Last time, we took a look at the first four commandments. All four of those deal directly with our relationship with God. As Christian DJs, this is vital. We work in a subculture where people often hope to become the focal point. In some regards, just about everyone wants to be DJMag’s top DJ. We have songs about how the DJ is a god. We have DJs who stand up in front of crowds demanding praise. So much of this subculture of dance music runs counter to our place in God’s creation and what we should be striving for as Christians. Our job is not to become a god, but to reflect God.
Doing this requires a combination of humility, respect, dedication and determination. This alone often seems like an impossible task, but that’s where the attitudes that Jesus talked about during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) come into play. We’ll have to go into those later, but for now, let’s continue on with the next few commandments.
Commandment 5: Honor your Mother and Father
A few months ago, I received an email from someone seeking my advice. He was probably around 17. He and his buddy had gotten into DJ a while back and felt they were ready to start spinning out. They saw an opportunity at club’s amateur night and wanted to get involved. There was only one problem, outside of his age, the club turned out to either be a strip club or was performing a lingerie show that night as well. They could have gotten in as part of the night’s entertainment, but this guy’s mother was putting her foot down.
Most of us reading this are probably adults and have been out on our own for a while, so it may or may not seem to apply to you all that much. The fact is that we are to honor our parents. There isn’t a time limit on that. Unless you have a severely dysfunctional family (and I know a lot of you do), your parents are looking out for what is best for you. In the case of a 17 year-old djing in front of a number of either naked or half naked women, that’s probably not a good thing and might even facilitate the breaking of another commandment we’ll get to later on.
When your parents tell you “no”, you always have three choices. First, you can simply obey them and not do whatever it was that you wanted to do. Second, you could go ahead and do it anyway. Third, if you know that it is something you either really want to do or you feel you need to do you can discuss it with them. In the case of DJing, some education may be required.
When choosing your response, you always need to look at it from the perspective of what will show honor and respect to you parents.
Obeying them, so long as they want you do stay within the law, always shows them the honor and respect they deserve. Colossians 3:20 says “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” Through our obedience, we please God. Ephesians 6 :1-3 says “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise— ‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’ This is a reminder that obeying them is has some reward to it.
Discussing things such as djing with your parents will go a long with as well. You are showing your parents that you understand and hear their concerns. It also helps them to understand why this is important to you. This helps to build a true loving relationship between you and your parents. You may think that they don’t understand you and truthfully, they may not. The thing to remember though is that they were once your age and they too went through similar struggles… even if the crossfader hadn’t been invented yet.
No matter what, disobeying your parents will not bring honor to them. It will only harm your relationship with them. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to realize the importance decision God made in creating us the way He did. We start off young, inexperienced and weak, but ambitious, curious and inspired. Our parents were once like us, but they grew up and now they have the experience and strength that they lacked at our age. Our parents, in many ways, see things through eyes similar to God’s own eyes. They can see the pitfalls we’re heading toward just like God does, but that’s not all, they learn through your rebellion how God feels about our own. Honoring our parents helps to train us to honor God.
So, what do you do if your parents don’t deserve honor? This is a tough subject. I didn’t grow up in a dysfunctional family. I am friends with some who were and I married into one. I’ve tried to find the exception to this commandment. I can’t. As a Christian, we are called to love God first with ever fiber of our being. That is the first and greatest commandment, but Christ didn’t stop there in Matthew 22:37-39, he went on to talk about the second greatest: “And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Regardless of what your parents have done to you, God still wants you to love and honor them. It’s not easy. I know that. God doesn’t always make things easy, but he is there for you when you need his help. If you are in this type of situation, please pray to God about helping you to learn to love and bring honor to your parents. That’s all I will ask and that’s honestly all you can do. Let God worry about whatever hatred and resentment that you have for them or they toward you. Having a right relationship with your parents is not only critical for your relationship with God, but your relationship with others as well.
Commandment 6: Do not murder
You don’t see this as much in our club culture as you do in say the hip-hop culture, but it still happens from time to time. Perhaps the most famous story recently is the famous club shooting in Caracas when Carl Cox was performing in 2007 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7082966.stm).
One thing I would like to point out here is that there are several transitional differences here. Some translations use the term murder, others kill. There is a world of difference between the two words. Kill would cover everything from killing a fly to killing a man regardless of whatever the reason. Murder specifically talks about the unlawful taking of life. The original Hebrew word used in this case is the one for murder, not kill. So, this commandment specifically talks about the unlawful killing of others.
As with many things, when Jesus came he brought new light into the law that existed. He put it up to a standard that really shows just how far mankind has fallen and how much we need him. Jesus was always more concerned about the condition of your heart and mind than he was the actual actions you have taken. And there is a difference between your actions and what you harbor in your heart. When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount he drove this point home time and time again.
In the case of murder, Jesus had this to say: "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.” – Matthew 5: 21-22
As Christians, according to Jesus, hatred has no place in our lives. Harboring hatred in your heart, be that the raw hatred that drives someone to physically murder another or just petty jealousy, is considered by God to be the same as actually committing murder.
John in his first letter to the early churches had this to say about hatred’s effect on the soul: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” – 1 John 2: 9-11
As Christians, we simply cannot allow hatred to take hold of our hearts because it will destroy us. Remember the second greatest commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus didn’t put any conditions on that commandment. We have no excuse and yet, often times, this is such a hard one to follow. Our thought life is more important than our outward actions. This is because our outward actions are born first in our minds before they are unleashed into the world.
Well, that’s enough heavy reading for now. I’ll cover more of the commandments next month. If you take anything away from this article, let it be this: In whatever you do, do it so that your parents will be proud of you. Don’t embarrass them or your family. It’s a matter of respect for both your parents and God. Also, examine your thought life. Are there some people you harbor jealousy and hatred toward? Have you not forgiven them for actions they have taken against you? Pray about finding a way to forgive them.
Until next time, let God be the dj and you the record. Live like he designed you to live. In this you will find more freedom, peace and opportunities than you’ve ever imagined.