[UPDATED with new title and edits to make things clearer]
If I were a Calvinist this video would be a great "object lesson" to support total depravity. If you click the link you will find a music video that has no nudity, drug use, or any other version of debauchery. Rather you will find a song by The Fray called Amistad (You Found Me) [which actually has it's own wiki page]. The members of The Fray are supposedly Christians according to this CT article. I will not engage the issue about the legitimacy of their faith, but hearing the claim surprises me.
The singer seems so close to God, yet so far away [Just like Bono, who still hasn't found what he's looking for]. Without knowing any of the details, just listening to the lyrics reminded me of this song. Ultimately, I would characterize both of them as the humanization of God. Without God opening our eyes to truly know him, the best we can do is make God in our own image. We pull Him down to our level and imagine him like a bum on a street corner smoking a cigarette or a stranger on a bus. And when we get the chance to "meet him" we ask "where have you been?".
I have two thoughts about this statement. First, the song articulates such poor theology that it saddens me. If the author grew up in a Bible-believing church and was discipled to the extent that this is what he produces as a mature believer, it is a poor commentary of the church today. Second, in the CT article, the singer states, "If we grow up in the church, it's easy to think it's our Christian duty to preach to every single person because God is the most important thing. And he is, but I'm a musician first. This is my job. We're not pastors. We're not preachers. We're not even missionaries." Really? How about being a Christian first.
This sort of reminds me of the professional athletes who say "I'm not a role model. I just play [fill in the sport]." And everyone knows how naive that defense is against kids actually looking up to the athletes. In the same way, Christian musicians (whether you sing about Jesus or not, but claim to have a genuine faith) cannot avoid, ignore, or evade their first duty to at least present the gospel accurately. And whether you want the job or not, your audience is listening to what you say (i.e. you are a preacher - so what gospel are your proclaiming?) I don't expect him to sing about Jesus in every song. That's not the point. But if you want to sing about God, at least describe him and his activities among us accurately. Or, when you're not singing about God explicitly, are you presenting your struggles, searching, dissappointments, setbacks, etc from a Christian worldview? If you want to default to the "it's a parable" line, than make sure the parable produces an accurate translation in the hearer, at least. Anything less is just lazy artistry.
In wrestling with the "problem of evil" there was really no sense of "good news" that I could find in the song to even suggest the author knew the answer but was just trying to be poetic. And that is so unfortunate. Again, apart from God doing a supernatural work, our wrestling with the bad things that happen to "good people" in this world will only lead us to temporary comforts and fleeting peace.
Unfortunately, it's not only musicians who are guilty of this poor theology. Preachers do the same thing. We read Jesus' teachings about "whatever you do for the least of these..." and instantly translate this to mean God appears to us in the homeless man or bag lady. And with this simplistic explanation we essentially see God everywhere like a New Age thinker or a Transcendentalist. Instead of understanding the point that God despises favoritism, whether offering an important person a seat of honor or discriminating against the poor in judicial matters, we should not consider an act of kindness to a person in need any less than if we were giving Jesus himself a cup of cold water. Compassion has no scales to weigh its worth!
But instead of learning this point, preachers tell people to "see Jesus" in the man on the street. And without discerning the fine distinction of truth poorly communicated people take this to mean the bum has some insight about knowing God or finding God that we need for our salvation! So "I found God on the corner of First and Amistad...smoking a cigarette."
I refer you back to the quote from Dennis Prager about clear writing is a reflection of clear thinking. You cannot have one without the other, whether your a lyricist or a preacher.
If I were a Calvinist this video would be a great "object lesson" to support total depravity. If you click the link you will find a music video that has no nudity, drug use, or any other version of debauchery. Rather you will find a song by The Fray called Amistad (You Found Me) [which actually has it's own wiki page]. The members of The Fray are supposedly Christians according to this CT article. I will not engage the issue about the legitimacy of their faith, but hearing the claim surprises me.
The singer seems so close to God, yet so far away [Just like Bono, who still hasn't found what he's looking for]. Without knowing any of the details, just listening to the lyrics reminded me of this song. Ultimately, I would characterize both of them as the humanization of God. Without God opening our eyes to truly know him, the best we can do is make God in our own image. We pull Him down to our level and imagine him like a bum on a street corner smoking a cigarette or a stranger on a bus. And when we get the chance to "meet him" we ask "where have you been?".
Where were you/ When everything was falling apart?/ All my days/ Were spent by the telephone/ That never rang/ And all I needed was a call/ It never came/ To the corner of First and Amistad/I'm not a Calvinist because I believe that men do seek after God (yes I know what Psalm 14 says). But I also believe that without God working no one will find Him. But these lyrics come from a Christian who explains, "the song asks about the problem of evil, why bad things happen to good people, after some of their friends and family went through very tough times."Lost and insecure/ You found me, you found me/ Lying on the floor/ Surrounded, surrounded/ Why’d you have to wait?/ Where were you, where were you?/ Just a little late/ You found me, You found me.
I have two thoughts about this statement. First, the song articulates such poor theology that it saddens me. If the author grew up in a Bible-believing church and was discipled to the extent that this is what he produces as a mature believer, it is a poor commentary of the church today. Second, in the CT article, the singer states, "If we grow up in the church, it's easy to think it's our Christian duty to preach to every single person because God is the most important thing. And he is, but I'm a musician first. This is my job. We're not pastors. We're not preachers. We're not even missionaries." Really? How about being a Christian first.
This sort of reminds me of the professional athletes who say "I'm not a role model. I just play [fill in the sport]." And everyone knows how naive that defense is against kids actually looking up to the athletes. In the same way, Christian musicians (whether you sing about Jesus or not, but claim to have a genuine faith) cannot avoid, ignore, or evade their first duty to at least present the gospel accurately. And whether you want the job or not, your audience is listening to what you say (i.e. you are a preacher - so what gospel are your proclaiming?) I don't expect him to sing about Jesus in every song. That's not the point. But if you want to sing about God, at least describe him and his activities among us accurately. Or, when you're not singing about God explicitly, are you presenting your struggles, searching, dissappointments, setbacks, etc from a Christian worldview? If you want to default to the "it's a parable" line, than make sure the parable produces an accurate translation in the hearer, at least. Anything less is just lazy artistry.
In wrestling with the "problem of evil" there was really no sense of "good news" that I could find in the song to even suggest the author knew the answer but was just trying to be poetic. And that is so unfortunate. Again, apart from God doing a supernatural work, our wrestling with the bad things that happen to "good people" in this world will only lead us to temporary comforts and fleeting peace.
Unfortunately, it's not only musicians who are guilty of this poor theology. Preachers do the same thing. We read Jesus' teachings about "whatever you do for the least of these..." and instantly translate this to mean God appears to us in the homeless man or bag lady. And with this simplistic explanation we essentially see God everywhere like a New Age thinker or a Transcendentalist. Instead of understanding the point that God despises favoritism, whether offering an important person a seat of honor or discriminating against the poor in judicial matters, we should not consider an act of kindness to a person in need any less than if we were giving Jesus himself a cup of cold water. Compassion has no scales to weigh its worth!
But instead of learning this point, preachers tell people to "see Jesus" in the man on the street. And without discerning the fine distinction of truth poorly communicated people take this to mean the bum has some insight about knowing God or finding God that we need for our salvation! So "I found God on the corner of First and Amistad...smoking a cigarette."
I refer you back to the quote from Dennis Prager about clear writing is a reflection of clear thinking. You cannot have one without the other, whether your a lyricist or a preacher.