Are these lyrics blasphemy? (Plastic Jesus)

[Torsten]

What do you make of the lyrics of the song 'Plastic Jesus'? Do you think they are just bad taste or blasphemy? Or maybe you like them?

Well, I don't care if it rains or freezes,
Long as I have my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all trials and tribulations,
We will travel every nation,
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.

{Refrain}
Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all trials and tribulations,
We will travel every nation,
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.

I don't care if it rains or freezes
As long as I've got my Plastic Jesus
Glued to the dashboard of my car,
You can buy Him phosphorescent
Glows in the dark, He's Pink and Pleasant,
Take Him with you when you're travelling far

{Refrain}

I don't care if it's dark or scary
Long as I have magnetic Mary
Ridin' on the dashboard of my car
I feel I'm protected amply
I've got the whole damn Holy Family
Riding on the dashboard of my car

{Refrain}

You can buy a Sweet Madonna
Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a
Pedestal of abalone shell
Goin' ninety, I'm not wary
'Cause I've got my Virgin Mary
Guaranteeing I won't go to Hell

{Refrain}

I don't care if it bumps or jostles
Long as I got the Twelve Apostles
Bolted to the dashboard of my car
Don't I have a pious mess
Such a crowd of holiness
Strung across the dashboard of my car

{Refrain}

No, I don't care if it rains or freezes
Long as I have my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
But I think he'll have to go
His magnet ruins my radio
And if we have a wreck he'll leave a scar

{Refrain}

Riding through the thoroughfare
With his nose up in the air
A wreck may be ahead, but he don't mind
Trouble coming, he don't see
He just keeps his eyes on me
And any other thing that lies behind

Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Though the sun shines on his back
Makes him peel, chip, and crack
A little patching keeps him up to par

When pedestrians try to cross
I let them know who's boss
I never blow my horn or give them warning
I ride all over town
Trying to run them down
And it's seldom that they live to see the morning

Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
His halo fits just right
And I use it as a sight
And they'll scatter or they'll splatter near and far

When I'm in a traffic jam
He don't care if I say Damn
I can let all sorts of curses roll
Plastic Jesus doesn't hear
For he has a plastic ear
The man who invented plastic saved my soul

Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Once his robe was snowy white
Now it isn't quite so bright
Stained by the smoke of my cigar

God made Christ a Holy Jew
God made Him a Christian too
Paradoxes populate my car
Joseph beams with a feigned elan
From the shaggy dash of my furlined van
Famous cuckold in the master plan

Naughty Mary, smug and smiling
Jesus dainty and beguiling
Knee-deep in the piling of my van
His message clear by night or day
My phosphorescent plastic Gay
Simpering from the dashboard of my van

When I'm goin' fornicatin
I got my ceramic Satan
Sinnin' on the dashboard of my Winnebago Motor Home
The women know I'm on the level
Thanks to the wild-eyed stoneware devil
Ridin' on the dashboard of my Winnebago Motor Home
Sneerin' from the dashboard of my Winnebago Motor Home
Leering from the dashboard of my van

If I weave around at night
And the police think I'm tight
They'll never find my bottle, though they ask
Plastic Jesus shelters me
For His head comes off, you see
He's hollow, and I use Him for a flask

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Ride with me and have a dram
Of the blood of the Lamb
Plastic Jesus is a holy bar

TOEIC listening, photographs: Baseball
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[Political Lurker]

Some might even say they are "cool" Torsten


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Hand_Luke
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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

[Xiaomuou]

Well by the technical definition of the word "blasphemy" people might argue that the lyrics could be showing some kind of disrespect or irreverence to God. Those with deeper religious feelings might be insulted by the lyrics. I'm sure my grandmother would feel the urge to purge us all of the evil being spewed forth by the lyrics. I on the other hand don't tend to take them so seriously and view them more as an abstract creation than a slap in the face of a religion. Though in the end I suppose only the writer of the lyrics can tell us if he/she was purposely trying to provoke a certain kind of reaction from a certain group of people or not.
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[Political Lurker]

The Christian Bible tells us - Jesus himself was in fact crucified after being found guilty of blasphemy by the Jewish elders/council.........

How Ironic is that?
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[Xiaomuou]

Very true Political Lurker. Every religion has its own ideas on what is or is not blasphemous.

Irony is all around us.
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[Torsten]

I still think that in Plastic Jesus the author crosses certain borders and goes too far in his wording. He should show some more respect for Jesus Christ and the suffering he endured for us.

TOEIC listening, photographs: House painting

[Radioheart]

Well, I'm reading a bit into it and it sounds to me that the song talks about certain people who, despite calling themselves religious, don't actually behave as such. Their beliefs are plastic, so to speak.

But it doesn't really offend me, being agnostic and all.

[Political Lurker]

[Mr. Kyaw Min Lwin]

Personally, they are just lyrics, just art. And it reflects how you perceive it. If they were blasphemy, the Vatican would ban it. Even if they were blasphemy we could have not saved it.
The world is over, too late to save.
with kind regards.

[Political Lurker]

[Xiaomuou]

I think the Vatican would have liked to ban the books by Dan Brown but that would never happen in this day and age.
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[Political Lurker]