Music and Movies Can't Be Christian?

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Christian musicians are fond of saying things like, well we're not a Christian band, we're Christians in a band, and think they're being profound.

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Frontman John Foreman was once asked, is Switchfoot a Christian band? And he answered, to be honest this question grieves me because I feel that it misrepresents a much bigger issue than simply a couple

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Switchfoot tunes. In true Socratic form let me, oh good grief, let me find a shorter example. Christian filmmaker

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David Schultz has said, what I've learned from smarter men than me is that products can't be Christian, a movie can't be baptized, or take communion, or follow

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Jesus. So are Schultz and other artists correct? Are we misapplying the word Christian? Well as with anything we talk about on When We Understand the

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Text, this all has to do with context. Believe it or not, the word Christian appears only three times in scripture, twice in the book of Acts, and once by the

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Apostle Peter. Christians didn't call each other Christians, they used names like saints, disciples, brothers, or the elect.

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And Christianity was called the faith or the way. Christian was a word used first by unbelievers to describe followers of Jesus.

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And do you think they knew what being a Christian entailed? They didn't understand concepts like baptism or being redeemed, it was a word used in the context of describing a person associated with Christ.

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Likewise, when we're using the word Christian to describe a song or a t -shirt, no one's implying it's born again and going to heaven.

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It's just a word to describe something that's hopefully giving glory to God through Christ. If a Christian artist doesn't want that, they have bigger concerns than having their work labeled

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Christian. After all, as Peter said, do not be ashamed, but let God be glorified in that name.