couldn't have explained it better myself.

"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. Many songs are worthy of being written. Switchfoot will write some, Keith Green, Bach, and perhaps yourself have written others. Some of these songs are about redemption, others about the sunrise, others about nothing in particular: written for the simple joy of music. None of these songs has been born again, and to that end there is no such thing as Christian music.

No. Christ didn’t come and die for my songs, he came for me. Yes. My songs are a part of my life. But judging from scripture I can only conclude that our God is much more interested in how I treat the poor and the broken and the hungry than the personal pronouns I use when I sing. I am a believer. Many of these songs talk about this belief. An obligation to say this or do that does not sound like the glorious freedom that Christ died to afford me. I do have an obligation, however, a debt that cannot be settled by my lyrical decisions

My life will be judged by my obedience not my ability to confine my lyrics to this box or that. We all have a different calling; Switchfoot is trying to be obedient to who we are called to be. We’re not trying to be Audio A or U2 or POD or Bach: we’re trying to be Switchfoot. You see, a song that has the words: “Jesus Christ” is no more or less “Christian” than an instrumental piece. (I've heard lot's of people say Jesus Christ and they weren't talking about their redeemer.) You see, Jesus didn’t die for any of my tunes. So there is no hierarchy of life or songs or occupation only obedience.

We have a call to take up our cross and follow. We can be sure that these roads will be different for all of us. Just as you have one body and every part has a different function, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each of us belongs to all the others. Please be slow to judge “brothers” who have a different calling and thank you for reading."
-Jon Foreman
SWITCHFOOT

Comments

Anonymous said…
wise words. i hate the arguement. i think some christians ask questions like "are you a christian band?" just to ask them and don't want anything but a yes or no reply. if it's no, they stop listening to you, regardless if you are a christian or not. it makes me sad.

-reid
12:49 AM
Anonymous said…
In my eyes the term "christian band" is a bit of misleading language, and I find it so amazing that once such a strong "christian band," or misinformed public labeling of a band with that rhetoric, gets nationwide attention the religous public cries sell out and seem to attack the bands they help build up and proceed to judge them, it seems to me that they are implying that the only purpose of those bands is to spread the word regardless of their talent and calling and these bands are not allowed to fraternize with anybody out of the church, and personally I hate how people judge their musical preferences based solely on the instance provided by reid, there are some many other factors to judge music on, and I can't believe that Bach didn't write his music in hopes that he could incite a "new crusade!?"(sorry for the sarcasm and reference to a previous post)

-ucfb-
10:44 PM
Anonymous said…
I play in this band, Valvalis. The 5 of us are all born-again Christians and we feel God has called us to minister through music. Our lyrics have a lot of Christian influences in them but rarely say "Jesus" and for that we get ask the question "are you a christian band?" At first I had a hard time answering that or even having an answer for my self. Recently I read a quote by switchfoot that has been my answer to that question ever since..

"We are Christians by faith not by Genre"

-Nate Kaiser
1:14 PM
Anonymous said…
Keith Green!!!
Nice to see his music is still recognized. I hope it never dies
12:54 PM
Oh! Gravity's on Fire said…
ive heard that quote from Jon before...each time i read it, it becomes more and more piercing and more and more amazing. Jon is most certainly one of my heroes. music is very powerful, and his has certainly changed my life.

God Bless,
~*ABBEY*~
10:43 PM
Story of a Girl said…
AS Christians our problem is we think secular=evil. But really, it is more neutral. I like when he stated, " None of these songs has been born again, and to that end there is no such thing as Christian music."

It made me laugh. I agree.
5:44 PM
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