Should Christian Art (at times) be Offensive?

So asks Dan Haseltine, lead singer for Jars of Clay, in Relevant Mag.

Dan reflects on the nature of a Christian culture, and he asks about whether that culture needs to have art that reflects reality — and I didn’t see this emphasize but it appears to me to be what he’s on about — instead of about the ideal sanitized world Christians would like our world to be.

A couple excerpts.

I recently began a conversation about words, using Twitter as my debate floor. What began as a few questions about language evolved into why Christians are so easily offended and what it means to be “set apart.”

The catalyst for the debate was a song by Insane Clown Posse. Last summer, they proclaimed their allegiance to God and Jesus in a song called “Miracles,” which included lyrics like, F***ing magnets, how do they work? The knee-jerk reaction from most of the faith community was to simply dismiss ICP as absurd. However, in the messy realm of thoughtful critique, I was compelled to look more closely. The mere fact that something so crass and unabashedly twisted was being corralled under the banner of Christian evangelism had me thinking. It was almost as if God was saying: “You think you know me? You think you understand how far I will go to pursue my people? You think you know who I can and cannot use or what language I will or won’t redeem? … Check this out!”…If ever there was an arrogance perpetuated in the Church, our art is to blame. Our art describes the world where we live. We don’t spend enough time with prostitutes and outlaws, drunks and addicts. We don’t write about lust and fear and greed and obesity and broken things. We relegate our art to the way we wish the world should be and not how the world actually is. We are only offended because we forget the kinds of depravity we could reach if not for God’s grace….

Jesus has made room for art containing sexuality to reflect God’s glory. He has made room for artistic expressions containing abrasive language to reflect God’s glory….

The Gospel I know was not written wholly for children and I cannot, for a second, think it is not God’s truth because some expressions of it are not appropriate for my 7-year-old. Are we willing to step beyond fear and engage culture where it exists, recognizing art is born out of stories happening around us? They are stories that will end in redemption because God said they would. They may show up in our view at the very beginning of the redemptive process, and they may be messy and unrefined, but they are honest. The only thing that should offend us is art that lies.

And art that surrenders the kingdom gospel vision.