I’m glad I wasn’t born a Hobbit. If you don’t know much about Hobbits, then I suggest you buy a copy of ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ or if you prefer, Peter Jackson’s brilliant film version. I was a teenager when I read it first and it has never lost its appeal. But I wouldn’t want a Hobbit birthday party and for one simple reason: they could be pretty expensive. (If you didn’t know, everyone attending a Hobbit birthday party would expect to be given a present).

I love birthday presents. They seem to counteract the depressive feelings that accompany advancing years. And what better present to get than the latest Dolly Parton CD?

I was given a copy of ‘Dolly Pure and Simple’ a few weeks ago and I have been playing it non-stop ever since. It has a bonus CD featuring last year’s barn storming appearance at Glastonbury, but I think I prefer the new songs. They are catchy, bouncy and classic Dolly.

Having said that, one or two songs contain some rather surprising lyrics; lyrics that will surely raise a few eyebrows among those who think of her as a wholesome, good-living country girl? For the Dolly who has sung so passionately about ‘Jesus and Gravity’ can now be heard posing a very contemporary question. Let me explain. Dolly sings a song entitled ‘Can’t be that wrong,’ and it seeks to describe the feelings of a woman torn between being faithful and cheating on her husband. And in one agonising sentence, she says: “Anything that feels this right can’t be that wrong. It just can’t be.”

I must admit I was a little surprised when I first heard these (unexpected) lyrics, but the more I thought about them, the more I was drawn to the Book of Psalms because some of the songs we find there show us some of the darker sides of human nature too. As Roy Clements helpfully writes: “Again and again, the Psalmist confesses the intensity of his feelings and invites the reader to sympathise with them,” (Roy Clements: Songs of Experience).

Guilt, depression, anxiety and doubt, they’re all there in the Psalms. Faith did not insulate the Old Testament writers from the whole gamut of human emotions in the same way it does not isolate us from them either. And the Psalmists are certainly not ‘too religious’ to tell God exactly how they are feeling either. In fact, in one Psalm (55), the Hebrew king known as David went so far as to tell God that it would make his day if his enemies were to drop dead!

We can learn a lot from the Book of Psalms. They reassure us that God knows what we are thinking and feeling anyway but is still more than happy for us to tell Him. And when you think about it we all know it is better to ‘get things off your chest’ than to ‘bottle them up.’ As I see things, it is far better to rage at God than kick the cat, and far cheaper to pray than pay for a psychotherapist!

But before I finish, I need to say just one more thing. In suggesting that ‘anything that feels this right just can’t be wrong,’ Dolly is in danger of falling into a terrible, if very tempting trap and It’s one that we all find very appealing. But its worth asking, what sort of society we would be living in if we all did what made us feel good. After all, Hitler was quite happy to do the things he did.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]