Y Not I

Found this article from Slate (ht to ThinkChristian), and it was interesting to read the origins of Christian rock. I go pretty far back, getting into to what I always considered the original Christian rocker, Larry Norman. I was always, and remain a huge music person, really enjoy music, all kinds, but especially rock music and even as a non believer, I felt like if it was good music that I would listen to it. So my good friend told me about Christian rock and if I could listen to Black Sabbath, et al sing of a devil that I did not (at the time) believe in, then I could listen to songs about a God and His Son that (at the time) I also did not believe in. This way about 1982 and we would go to the basement of a Christian book store in northern New Jersey where they would have some albums and a listening booth with a turntable that you could play the songs and listen to them, I believe through headphone. If you liked it, you could buy it. I remember finding this especially nice, and of course it is something that is very common between what is left of record stores and of course online sales, all allowing previews of the music. Anyway Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, U2, Daniel Amos were all music that I would buy there. Some awesome old Christian rocks groups like Jerusalem and Daniel Band. Excellent stuff. So it was interesting to go even further back in this article, however upon reaching the end the real agenda of the article becomes apparent.

The man who inspired all this sonic glory, Lonnie Frisbee, came to a more surprising end. Though he was sometimes married, Frisbee was into guys. He struggled privately with his “sin,” and Christians debate about whether to call him gay, but he certainly lived life large. In 1993, Frisbee died of AIDS, raising issues that most people in the evangelical community would rather ignore. Though the man had sparked two of the most dynamic Protestant revival movements to appear over the last 30 years-Calvary Chapel and later the Vineyard-his catalytic role had largely been swept under the carpet until Di Sabatino made his documentary. In letting Frisbee drift into obscurity, the inheritors and benefactors of his ministry were not just being homophobes. They were also distancing themselves from his whole era of rebel signs and funky wonders-a convulsive period of uncorked spirit whose troubling urgency and sweet idealism is perhaps best accessed today through the curious and sometimes amazing music the Jesus People made.

So more than a history lesson, the moral of the story is that believer should be more accepting of men who are “into guys.” Even the word sin needed quotes to indicate that it was only so called sin. Sin is regrettable and the greatest fall prey to it. This is something that the secular world just does not get. The image is that a believer does not sin, does not struggle with sin and when it is revealed that they actually do struggle with it, the response is that they are a hypocrite. The truth is that they are not (at least not all). The truth is that we all struggle with it, the most pious and holy in appearance struggle with it, the man behind the pulpit and the person in the pew all struggle with sin. It is a constant battle and one that is usually spoken about, yet the secular world never hears that, and thus when one is revealed in sin, it discounts their work, or we should accept their behavior. I think we should accept the effort that the believer put in and still reject the behavior for if it is sin, then it is sin. The benefactors of Frisbee were not homophobes, they were Bible believers and believed that behavior, as well as a host of other behavior was sinful. Believer are not bank-robberphobes or child-molesterphobes because we think this behavior is wrong, and the same is true here. The fact the Frisbee died of AIDS either means he reaped what he sowed or that G-d just used that when it was time for him to go home. If Lonnie Frisbee knew G-d and believed in Yeshua as his Messiah then G-d called him home. His problems with sin do not discount him from salvation, in fact they point out his need for Yeshua, for he could not do it on his own, even with the saving knowledge of the work of Messiah. The same is true for me.

So, I think the next time a scandal reveals of leader of the believer community in sin, remember that what Paul wrote about the old man, about the flesh and about the struggles that we all go through. It does not excuse the behavior but it certainly explains it. And of course it does not permit it either (Romans 6:1-2).

Interestingly enough I was thinking about a posting of a secular rock song and how it speaks to me about the hold of sin. Chad Elliott on the Jews for Jesus blog wrote something similar about movies, about how they can be, almost unknowingly be filled with spiritual meaning. I was listening to some of my older BC music the otehr day and one song played on my trusted iPod by Blue Oyster Cult called Black Blade. The song is about a sword that holds its owner captive, forcing him to kill against his will. Altough the lyrics are somwhat extreme for a believer, I think they do represent the kind of pull sin can have on our lives. Here are some of them (I’m not going to include video or anything like that):

I have this feeling that my luck is none too good
This sword here at my side don’t act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls! It howls like hell!

I’m told it’s my duty to fight against the law
That wizardry’s my trade and I was born to wade through gore
I just want to be a lover, not a red-eyed screaming ghoul
I wish it’d picked another to be its killing tool

Maybe that is the way Lonnie Frisbee felt. Maybe it is the way many of us feel. Giving in is not the solution, the solution is taking it to God and having him continue the healing process that began when we found salvation. Sin is gory, forgiveness is glory, glory to God. So don’t look for society to accept our sin, look for God to help us to crucify it. B”H