If you keep up with pop culture at all you probably heard that Chris Sligh became the latest American Idol casualty this week. You may know Chris as the chubby, bespectacled kid with the Sideshow Bob style curly hair. There was some buzz around him in Christian circles because a couple of his early song choices (including DC Talk and Mute Math) indicated that he might be (gasp) a "Christian Rocker". More details began to emerge, including quotes from his pastor and other folks who listen to him play in the worship band at his church every week. For me, the plot began to thicken when I learned that he was an alumnus of good ol' Bob Jones University, that southern stalwart of old-school fundamentalist seclusion. By the grace of almighty God, I did not attend BJU, but having known some who have and having attended summer camp for many years at one of their indoctrination centers (ok, that may be a little harsh...sorry), I am familiar with their beliefs and rules. It turns out our friend Mr. Sligh was dismissed from BJU one semester shy of graduation. His offense? He attended a concert by a contemporary Christian group called 4Him. Now, for those of you not familiar with 4Him's work, they are the CCM equivalent of Barry Manilow. The kind of plain vanilla, unoffensive music that your church secretary probably listens to. Not something that you would really expect to be kicked out of college for, but this is Bob Jones University we're talking about. Little known fact...BJU is actually one of the 3 holiest places on earth. What are the other 2 you ask? Jerusalem and Pensacola, Fl. So anyway, that was a really long introduction to what I really wanted to post today. When I found out that Chris Sligh got kicked out of BJU for attending a 4Him concert, my first thought was "Wow...if the people at Bob Jones will expel you for listening to 4Him, I'll bet they REEEEEALLLY don't like Demon Hunter". So with that said...here are a couple of my faves for you to enjoy.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
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4 comments:
I'm surprised you didn't know this but...4him is worse than demon hunter because they're a wolf in sheeps clothing, Demon hunter is clearly evil. they've even got the name "demon" in their name. seriously, maybe you should have attended the "CIT" program at camp. Anyway, are the 2nd and last song from their newest cd? haven't heard them. Xjdub2X
BJU sounds like a church I went to in Jr. High. I brought my walkman to listen to on the long bus ride to/from a youth event and the new youth pastor said that I couldn't do that because the music I listen to was the work of the enemy. I said 'see ya, I'm outta here' It wasn't until after I married my wife that I could barely stomach walking into a church again.
That's such a common story...I experienced the exact same thing in my youth group. I can't even begin to imagine the number of young people who were permanantly turned off from spirituality or any kind of relationship with Jesus because of overzealous youth pastors who were convinced that Metallica and Bon Jovi were musical pied pipers leading all of us straight to hell. I'm a recovering fundamentalist myself...it's taken me 10 years to get to where I am and I still struggle almost daily with the judgemental attitudes that I developed as a result of my formative years in the church. I can only thank God for his grace and the fact that He is so much better at loving me than I am at loving others. We're working on it...
Two guys I used to go to church with in California started a website, www.stupidchurchpeople.com that deals with some of that kind of stuff. I don't agree with everythey they say, but they can be thought provoking sometimes. Sometimes what they say just pisses me off.
"I can only thank God for his grace and the fact that He is so much better at loving me than I am at loving others." So true......I'm right there with you.
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