Are Christian artists pimping Jesus?
As we continue the conversation about creativity, I want to consider whether we, as Christians, should be selling Christ-focused products (I'll use music for the sake of this conversation). Is that not selling Jesus for the sake of profit? Is it not pimping Jesus? Yes, that is offensive, but shouldn't it be?
If you are reading this blog, I am assuming you have at least a handful of albums from Christian bands so we are all implicit in this conundrum. Most of those bands have signed record deals and their labels market them as Christian artists. They play in churches on tour and sell "merch" at a table in the back. They set up email lists and promotions to specifically target Christians. Question is: Is this shrewd marketing or detestable sin?
What I'm trying to say is this: If their music is worship (we can agree on that, right?) and they are selling that music, is it not accurate to say they are profiting off of worship? Off of Jesus? Are they prostituting Jesus?
Obviously, this question can be applied to books, art, clothing, churches, and all kinds of other stuff through which people use Jesus to extract money from us. But I want to focus on music for two reasons: 1) I respect many Christian musicians so this is a tough question for me, and 2) the sale of worship music seems to bear some similarity to the merchants selling tools of worship in the temple (John 2:13-17).
I honestly don't know where I fall on this one. I get extremely upset at just the words "pimping Jesus" and yet the beautiful music created by the Robbie Seay Band is encouraging and challenging me as I type. God has used the music of Caedmon's Call, Derek Webb, Shane & Shane, David Crowder and others to shape my character and transform my heart. It would be sad not to experience their art but is it not an indication of non-existent community that we have to buy a CD with worship music on it? It seems one of these two options would be better for Christian musicians:
1) Churches fund the distribution of this music as ministry, and/or
2) Musicians facilitate worship in community. After Jesus rose into heaven, the disciples "were continually in the temple blessing God" (Luke 24:50); they not only went together to the temple every day, they broke bread together in their homes (Acts 2:42-47).
So what should think of all this? Would Jesus take His whip of cords to the Christian music industry if He were on earth today? Do you agree with my suggestion that this is a product we have created and justified due to an absence of true community?
PS -- The guy on this blog takes pimping Jesus to a different level. It's a great, sobering read...but note the irony of advertisements selling sermons, journals, and books.
Also, I don't want to derail the question for this week but I do want to call out some great comments left on previous posts that we should all spend time thinking about:
"I think that maybe it's hard to focus on what is beautiful, unique, and creative when in the depths of my soul, I am hell-bent on conforming to what is ordinary." -- Alex
Grabow's comments about accountability within creativity (last one on this page)
If you are reading this blog, I am assuming you have at least a handful of albums from Christian bands so we are all implicit in this conundrum. Most of those bands have signed record deals and their labels market them as Christian artists. They play in churches on tour and sell "merch" at a table in the back. They set up email lists and promotions to specifically target Christians. Question is: Is this shrewd marketing or detestable sin?
What I'm trying to say is this: If their music is worship (we can agree on that, right?) and they are selling that music, is it not accurate to say they are profiting off of worship? Off of Jesus? Are they prostituting Jesus?
Obviously, this question can be applied to books, art, clothing, churches, and all kinds of other stuff through which people use Jesus to extract money from us. But I want to focus on music for two reasons: 1) I respect many Christian musicians so this is a tough question for me, and 2) the sale of worship music seems to bear some similarity to the merchants selling tools of worship in the temple (John 2:13-17).
I honestly don't know where I fall on this one. I get extremely upset at just the words "pimping Jesus" and yet the beautiful music created by the Robbie Seay Band is encouraging and challenging me as I type. God has used the music of Caedmon's Call, Derek Webb, Shane & Shane, David Crowder and others to shape my character and transform my heart. It would be sad not to experience their art but is it not an indication of non-existent community that we have to buy a CD with worship music on it? It seems one of these two options would be better for Christian musicians:
1) Churches fund the distribution of this music as ministry, and/or
2) Musicians facilitate worship in community. After Jesus rose into heaven, the disciples "were continually in the temple blessing God" (Luke 24:50); they not only went together to the temple every day, they broke bread together in their homes (Acts 2:42-47).
So what should think of all this? Would Jesus take His whip of cords to the Christian music industry if He were on earth today? Do you agree with my suggestion that this is a product we have created and justified due to an absence of true community?
PS -- The guy on this blog takes pimping Jesus to a different level. It's a great, sobering read...but note the irony of advertisements selling sermons, journals, and books.
Also, I don't want to derail the question for this week but I do want to call out some great comments left on previous posts that we should all spend time thinking about:
"I think that maybe it's hard to focus on what is beautiful, unique, and creative when in the depths of my soul, I am hell-bent on conforming to what is ordinary." -- Alex
Grabow's comments about accountability within creativity (last one on this page)
posted by Matthew at 7:57 PM
16 Comments:
I think Jesus would take the whip to the Christian music industry for a different reason, but...
I don't think the majority of C-musicians are pimping Jesus by profiting off worship. Most of these musicians that you hear churches play as worship, they actually lead worship and play at various churches for free (well, not really, most of the time it's for a bed and dinner). I think it's really just a picture of what the church should be (since in fact, this is the church). Look at it as the musicians serving the church through their music and the "fans" of their music serving the band by giving funds to the band and record company. You may roll your eyes at that response, but think about it. Its a little more public and formal than your traditional giving, but I think this was how it was done in the early centuries. We've just become very sensitive to the subject.
Now, what about the question of giving for quality music? That's a different bone. Should you still support the very average or below average bands?
So my thought it how you can make the assumption that those artists that are making money because of the name of Jesus aren't turning around and using that money that is Glorifying to His name? Just because they are making money isn't necessary bad, it's how they use that money that determines their initial motive. That's something we can't determine and therefore we can't come to a conclusion.
Man, what a challenging topic. My opinion and stance changed a few times in just reading the original post.
As the case with anything, you'll have your extremes in both directions. Those bands who are on big labels (i.e. Switchfoot) and you could assume, reap profits that are far above "sustainability." On the other hand, there are those that rely on the support of their home church just to stay above water. Caedmon's Call actually started out this way through support of Second Baptist church as they saw it as a form of ministry. What I'm getting at alludes to jterry's post, in that it primarily depends on where the profits go. Who's to say that a church sponsored band is any holier than one that is signed under a major record label? What is the difference in my family tithing to a church that will in turn support a band through ministry, or me supporting a band directly? If their inherent purpose, to Glorify God, is the same, is there really a difference?
Matt brought up Robbie Seay Band, which is one of my favorite bands period. These guys have experienced success in the last few years, but should that be overshadowed by the weekly worship they lead at their home church? If you buy a cd or go to one of their shows (which i recommend), aren't you essentially helping them to spread God's message to even more people.
I guess I have always looked at Christian artists in the same light as those who do missions. By supporting them, i am supporting their efforts to spread the word with their music. If me buying their cd, helps pay for their expenses to go play at a church across the country, then haven't I made the same investment as tithing to the church so that they may support the band?
And I know that the knee jerk reaction is that you should tithe to the church without intent of its use, and that God will provide guidance to those in charge of the funds to distribute it accordingly. But on the surface, is there that big of a difference?
Interesting points...
hudson's dad -- I would argue that fans serving the band by providing funds for their ministry mirrors the church in economics only; it completely removes the spiritual nature of giving that is central to God's design. Selling something/anything cannot be equated to sacrificial generosity.
jterry/jb -- can we really justify the means by end? Convince me that it's right to make millions as a porn star or a polluter or a televangelist as long as a substantial portion goes to glorifying God. That is a very slippery slope.
jb -- you raise a great question I think we need to spend more time discussing another week but I'll give my quick thoughts. First, yes, I believe there is a huge difference between spending and giving (as I mentioned above). Second, yes, I believe there is a huge difference between giving to a musician/missionary and giving to a church. If each of us operates under the assumption that we know best how to distribute the gifts God has given us, I think that is arrogant, inefficient, and contrary to efforts to build community. Certainly a church will have a greater impact than those same individuals each acting on their own.
But regardless of impact, giving is intended to be an act of worship and I believe that is undermined when we treat our tithe as an allowance that can be disbursed to whomever we please. I believe simply seeking to have a generous heart is the first step (I think this is best displayed in a no-strings-attached gift to the church). The use of that money I think is an entirely different conversation.
I've been racking my brain trying to think on this topic.
What about this: Should C-bands be considered missionaries and the record companies considered sending organizations? And in that case, is selling their CDs in any relation to, say, what The Village is doing in Asia with the coffee shop? Selling a product in order to help create an audience and therefore create a relationship-building atmosphere? The only problem with that is...outside of a handful of guys, most C-musicians I know don't build such relationships (or can't after their popularity builds to a point). But if such a perspective as I've presented is correct, then how should this look with bands?
In an attempt to offer another perspective: I have heard a lot of Christian artists who are extremely talented. They could be singing about anything they wanted (sex, how life sucks, etc.) and probably receive more publicity, popularity and money. But they choose to sing about God and, from what I understand, they are taking a huge pay-cut in doing so.
So they might not be thinking, "how can we make money off of our Christianity," but rather, "I don't care what it costs us, we are singing about God."
Paul
Paul, I don't mean any intentional offense, but I think that's pretty false. There have always been bands in the secular world that sing about God and have had much success, dating even back to Kansas. I don't think there's any major relation to lyrics and success, and I don't think there's any relation to lyrics about God and success. And on the flip side, I don't think singing about sex and drugs causes any more success than not singing would.
Let's take for example the 80s metal band, Stryper. They enjoyed much crossover success with most of their albums until they released "Against the Law", which much like U2's "Pop", was released at a time where the members were doubting their faith. Stryper sang about sex and drugs on that record and it didn't sell a lick.
The key to success is good music. Good lyrics help, but the music is what music is all about.
I had meant that generally Christian bands don't pull in the cash like non-c-bands do... is that false? I'm sure there are some that have been able to acheive great popularity, but my point was looking at the average c-band.
Also, just to clarify, I didn't mean that if the lyrics contain anything about drugs or sex it would be profitable... I was just referencing a few generic things that might be covered in non-christian music to get the point across that some bands sing about whatever they want with the primanry intention of making money. Hopefully, Christian bands sing about Christ-centered topics with the primary intention of worship. But basically my point was that we could be doing a lot of different things in this world to make a living and doing something that involves helping other worship sounds like a great career.
And, on a personal note, lyrics count a lot in the music I listen to.
I'm not saying lyrics don't count, but that they're definitely far behind the music in who we choose to listen to, right? I mean, if Charles Bukowski or Robert Frost or even Bob Dylan were writing lyrics that were incredible for Mastodon or Lamb of God, would you listen to it? I highly doubt it. Sit down and think about how much lyrics really do mean to you. I think you'll find that they usually only matter after you've established your musical genre to listen to.
And Paul, I just re-read your first post and I did misinterpret it...though it could be taken the other way too.
I think if you're a Christian band and the songwriter is truly walking with the Lord, anything he writes is Christ-centered...even if it's a relationshipy song.
While I can see that we are venturing off the topic... I will agree that its the music that will bring us in, but personally the lyrics are what will set bands apart for me. They can't sound awesome and sing about bubblegum and icecream. I don't listen to any of the bands you mentioned, but Mineral for example is one that most people would not care for, but the lyrics have always stood out to me.
Back on topic - I don't think C-bands are pimping Jesus. But, as jterry seemed to touched on, we don't know each band's individual motive/intention which might very well be to pimp Him.
On topic:
I don't think musicians are pimping Jesus either. I think they play music because most of them love playing music and have a talent for it.
But other questions to ask would be:
1. Should all Christian films like the Passion be free?
2. Should all Bibles be free? Because I know Zondervan and Crossway and profiting off their Bible sales.
3. What about authors and publishers and all the books in CBD's warehouse?
Admittedly, I always think it's weird when I go to buy a new Bible. I mean, $70 for a study Bible seems like too much for me.
But it's a really difficult question, and I'm not sure there's a good solution.
paul/jterry/etc. -- we can all agree that the heart can be deceiving, right? If so, the argument that motivation is all that matters is shaky. No doubt motivation is central to the New Covenant -- it's not the action itself that matters, it's the heart behind it -- but if I have the tendency to justify things I would never say are right when I take step back and really assess the situation, then I can't be left to self-govern. There must be an absolute standard that dictates right and wrong and helps me to discern whether my motivation is pure. I can have the best intention in the world and still sin out of ignorance. That is a primary purpose of this blog -- to shine a critical light on situations we face today to see if the Bible helps answer the question "is this right?," to challenge us to really examine our motives as well as our method.
To add to hudson's dad's questions:
Joel Osteen has followed up his best selling book with a Your Best Life Now Board Game. Is this right?
Mel Gibson extended the brand of the Passion of the Christ to jewelry, coffee mugs, and Bible cases. Is this right?
Where do we draw the line?
Bringing the discussion back to community, consider a Christian artist (like Crowder/Seay) playing music in his home church. He doesn't charge admission, right? What makes it different to play in a church across the country?
Where is the line?
When I worked at a recording studio in the 80's (that was owned by Christians and was primarily involved with Christian projects -- even though artists like B.B. King, Ray Charles and others recorded there) I certainly met my fair share of folks that were making "profits off of Jesus", so to speak. In other words, it seemed painfully obvious to me in some cases that they were exploiting a market, rather than being agents of God's grace and love. I would say the same was true at the Christian radio station I worked at before that, and certainly in multiple church work settings in my years since.
On the other hand, Jesus said that workers deserve their wages and I think that includes Christian artists, writers, dancers, clowns, whatever you can dream up. Those that are called to a ministry purpose (full-time vocationally or otherwise) are worthy of their hire, just like any other worker. I think it's a bit dangerous to overspiritualize this.
I would hope that any Christian artist, Christian musician, or Christian plumber would produce their products with integrity, excellence and with pure motivation...and with the understanding that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Money is not the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of all evil. It's a matter of the heart and it's up to each one of us to examine our own motives.
Would Jesus take His whip of cords to the Christian music industry if He were on earth today?
NO...I think he would have an iPod strapped on and would be enjoying all genres of music.
I personally don't think things like Your Best Life Now board games and Passion coffee mugs are per se wrong. The board game could even be genious... its so hard to get people to even read a book nowadays, especially the Bible. If it takes making something a little more interactive to get someone involved, I'm all for it. I have no clue about this particular board game and its contents, but the basic idea is not perverting Christianity.
As for the coffee mugs, etc. they can be a great medium through which a Christian can show what they are about. There have been a number of times when I wear the t-shirt from my school's Christian organization and get asked about it.
-- As for the question 'where do we draw the line?' How could we possibly do that? I'm sure that all of the people on this blog could come up with a clear line with which to work by, but is that what this thread is trying to figure out? Should the question be "where do we want our line to be?"
Won't the line be slightly different for every Christian? - I'm thinking of Romans 14 here.
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