A few days ago I was listening to "Oceans," a song off of Hillsongs Zion album, and I was absentmindedly scrolling through the comments. As you might suspect, there were some rather "unchristian" comments and commenters to be found. It was not the random anti-Jesus posts amidst the many worshipful posts that surprised me, it was one of the last comments on the page that caught me off guard. I won't be quoting the post here, but it did claim that the arm movements of the singer were of the occultic womb, it grouped catholic and witches together, claimed that her crescendos supported the occultic womb thing, claimed that because of all the symbolism being used they couldn't attribute it to simple coincidence, they said the star of David was the same as a pentagram, and to conclude, they said the circular stage was the equivalent of worshiping the universe...and such. I wasn't sure what he was going on about....The Hillsong concert at which the video was taken was the Colour Conference at the Sydney Opera House (or so someone else said).
It wasn't even the obscure cultish claims that I had the biggest problem with,--those left me mostly just confused--it was a claim he (or she) made in the middle about something completely different. They said, "also, rock and roll is of the devil so this is definitely not a christian song."
First off, I must question their logic. What they are saying is that Hillsong, a group formed straight out of a church, is not a Christian group. What? I'm wasn't even sure how to respond. It was the claim before that which bugged me most, however, "rock and roll is of the devil." Now, this claim I sort of understand. I DON'T agree, but I understand it far more than them saying Hillsong were not Christian.
After questioning what this guy (girl) was on about, I wanted to do some research. I found a couple of sites that gave me what they thought were their top reasons why "rock and roll" was against God or the rules for ANY music to be Christian. I found verses that "supported" their arguments and "reasons" that stated why rock supported Satan (especially those Christian rockers "who are just deceivers").
My next step was to look up some of these verses. Upon looking these up I noticed one thing, these verses that supposedly supported their arguments did not address music directly, but rather a list of values. It is true that famous "rock stars" don't have a reputation for being the most wholesome of people, but this cannot be attributed to the music. Music DOES have an effect on people, but this effect is specific to the person. People are bad role models, not music. What I found hilarious, was that there happened to be two verses I saw that directly addressed music, but the article I found them in disregarded them as not relevant.
So, the verses were inconclusive on the music, what about the reasons? The reasons I found seemed to just reiterate the the same values arguments--which kind of begs the question why didn't I start with the reasons then talk about the verses that supported them (whoops). Some of the reasons I found, and this is an abbreviated list, are these...
1. Rock encourages the use of illegal drugs.
2. Rock promotes promiscuity and "whoredom."
3. Rock encourages us not to read our bibles.
4. Drums are the instrument of Satan.
Ok, so...what? This is just four of a bunch of reasons I found, and I'm just speechless. There was one reason that included a short bit about how rock promoted false peace that distracted us from a war that God ordained us to win. I digress....My point is that these reasons don't encompass the music, they address the people who play it. Granted, in the past, you have seen these traits exhibited a lot by rock artists, but these are not traits ONLY exhibited by rock musicians. Let's look at the other end of the spectrum: classical music. Classical artists can also do these things. Classical music also uses drums, classical artists also use drugs, and they can also sleep around. The problem isn't the music, it's the people. It's all about people.
That's it. When it comes down to it, we only have God to look to, and the bible does not have anything explicitly against rock music. It is people who would rather blame the whole company for the actions of a few people. Rather than putting thought into the actions of people, it would seem easier just to blame their beliefs, but that doesn't make it right.
I happen to love rock music, but I tried to take as little bias as I could. I looked up the majority of the verses I was presented with and in conclusion I have only this to say, follow God. When in doubt and in times of trial, look to Jesus. The music you listen to does not necessarily dictate who you are, it only does if you follow the bad examples the music industry has given to us. Why let those standards stay though? I say we ought to show a new face of rock. Let's change the standard. Be honest and Godly people. Allow God to envelop your music, even if it isn't directly Christian allow the Holy Spirit soak your life and His love bleed through.
*UPDATE* I have no idea why part of the article is highlighted, I've tried to fix it and...I can't, I'm ashamed. I'm sorry guys!
