As the title suggests, I am indeed combining theology and pop culture in a slightly unexpected way. Recently I've fallen in love with the song "Born This Way" by none other than the inimitable Lady Gaga. If you haven't listened to the song, you definitely should. And if you have can't comprehend the words, then you should watch the video so you'll understand my points:
"It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M." Wait, Lady Gaga's singing about God?!? Mom didn't initially believe me when I told her, but I assured her that yes, Lady Gaga was gettin' involved in religion.
The first verse is about self-love and believing in yourself. I used to think love of self was a bad thing, because Jesus was so selfless and all, and His main commandmant was all about loving others, right? Wrong. "Love others as you love yourself." I remember the Sunday School class when this message was conveyed in a new light to me - before you can truly love others, you have to love yourself and know that God has blessed you. While Lady Gaga doesn't go that deep in this verse, I think it's important to realize that yes, self-love can be a good thing.
And then the chorus is just so motivational. "I'm beautiful in my way, cos God makes no mistakes." God IS perfect. So why are we so busy criticizing His work? Even if it doesn't make sense (sorry platypus) it is still NOT a mistake. God knew/knows/will always know what He's doing. Society (which is SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED and therefore can't be absolute truth) might not think you're beautiful, but you are.
"I'm on the right track baby I was born this way." I'm not here to get into nature vs. nurture, but nature truly affects things, and you were born that way for a reason.
"Don't hide yourself in regret, just love yourself and you're set." It's true. This is true for me. It's easy to regret things and to want to go back, but hindsight is always 20/20. If you love yourself and love God, you'll have confidence to do the right things, to always move forward, and to keep trying.
"Don't be a drag, just be a queen." At first I didn't like this part musically, but eventually the lyrics won me over. Point 1) sitting around and saying that shows (drag or otherwise) are no fun is quite boring, aka you're being a drag. Point 2) It would be much more fun to be yourself and/or be a queen. Just saying.
The second verse doesn't necessarily make sense to me, but parts of it resonate well. It's also where I have my biggest issue. Up until this point, Lady Gaga is making a broad statement that sits well with me. However, now she decides to tell us what God thinks. And I'm just not cool with that - I don't care if you ARE Lady Gaga and practically queen of the world. I do not believe that the Bible provides conclusive, incontrovertible evidence for 'different lovers' (which I take to mean queer people), so until God definitely tells us what He wants, I personally (IMHO) believe that we need to love everybody. I believe in a loving God, a God available to everyone.
Moving on before religious rambling/ranting begins . . . the bridge is wonderful. I pretty much shout the words every time. I love how she associates ethnic/racial differences with sexuality, because I think those two 'methods of categorization,' if you will, are quite comparable. Then she goes on to say that no matter what happened, no matter what life threw at you, you can and should still love yourself.
That probably revealed a lot more about me than about Lady Gaga, but really I think this song provides me with a good avenue for sharing a bit more openly about some of my personal beliefs. I am in, as I call it, the "free love" stage of my life, which basically means I have found absolutely no reason why I should not love everyone I meet and respect who they are. It's often easier said than done (i.e. the upcoming post about my growing road rage . . . oops!), but with Christ all things are possible.
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