Demon Hunter Christians vs. Chris Tomlin Christians

Oh Sleeper

So people like the “Christian” music genre here.  They like it a lot more than in normal places, like Orlando (I miss you!).  But what’s the point of that?  Seriously? I mean, I like worship music, but only for an hour every Sunday.  I don’t listen to Steven Curtis Chapman, or Chris Tomlin for musical entertainment.  So after thinking about this for quite a while, I can’t help coming up with a recurring thought: I do listen to Christian music, I just listen to Christian music inside of another genre of music.  Just because it’s not labeled Christian on the top of the iTunes window, doesn’t mean it’s not just as good as Toby Mac.  In actually, it means it’s (about) seventeen times more affective.

            Christian music as a genre holds no surprises.  It’s the same freaking chords and notes and rhythms over and over.  You could really just change the words of three different Chris Tomlin songs, and only four people in any given congregation would be able to tell the difference.  Lyrically there are three different types of Christian songs: asking forgiveness, illustrating someone else’s situation that God showed up in, and praise.  That’s really it.  Sure, sure, there are exceptions, so stop yelling at me, my over zealous, Christian stereotypes.  But the point is that it’s boring, musically, which is an opinion, and spiritually, which is a fact. 

Confide

            Now there are all the other artists who are not as known for their Christian principles and more known for their musical talent, or in my case, their tattoos, screaming, and heavy break-downs.  Several times I have been asked, “What’s your shirt say?”, and of course I’m wearing a band shirt with a zombie unicorn biting someone’s arm off, so their curiosity is normal.  But, when I answer, they reply with a look of disappointment, “Oh”.  At first I thought that they just didn’t know who the bands were, but I figured out, after talking to a few people, that the general assumption in a Christian school (specifically music majors that refuse to have any knowledge of worldly things), is that if the band isn’t known by them, then they are secular.  This is especially true if the band shirt has something “evil” on it (i.e. a skull, tornado with a chainsaw, or anything deemed violent). 

                       

Well hear this rant my naysayers:

August Burns Red

            The music I listen to is more life changing and “Christian” than anything Toby Mac, or Switchfoot, could ever come up with.  Why?  Because they aren’t afraid to get in your face about anything.  A Christian is supposed to do more than just worship God and ask for forgiveness, we aren’t called to sit and pray all day, singing “Our God”.  We are called, as Christians to be witnesses and life changers for Jesus.  The loud, chugging guitars, screaming vocals, and overly complex drum beats are just tools used to present the message in a way that non Christians will benefit more from.  No atheistic person wants to listen Michael W. Smith because he’s a known Christian artist, and just plain boring.  However, people who hear a band like August Burns Red will think of what it sounds like, not what their stereotypes are.  So a Christian band with a secular following will have a bigger impact on non Christian life style than someone who never gains any fans because no one really wants to hear the same songs over and over again.  No one needs to hear the same praises over and over, that just becomes repetitive, and not meaningful sometimes you need to listen to something with some spiritual substance, and power. 

“This kind of music can truly be a weapon against the spiritual warfare that kids face these days. I don't want to knock other Christian artists, because they all have their place, but if we were speaking metaphorically, what kind of weapon would you call contemporary Christian pop, and what kind of weapon would you call Christian heavy metal?” –Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter

I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old- what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

                                                                             -Psalms 78: 2-4