Precious Puritans Review

Some are saying that Propaganda came across too strong in most of this song before you realize the 'bait and switch' technique towards the end of the song. Here, Propaganda acknowledges that despite being sinful the Puritans can still be used by God to further His plan (crooked sticks to make straight lines). Most serious reviewers acknowledge what Propaganda was trying to do, but state that it doesn't quite work. To me, it sounds like many people were just too emotionally jarred by the first 3/4 of the song to completely let those words go when Propaganda states that he was wrong.

I haven't read all of Propaganda's explanation to this song, but I feel the strong words were necessary because many people probably have that same level of disdain for the Puritans. This song would also be helpful to any Christian that feels animosity towards another group (past or present). By coming across with such hostility, those people that have those same feelings connect with him in a very emotional way. As they are now carefully listening, Propaganda leads them towards the truth and the listener will feel they can trust where he is taking them. They may feel very confronted, but if Propaganda would have started this way, then no emotional trust would have been developed. They likely would have dismissed Propaganda as not really understanding where they are coming from, but building trust allows for confrontation (similar to how Christians typically believe that a friendship or bond should be developed before confronting another Christian).

I feel this was the larger message of the song. We cannot dismiss a group just because we find something sinful in their past (major point), and we cannot consider a group inerrant just because their writings are so spiritually helpful to us (minor point).

On a side note, I have struggled with not really connecting with Christian hip-hop. It tends to be safe in my opinion, which is very different than the secular hip-hop that I grew up with. Hip-hop is mean't to be edgy and controversial. It is emotional and confronting. I think this is lacking in Christian hip-hop. Isn't this great that we have something challenging to talk about?

After reading through some of the debate about Precious Puritans I began to struggle a bit with wondering whether challenging songs like this are profitable. It seems that they can be so easily misinterpreted or misunderstood (The challenging part is I don't think it is really misunderstanding. It is just different personal interpretations), but the optimistic side of me hopes that this type of variation in interpretation will be rare. The optimistic side of me hopes that more Christian hip-hop will challenge and spark debate that helps individuals grow closer to God and closer to each other.