Music and the Ever Changing Times

I have been told many times throughout the course of my life that Christian rock music is "of the devil," "does not glorify God," and I have even been told that it "calls out demons into the person who is listening." O-kay. Theologically speaking, if something or someone brings others to Christ, then what does that say about those people (oh, let's call them "Christian rock bands" for the fun of it) and their spiritual standing? It obviously means that those "Christian rock bands" are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, because the lost cannot teach the lost how to be found.

There are many Christians who were first introduced to the concept of salvation through the music of such rock bands as P.O.D., 12 Stones, Project 86, Blindside, Pillar, etc. The "official" fanclub of P.O.D. has dozens of stories and testimonies of people whose lives have been changed through the music of this amazing band. You will have to click on "warriors" on the top of the main page and then "warrior testimonies" to view this page (note: the "tribal" that you may see moderating this P.O.D. site is not me). This is just a tiny sampling of the lives that have been led to Christ through P.O.D. How can a group of people making a positive difference in the world for God be "of the devil?" Such actions certainly glorify God, and if the music carries the message of Jesus, then how can demons coexist and be brought forth through the music? Many who know me personally know why this issue is such a big deal for me, and I have never very openly publicly admitted this before, but I doubt that I would have as strong of a faith as I currently have if it were not for P.O.D. I was a Christian before I knew of P.O.D., but it was the music of Payable on Death that kept me strong in my belief at points through my life. Everytime somebody criticizes a Christian band, P.O.D. especially, I tend to take that very personally because I know what their music has done in my life and the lives of others. It is also interesting to note that the people who tend to bash bands like P.O.D. the most are those who know nothing about them and their faith. People just focus on things like their tattoos, long hair, and dreadlocks. They also obsessively focus on the style of music rather than the issues that really matter.

Up until this point in this post I have been on the defensive side of things, but now I wish to go a little more on the offense. To begin with, things such as tattoos, long hair, and dreadlocks are, for the most part, not an issue with God. The Bible says that God does not judge by appearance, and rightfully so because it is matters of the soul that are important. This earthly body will burn up when the world passes away, it is only the soul that will endure. Many modern pictures of Jesus depict Him having at least shoulder length hair...so is Jesus going against the Bible? In addition, the main reason people focus on P.O.D. for how they look is because people tend to be discriminatory towards people who are viewed to be "less" than themselves; they are viewed as just "raggamuffin punks off the street." May I remind you, however, that there are plenty of swindlers, liars, cheats, adulterers, and murderers who wear suits, however, no one views a man in a suit as any of the options listed above. What one wears and how one looks in no way should affect how one judges them spiritually. The biggest "appearance issue" people have with P.O.D., however, is their tattoos. They use a verse from the Bible that states "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves" (Leviticus 19:28) while conveniently ignoring the verse that comes immediately before that which forbids the shaving off of sideburns and the trimming of beards. So these clean shaven, holier than thou preachers and theologians criticize those for doing something "banned" in one verse while doing what is "banned" in the verse just previous. There is a word that starts with an h to describe this behavior, but I will leave it to the reader to make his or her own judgments. It is also interesting to note that the same verse talks about cutting yourself for the dead. It is debated in some circles as to whether the tattoo commandment is in reference to "of the dead" as well, but I will not comment on that here.

Anyway, we must remember what it is that was written in the book of Galations when it says that Christ freed us from the curse of the law. Hebrew law was part of the old covenant between God and the Israelites. There is, however, a new covenant, and I will expound upon testament absolutes in another post. The number one, numero uno reason as to why P.O.D. is bashed, however, is because of their style of music. Often times, the people who look down on Christian rock are avid fans of church hymns, choruses, and the like. They think their music is the only "true form of worship" and anything else is a ticket to hell. May I remind them that hymns, and the like, were more controversial when they were introduced than rock music when it was introduced into the church. Because unlike rock, classic church hymns were merely common drinking tunes and bar songs with new Christian lyrics. Yet people still believe that this music is the only music acceptable for worship. May I also remind them that hymns did not exist in the church of the apostles. The music they had was far different from what is in churches now, or what was in churches for the last hundred years. I am sure that they saw new music coming into the church as evil too. It is a never ending cycle of parents viewing their children's music as evil. People once thought Elvis was too raunchy and risque. Look where we have come since the days of Elvis. This is why we need positive influences in the world of music. No form of music is more "morally acceptable" to God than another, as long as the lyrics are not vulgar or offensive to His nature. Christians need to wake up and realize that if they spent as much time fighting the world as they spent fighting each other, they would be surprised by how God would use them.
~Tribal~