Christian Music Without Jesus?

Originally written: 12/11/13

What makes Christian music Christian music? This is sort of a tough question to answer because there are various questions to consider: What is Christian? What is God glorifying music? What kind of music praises the Lord? Do you have to mention God or Jesus’ name for it to be Christian music? What is the purpose of Christian music? Is it for Christians to praise God, or can it be used as a tool to reach the lost? Can a Christian band be singing secular songs and still be glorifying God? Not all these questions can be answered here, but we will generally consider the band Switchfoot as an example, the purpose of their music, why a non-verbal gospel is insufficient, and what strategies are effective for proclaiming Christ in the music industry.

Recently, Jon Foreman—the lead vocalist of Switchfoot—was asked if his band is a Christian band. Read his response here. Jon says that the question grieves him and then he asks a few counter questions:

“Does Lewis or Tolkien mention Christ in any of their fictional series? Are Bach’s sonata’s Christian? What is more Christ-like, feeding the poor, making furniture, cleaning bathrooms, or painting a sunset? There is a schism between the sacred and the secular in all of our modern minds. The view that a pastor is more ‘Christian’ than a girls’ volleyball coach is flawed and heretical. The stance that a worship leader is more spiritual than a janitor is condescending and flawed. These different callings and purposes further demonstrate God’s sovereignty.”

I firmly agree with Jon that there are people who have a misconception of the Christian life. Some think that in order to be faithful in serving God you must be a pastor, worship leader, or a missionary overseas. But can you imagine if every Christian were a pastor? The church just wouldn’t work that way. The church requires a body of believers with all kinds of skills and callings. Jon uses Bach and C.S. Lewis as a few examples. Although what he said about them is true, it could also be a bit misleading. I think what Jon is trying to do is, he is trying to show that there are other famous people who were Christian but did not verbally express their Christian faith in their works; they did it in a more artistic fashion. However, Bach and C.S. Lewis are not logical parallels to what Switchfoot is doing by not verbally recognizing God in their songs. Bach has quite a few cantatas composed that clearly acknowledge and praise God in what He has done. C.S. Lewis has written other works like Mere Christianity that clearly acknowledge the name of God and what He has done. Switchfoot’s songs on the other hand are not so clear in mentioning what God has done for them. As far as I have witnessed, I have not seen a single song from them that mentions the name of God or Jesus. Their songs are somewhat vague and even I as a Christian have a difficult time understanding what they are talking about.

The question that arises in my mind is “Why?” “Why do some Christian bands not mention God’s name?” Why wouldn’t someone want to declare the name of Jesus? After all, it was Jesus who saved them from sin and Hell and brought them into a loving relationship with Himself. Wouldn’t a Christian’s heart just be overflowing with gratitude that they would want to let the whole world know who it is that saved them, who it is they love so dearly, and who it is they have committed the rest of their lives to? We may think so, for it was this way with Peter and John. They were thrown into prison for speaking about Jesus. Later, the religious leaders of the day told them to never speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20).

There could be something I’m missing here, but for one reason or another, Switchfoot has decided to leave out God in their songs and concerts.

If we were to truly make a logical parallel with Bach and Lewis to Switchfoot, then Switchfoot would have at least some songs or an album that acknowledge the name of Jesus. I would look forward to seeing an album like this where I can see them genuinely praising God. If I visited the church they attend, I would also hope to find them clearly and genuinely praising God’s name.

However, since Switchfoot does not mention God in their songs, I am led to believe the purpose of their music is not primarily for a Christian audience, but for an unbelieving audience. A few of my friends who like Switchfoot also think this is so. When I think about it, there is definitely a lot more money to be made if they do not label themselves a “Christian band,” because unbelievers would feel completely comfortable listening to their songs. Jesus is not mentioned, the cross of Christ is not mentioned; therefore, there is no offense. This results in a larger audience. However, I am not accusing them that money or popularity is their motive. I do not know them; I am only stating this as a possibility for them and for other Christian bands who do not have clear God exalting lyrics. I do know that it would be a bit more difficult to do well financially just singing Christian songs. It definitely would require some more suffering for the sake of Christ if that were your profession. I am hoping, however, that Switchfoot’s desire is more about honoring God and wanting to reach the lost. If that is indeed their desire, I commend it. At the same time though, I think they are poorly accomplishing that goal.

If Switchfoot’s music does not even mention God's name or Jesus, how can this God of theirs be known? How can they reach the lost? How can an unbeliever make a distinction between the God of the Bible in their songs compared to the God of Islam or the gods of Hindu? How can someone make a clear distinction between the values, morals, and beliefs of our faith compared to the faith of Buddhism, Sikhism, or Jainism? How will people make the distinction between just a romantic human relationship compared to a relationship with Jesus? How will people make the distinction between the Christian struggle, the Jihhad struggle, and just the common human struggle? If the "Christian song" fails to mention the gospel, then we should not expect anyone to come to Christ. I'm not saying it's impossible. God can do anything and can use any flawed human tool to bring people to Himself. However, I don't think music of this kind is the best way to reach people for Christ. Romans 10:14-15 says, "How will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!’”

So, if "Christian music" fails to mention the good news or Jesus in any of their songs, "How [then] will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?" Artistically speaking, some of Switchfoot’s music is really good and they can glorify God by using creativity to reflect God’s creativity. However, I was looking at some interviews on YouTube to see what Jon had to say about his songs. I did not see anything about him mentioning God except in the fifth video I encountered he briefly mentioned that God loved him. However, other religions believe in a god who loves them... How does he make that distinction? If in Christian songs the artists do not clearly indicate that they are talking about Jesus, then perhaps they could talk about Jesus in interviews or proclaim the gospel right before or after the song they’re going to play in a concert. If they fail to do that, I do not see how Christ Jesus will be proclaimed among the world in the music industry... I’ve never been to one of Switchfoot’s concerts so I am not sure what they actually say before and after their songs. If any of you have substantial evidence for this, please let me know. However, I have sought out some evidence of my own.

I went on Switchfoot’s website and looked at all 25 videos they had posted. There were relatively 8-10 videos that had a decent amount of talking. Average length was 3 minutes and one Q&A video had a length of 30 minutes. God was mentioned in none of these except the Q&A. At 2:45 the question was asked, “What have been your biggest personal challenges and rewards in your faith?” Jon responded with “Writing songs that are honest.” Someone had given him advice a long time ago saying that God doesn’t need a lawyer. Therefore, his job as a songwriter is to be honest he said. What does he mean by that? What is honest? To me, this sounds like a very shallow answer and does not show an indication of his faith in Jesus. You would think he would give a much better answer than that and use this opportunity to talk about Jesus. I don’t know, you be the judge. At 3:50 someone asked, “What does your prayer life look like?” Jon responded by saying it was a challenge to find any time period to himself. It seemed like he pretty much dodged the question. Chad responded by saying that there’s an opportunity to talk to God and remember who you are when surfing. He said he wished he had more of that when they were on tour—time in the water. You would think he would say that he would desire more time in prayer when on tour …but you can be the judge of that.

Proclaiming the name of Jesus is very important. Romans 10:9 shows us how a person can be saved: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him form the dead, you will be saved..." But how can someone begin to confess Jesus as Lord with their mouth if they do not even know who He is or haven't even heard the name for that matter? A mere Christian song that has Christian-like values—but no Jesus—will not be effective. The name of Jesus must be proclaimed one way or another, for “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). There is power in the name. As Christians, it is our privilege and responsibility to use it and to not be ashamed of the gospel, for it is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). It’s the gospel! The gospel is the power! The gospel is the power!

It is a misconception to think that we can merely live our Christian lives as a good testimony and then unbelievers will simply walk up to us and tell us that they want what we have. Sure, that can happen. But tell me, how many times have you actually experienced this in your life? The only experience I have is watching Christian movies that display this. Although it is a possibility for people to be drawn to Christ in this way or it may have happened before, that does not mean we should make it our model for evangelizing. We must have a Biblical base for our beliefs in how to evangelize. It does not matter about what my opinion is or what your opinion is on how we should evangelize, it matters what God’s Word says. What does the Word of God tell us? What examples does it clearly give us for proclaiming the gospel?

Someone may say, “I am not called to preach the gospel. Other people may feel this to be their calling, but for me, I am called to shine Christ’s light that others may see Him through me.” How do we know this person isn’t just using the word “calling” as a cop-out so that they will not be or feel obligated to verbally share the gospel? But Christian, you are called to share the gospel. We are all called to share the gospel—ever since we became Christians.

If Christian artists want to glorify God in their songs then they might steer away from being bland and uncreative. They might work on becoming more than just a band that sounds like any other band. They may seek to reflect God’s beauty and creativity in the music they produce. For them not to do their best may be the same as saying that God is not worthy enough or does not deserve the best kind of service. This is a good desire to have; but in contrast, if we are content simply to be a walking candle for Christ and nothing more, we are not giving God our all. It is not as though one member of Christ’s body has the calling to give a non-verbal gospel and another has the calling to give a verbal gospel. No, if God is worthy then we are to give him all we have to offer. We represent Christ like we’re supposed to and we declare the message He has given us.

Another misconception people might have: They do not believe in proclaiming the gospel verbally because they do not have the “gift of evangelism.” But what will happen if we apply this logic to other spiritual gifts? “I don’t have the gift of mercy so I am not responsible for helping people. I don’t have to give because I don’t have the gift of giving. Since I also don’t have the gift of service, I don’t feel obligated to serve my church in any way.” People with certain spiritual gifts may have a greater desire to do certain deeds, but God tells us that we are to be holy in all our behavior (1 Pet. 1:15-16). For this reason, we are not exempt from evangelism.

Here are two passages that show us how we can be a living testimony to God: Matthew 5:14-16 says that we are a light unto the world; John 13:34-35 says that we should love one another, and by this, all men will know that we are Christ’s disciples. However, if we rely merely on this method we are in effect saying that the power of reaching the lost lies within ourselves, within how brightly we shine by our good works. But, the gospel message has power whether or not we are living lives pleasing to God. A verbal gospel is essential.

There are many examples in the Scriptures about how Christians share the gospel. In Mark 16:15 Jesus appears to His disciples and he tells them to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Jesus, our ultimate example, preaches the Gospel (Mt. 4:23), Paul preaches the gospel (1 Cor. 1:17), Philip preaches the gospel (Acts 8:40), Paul told Timothy to preach the gospel (2 Tim. 1:8), and finally we see the church preaching the gospel (Acts 8:4). When Jesus was living on the earth, he was the light of the world. He was the brightest light. If anyone were to see God through a human being, it was through Jesus. However, Jesus did not just live a quiet life walking around expecting people to ask Him why He was so loving and good. No, Jesus did a lot of talking. He told people that He was the light of the world and that unless people believed that Jesus was “He [God],” they would die in their sins. Jesus also said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” When Jesus said this claiming to be God, many were angry and were seeking to stone Him (John 8). In His ministry He called people to repent (Mt. 4:17). Jesus was faithful to God in proclaiming the gospel and so should we be.
For more info on why it is every Christian’s duty to share the gospel, click here.

I had a friend of a friend who said this to me in our discussion about Switchfoot:

As far as the Christian band aspect goes, you reach many more by not falling into the Christian band stereotype. The word itself turns people away from listening to the music. We want to reach those who are "unreachable". So how do we do that? We take off the label and our Sunday suits; we play in bars and with secular bands. Sure our lyrics may not have "God" in them, but it doesn't mean that He isn't given His glory.

He also said:

There are those that will walk away just because you say the name Jesus. You can still minister to them by your love and actions then they will see God. Not as a condemning being who looks down on people. A survey was taken on the streets wondering what the word Christian meant to people. Believe it or not, over 80% believed that Christian meant haters of homosexuals. That was it! So how do you bring up Christ and God when most people have that mentality of what being a Christian means? You do through actions and life choices not through words. God can and will be glorified through anything you just need to reach out to the unreachable and live with the "sinners" our goal is not to save those that are saved and condemn those who are not but instead like Jesus live with the outcasts and give them hope.

The whole point of this post I am writing is not to say that we should not listen to Switchfoot’s music or that Switchfoot is not Christian. I am just using Switchfoot as an example for our discussion on music because a concrete example is much easier to understand. At the same time, however, I do not have enough evidence to say that they are Christian. It is true they mention themselves as Christian in the post we’ve been talking about this whole time. However, a simple profession once or twice on the internet (especially when responding to another believer) does not mean that they are Christian; because as we all know, a mere profession of faith will not save anyone. According to the CIA World Factbook, more than 51 percent of Americans are Protestant and almost 24 percent of the people are Catholic. Mormons are 1.7 percent and other Christian is 1.6 percent. Therefore, about 78 percent of Americans would label themselves “Christian.” So how can we be certain that the members of Switchfoot are genuinely Christian? Then again, how can we be completely uncertain? If they don’t boldly and clearly tell the world who they are in their songs or in their concerts, how can we really know who they are? How they represent themselves in front of the world just isn’t too clear to me. They don’t mention the name of Jesus to the world, so are they ashamed of the gospel? Do they think the gospel will offend people and therefore refuse to mention the name of Jesus? Well, the gospel will offend, and when it does that is an appropriate thing because God’s Word shows us that the message of the cross is offensive (1 Cor. 1:18; Gal. 5:11; Acts 17:32). Many people turned away from following Jesus just because He spoke the truth. We are not to water down the gospel just to make it more acceptable to people. Or even worse, we are not to just give people water only. We are to do what Jesus did: Faithfully speak the truth no matter what the outcome. Success is not about how many people you lead to Christ, it is about how faithful you were to God. I do not see Switchfoot as a good role model for aspiring artists. Sure, what they do is their profession, but let’s take Jon Foreman’s example of the volleyball coach and janitor. In the post I previously mentioned, Jon makes the point that a pastor or a worship leader is not more “Christian” or spiritual than a volleyball coach or janitor.

While I agree with that point, I do not see these two professions as a parallel to a traveling musical artist. Artists travel a lot from place to place. They do not have so much of an opportunity to live out their faith unto the world as others might. For many jobs, friendship evangelism is how one would approach actively sharing the gospel. However, a traveling musician is very limited in this way. Conversely, they are also very free. We live in a land where the constitution gives us freedom of speech. If musicians are going to sing their songs, then they might as well mention God. They have a large captive audience and because of this, they have a great opportunity to proclaim the name of the Lord. The sun and the stars glorify God in their own unique way, but Psalm 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” If God has given us breath then let us praise Him with it—not with vague words that make hardly any sense—but with words that clearly praise His name for who He is and what He has done!

Psalm 96:2-4
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.

There is one last point I shall make and it is this: Although people will be offended at the name of Jesus, we should still proclaim that name and the good news of salvation because God’s wisdom is wiser than man’s. We should not adapt or make the gospel more relevant to our audience. Example of adapting: Not mentioning the name of Jesus because it offends. The fact that Jesus came down to this earth to die for sinners and then rose again on the third day is already relevant to every human because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; everyone needs a savior to rescue them from God’s righteous punishment of Hell and from their own sins that lead them there. The way in which God has chosen to reveal people His Son sounds like absolute foolishness to the unbelieving world. First Corinthians 1 talks about this (please meditate on it and study it). Perishing people will perish; they will perish believing that the word of the cross is foolishness. However, the elect, those whom God has called, they will be saved because the gospel is effective. God makes it effective.

“Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (v. 20-21).

People do not come to know God through their advanced thinking in wisdom and understanding. Otherwise, they would have reason to boast (v. 26-31). Therefore, we should not preach the message of the cross as if people did come to faith through wisdom. Furthermore, we should not in our own wisdom say, “I am not called to verbally share the gospel.” Our methods and our strategies of making Christ known apart from Biblical models—no matter how wise and cunning they may be—are absolutely useless. God’s ways are not our ways and nor are His thoughts our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). Our ingenious methods have no power to bring someone to salvation, even if we do use Biblical models. We cannot simply convince someone that he or she needs Jesus because the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing (v. 18). As William MacDonald so clearly points out, “They could not understand how One who died in such seeming weakness and failure could ever solve their problems.”

It is the Lord who convinces people that they need to be saved:

For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (v. 22-25).

God is the one who transforms their heart and raises them to life, and it is the simple message of the gospel to the elect that is able to save them. In Acts 4, the religious leaders observed that Peter and John were uneducated and untrained men (Acts 4:13). They were once fishermen. Nonetheless, through Peter and John declaring the unadulterated message of the gospel, around 5,000 people were saved (Acts 4:4). As Christians, we are merely messengers of this gospel (1 Pet. 2:9; 2 Cor. 5:18-21). As messengers, we do not need to be super intelligent professional evangelists to preach the gospel effectively. The gospel is already effective. We just need to be faithful in proclaiming it.