married, never had any wives/
YES—He did rise, days after He died/
What can I say—YES HE IS GOD!/
From the womb to the tomb, To His throne /
Nobody in Rome /
Could hold on to His bones/
'Cause there were no bones to be held, /
Though His bones were beheld/
Who would have known, It was Jehov on the DL /
Providing forgiveness, Our lives are offensive/
He died to put you and I in a friendship /
With himself, Pain is felt/
When the glorious gospel is exchanged for wealth/
Forget about how the spades were dealt/
And think about how you measure up when weighed on the scale /
One Lord, One faith I plug/
One Lord, One Christ, One Judge

OTHER GOOD BOOKS -- MY 2005 BEST READS

Though these books were not all published in 2005, here's a list of some of the best books I've read this past year:
1) When Life and Beliefs Collide: How Knowing God Makes a Difference. Excellent book for women in particular, but for anyone struggling to make sense of their Christian faith in the midst of trials. Haven't read a book like this since Joni Eareckson Tada's When God Weeps.
2) The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America. I must admit, I like crime / mystery stuff that's a bit macabre. Again, this book is history written like fiction. It tells the story of two men who become famous for different reasons in Chicago in 1893. One man is one of the architects responsible for many buildings in the famous Chicago World's Fair. The other man is a now unknown, then infamous man who lived in the same place at the same time, but he was known for murder -- he was a serial killer with a twist (though he usually murdered women, he did so for money, a link missing in today's serial killers).
3) Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s through the Civil War. Written by one of my history professors while at Yale (Melvin Ely), this book tells the true story of a group of Blacks who were freed AND given their own land, and this was as far back as 70 years before Emancipation. Blacks who were given their own land interacted with free whites, in business, in love relationships (yes, there were interracial marriages even then and interestingly, they were allowed to exist), even in religion. VERY LONG, but VERY INTERESTING.
4) Grace Matters: A Memoir of Faith, Friendship, and Hope in the Heart of the South, by Chris Rice. Excellent true story of a white man who learned about following God and life in the city through a friendship with a Black man, the son of famous Christian community developer John Perkins.
5) Power Lines: Two Years on South Africa's Borders. Jimmy Carter's grandson tells about his experiences in S. Africa (Peace Corps, I think) and shares lessons he learns about respecting others' cultures and how taking the time to learn someone's language can break down barriers.

GOOD BOOK

Hey, one of the best books I've read of late is this one: CONTEMPT OF COURT: THE TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY LYNCHING THAT LAUNCHED 100 YEARS OF FEDERALISM. This book is history written in the form of a novel, and it tells the true story of Ed Johnson, a Black man wrongly accused of rape in Chattoonaga in 1906. Back then rape was a capital offense and lynching was the law of the land. Ed Johnson's rights were trampled on in a travesty of justice called his trial. (Read the book for details) Of course he was convicted, but two Black lawyers (with the help of a white one) took his case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court granted a temporary stay to Mr. Johnson's execution until the case could be looked into further. Unfortunately, Chattanooga Sheriff Shipp and his cohorts ignored the stay and allowed Johnson to fall victim to a lynch mob. The wonderful turn of events involved Shipp and a handful of others being found guilty of contempt of court. This happy outcome was anticlimactic though because the sentence was only 90 days in jail. Very interesting book if you want to know about what life was like for African-Americans at the turn of the century, particularly Black men, AND if you want to know how states' rights have historically been subject to federal authority.