Proverbs tells us of two women: Wisdom and the Harlot. They are often used in sexual terms – but that is not all the illustration is for. The Harlot is a representation of sin and temptation in general. On the surface she stands for sexual sin, but she is a much broader metaphor for sin and how it can seduce us. On the other hand, Wisdom represents righteousness – also sexually attractive, but in the way God intended.

Sex is a powerful metaphor – probably because it’s such a driving force in our lives. The writers of Proverbs understood this in a way that modern Christians like to shuffle to the side. We avoid sexuality in our stories because, darn it, it’s dirty. This leftover Victorian prudishness causes us to even fudge over aspects of the Bible because we are too embarrassed to address them. What did Abraham and Sarah do when they were told to have a son? (It places a whole new perspective on obedience to God!) Why is there such a lack of good books on the Song of Solomon?

But this prudishness more easily covers artistic efforts. When the Vigilantes of Love album “Jugular” was banned from Christian book stores because of the song “Love Cocoon,” it showed that commercial Christianity can’t take such honest enjoyment of sexuality. The song is written by Bill Mallonee to his wife, and the lyrics are frank but beautiful, painting word pictures much as Solomon did in his songs. And yet the song managed to offend half of American Christendom.

Even “worse” is the Seattle-based group Pedro the Lion, whose last album, Control, describes the sins behind the façade of comfy jobs and marriage. Through a series of hard-hitting songs, songwriter David Bazan describes a man who realizes how hollow his marriage is and how much he has compromised for his career. The man, appropriately enough, loses his job and has an affair with another woman; and when his wife finds out, she murders him.

This sounds like the stuff of B movies and bad paperbacks, but my short summary doesn’t do it justice. David Bazan is a master of sparse, emotional music, and there is not a trite moment on the CD.

Many Christians begin to fidget when they hear these songs, or even throw the album out altogether. But they’re missing the point; stories like these are created not to arouse us or make voyeurs out of us; they use their subject matter to point out sin in our own lives.

When Bazan sings about the affair in “Second Best,” it is not merely sexual matters he refers to. The song is an illustration of our habit of giving in to sin despite what better things God has in store for us. “Second best / I can learn to live with this / Plus I really need a rest / After all, what’s wrong with second best?”

This is the part of us we’d rather hide; the part that defies God even when we know better, the part that settles for something less than the best. “Still we lay jerking back and forth / And blurring into one.” The pounding beat and mournful singing don’t let you simply nod and walk away. It is, like its theme, driving and terrible.

These are not songs for the ears of children. The scenes Bazan sings of require maturity to even comprehend; and in that, it’s refreshing. It’s a break from the childishness of American Christianity, from the forced innocence (or even ignorance) of many in our churches. Part of being a Christian is knowing the perils of sin. This is why we have violent tales of murder and rape in the Bible; God does not want us to hide from all mention of sin, but instead to know why it is wrong and what happens when sin is indulged. And though we may deem a child too immature to benefit from an album like Control, that doesn’t mean an adult won’t benefit.

Perhaps it’s this childishness that causes us so many problems in our churches; one of the reasons the Bible gives us the stories of, for instance, Dinah and Bathsheba is because God created us to react strongly to stories. With illustrations, “You shall not commit adultery” or “You shall not murder” become more than just abstract statements. The stories give us something to relate to; when we see how similar our minds are to the mind of David (for instance), his story solidly reinforces the commandment in our minds, and we know: God punishes for adultery.

Without such graphic illustrations, it can be far too easy to distance ourselves from the law. And before we know it, “It could never happen to me” becomes “After all, what’s wrong with second best?”