The evisceration of the heart of the gospel

e·vis·cer·ate [v. ih-vis-uh-reyt; adj. ih-vis-er-it, -uh-reyt] verb, -at·ed, -at·ing, adjective

–verb (used with object)
1. to remove the entrails from; disembowel: to eviscerate a chicken. 2. to deprive of vital or essential parts: The censors eviscerated the book to make it inoffensive to the leaders of the party.

I know it’s only Monday and much too early in the week to be up in arms, but I am nonetheless. This time I’m ranting about, of all things, an otherwise lovely rendition of a song that was intended to uplift, encourage, and inspire.

The song is “I’ll Walk With God” from the operetta The Student Prince, written by Sigmund Romberg in 1924. You may remember the 1954 film version that starred Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, and “the singing voice of Mario Lanza” (Mr. Lanza did not appear in the movie; Edmund Purdom, who never sang a note, was lip-synching to Mr. Lanza in the same way that Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle was lip-synching to Marni Nixon in My Fair Lady).

Or rather, the song should have been “I’ll Walk With God.” Instead, it became “I Walk With God” in a Sunday-morning performance on February 21, 2010, by the choir of the Crystal Cathedral of Garden Grove, California (where Robert Schuller was pastor for so many years) with tenor Brian Vu in the Purdom/Lanza role.

A minor change, you say. But wait. There’s more. Much more.

I have an idea. First, watch and listen to “I Walk With God” by the choir of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California (where Robert Schuller was pastor for so many years), featuring tenor Brian Vu.

Pretty good, you say. What’s wrong with that?

Just about everything. Now listen to “I’ll Walk With God” from the soundtrack of The Student Prince, the 1954 film based on the operetta by Sigmund Romberg, featuring the voice of Mario Lanza.

Did you notice the changes?

Here, graciously provided by yours truly, are Exhibit A and Exhibit B:

Exhibit A. The Crystal Cathedral version:

I walk with God from this day on.
His loving hand will lead me on.
I pray to Him this humble plea:
Help me, Lord, come closer to me.
I walk with God, all day, all night.
Why should I fear while He’s on my side?
His love will stay forever,
And He’ll forsake me never.
He will not fail me.
I’m weak, but my Lord is strong.
He watches over me all day long.
I walk with God, He takes my hand.
I talk to God, He understands,
Hears ev’ry word I say to Him,
And He knows what’s in my heart as I pray.
Lord, guide my steps and lead me on,
And I’ll never walk alone since I walk with God!
I walk with God from this day on!


Exhibit B. The original version:

I’ll walk with God from this day on;
His helping hand I’ll lean upon.
This is my prayer, my humble plea:
May the Lord be ever with me.
There is no death, though eyes grow dim.
There is no fear when I’m near to Him.
I’ll lean on Him forever,
And He’ll forsake me never.
He will not fail me as long as my faith is strong,
Whatever road I may walk along.
I’ll walk with God, I’ll take His hand.
I’ll talk with God, He’ll understand.
I’ll pray to Him, each day to Him,
And He’ll hear the words that I say.
His hand will guide my throne and rod,
And I’ll never walk alone while I walk with God!

To my feeble mind, Exhibit A is filled with all the positivity and lift-oneself-by-one's-own-bootstraps mentality for which Rev. Schuller and his old friend Norman Vincent Peale are famous. Exhibit B seems to show a much more humble approach. The worst change, in my opinion, is that “I walk with God, all day, all night. Why should I fear, when He’s on my side?” has replaced “There is no death though eyes grow dim. There is no fear when I’m near to Him.”

In the fifteenth chapter of a book called First Corinthians, a man named Paul wrote the following nearly two thousand years ago:

Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (First Corinthians 15:12-22)

So what I’m saying, or trying to say and doing so poorly, is this:

You can walk with God all day long, and know that He’s on your side, and know that you are weak and He is strong, and know that He knows what’s in your heart when you pray, and ask Him to guide your steps, and announce to the world that you walk with God from this day on, and if everything you say applies to this life only and you miss the part about there being no death (or, put another way, even though death -- humankind’s last enemy -- exists, it is swallowed up in the victory that Christ obtained for us when God raised him from the dead), you are of all men (or women) most miserable.

Exhibit A is filled with religion, arrogance, self-sufficiency, and pride. Exhibit B is filled with trust, humility, and hope.

A small difference in the lyrics, perhaps, but a significant one.

My rant is ended.

The really sad part is that someone must have thought the changes were an improvement.