Are the Foo Fighters Christian?
February 21, 2008
There are an awful lot of people coming to my blog because they appear to want to know if the Foo Fighters are Christian or not. As far as I know, they aren’t.
So what now? Will you not listen to their music because they don’t share our faith? Do you believe that God is not able to be present in you and your passion in a place where people aren’t openly declaring him? Do you fear what will happen if you listen to and find yourself enjoying something that isn’t “Christian”?
Here is a thought:-
To be a Christian you have to be in the world but not of the world, you have to be the leaven – you can’t do that if you only listen to Christian music, read Christian books and associate with Christian people. If you do that you are putting your light under a bushel and you are missing out on an opportunity to learn and to experience real joy and inspiration. Jesus went to parties (Cana) where he provided close on 1440 pints of the best wine for people to continue partying with. You are also missing an opportunity to discover what you truly believe and therefore when you get directly challenged – by the frequent awfulness of your own life, by a friend whose partner has died, by someone who has been abused by Christians just as a for instance – how are you going to maintain any sense of reality?
If listening to Foo Fighters makes you feel like you have compromised your relationship with God then by all means stop but not without examining why that is so. Not listening to them because someone (parents, friends, rector) told you you should only listen to “Christian” music or because you feel you should only listen to “Christian” music in order to prove your Christianity expresses an attitude to the world that leads to Phariseism and I strongly advise you to change your mind.
Blind faith is no faith. Foo Fighters are an amazing band.
Entry Filed under: Christian, Christianity, Communal Identity, Education, Media, Play, Self-Actualisation, Spirituality. .
16 Comments Add your own
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
Post this page to del.icio.us
1.
adam | February 21, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Very well said. It is so important to not JUST surround yourself with what is labeled “Christian”. In reality, music, books, art, whatever, cannot be “Christian”. It is all made by humans who sin. And yes, the Foo Fighters rock.
2.
Gabriel | March 10, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Couldn’t have said it any better
3.
wendy | March 13, 2008 at 8:28 pm
wow!! i never thought of it that way
4.
Lectio | March 20, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Thanks for all the comments. Incidentally there is an interesting book I am intending to read which is all about how spirituality and gen x-ers. Ok that tells you how old I am! But it does address exactly what I am getting at here and have written about elsewhere in relation to having experiences of God’s love at concerts (in fact listening to the Foos but that’s not the only time)
Well, here it’s called Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X by Tom Beaudoin and you can get it from amazon. I haven’t read it but it’s on my list.
5.
rilian20@hotmail.com | April 26, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Amen!
Let us pray our pride in ourselves and in our “level of Christianity” be burned away through the Holy Spirit.
“What if I do Lord? What if I don’t? I’d have to lose everything just to find you…”
-Dave, 2006
6.
Tomy | April 28, 2008 at 9:13 am
Well put, but some of Dave Grohl’s songs actually sound christian such as Let it Die (If you think about Adam and Eve) Come alive (Possibly Jesus coming alive “You saved me the day, you came alive”)
Erase replace (Possibly erasing he’s worldly self and replacing with a spiritual self)
Pretended (“What if I say i’m not like the others” possibly what if he says he isn’t like alot of the other people that live that are worldly)
Though he swears alot doesn’t mean he isn’t Christian… Christians can swear too.
These are just my personal thoughts though and i’m thinking a bit outside of the box.
7.
Calvin | July 25, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I agree Christians cannot isolate themselves from the outside world. But if anyone has been thinking like I have, it’s more of a personal issue ( and I know it shouldn’t be). When I hear bands that have a sole purpose of taking faith away from others I get pissed off. Ever listen to Modest Mouse’s lyrics? They are great musicians, but it’s like their spitting in our faces. I know I should brush it off. But then I think about how people don’t pay attention to lyrics and the words get into their head. I know it shouldn’t be such a big deal but music can be a very powerful thing.
8.
Lectio | August 5, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Hi Calvin,
I agree with you. It can be painful listening to some of the dislike (verging on hatred) that musicians put into their music about religion. It’s the same with books (cf Dawkins). The best way to counter it is being out there in the world. It’s a more effective way of influencing the cultural landscape than creating music that talks about God in a vocabulary that someone who isn’t Christian can understand. I often forget that knowledge and experiences I take for granted regarding how people relate to God and how I relate to God are just unknown to the average punter.
People will always be antagonistic towards us, they always have been. But it’s strangely comforting to know that others too feel pained by openly anti-Christian lyrics. It reminds me why I write this blog and why we need to be out in the world – however unsuccesfully!
9.
hayley | September 9, 2008 at 10:37 pm
i am a christian and listening to music in all forms does not change my faith. mostlly it just gives me more to think about, it kinda makes me a better person to have “seen” through the lives of my musical heros and heroines.
as to the foo fighters; if they are…sweet. if they’re not….sweet. music is the life experiences of the lyracists who write it, not just words set to a catchy tune; even if it has no words. (that actually makes sense if you think about it)
in the same way i would not trade my friends for strangers if i were told they dont believe in my God i would still love and learn from them
Foo fighters rock..fan 4ever
10.
Corbett | October 12, 2008 at 1:43 am
all of you guys are terrific, gives me a lot to think about. Personally, I listen to christian rock, and some of the points you guys had against it are true. However, I think it helps me become better as a person, since like adam said, it is all made by humans who sin, aka, people like myself, and by listening to their life experiences, like Hayley said, it sometimes gives me guidance I can apply to my own life, whether it’s in the form of people who came out of similar adversity, open corrective points I need to think about, or just let me know it’s ok to have problems in your relationship with god. I don’t at all think my opinion is necessarily the correct one. And yes, I do think foo fighters are christian rock. perhaps not openly, but in their lyrics, so they can influence others. Agree with tommy in his interpretations, you could also say best of you is talking about some of his own experiences with god “everyone’s got their chains to break holdin you” “My heart is giving me life or death, but I can’t choose” and some songs are a bit more obvious, namely “Learn to fly”
11.
David | October 19, 2008 at 6:40 am
I have to say that alot of what it means to be a really good person isn’t always put under the category of ‘christian’. I think the foo fighters write really good passionate music.
12.
Nathan | February 2, 2009 at 6:09 pm
I don’t know this band, but the Bible has some thoughts…
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? ” 2 Corinthians 6:14
Verse 17 he says “..come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” They were dancing and worshipping false Gods with unbelievers.
We can socialize with, work with and talk to people of the world. But we need to be a “seperate people” Many times, when God told his people to conquer a land, He told them not to save anything from that culture (no traces, no people or animal.) In Ezra 10, the Israelites took wives that weren’t of their belief. Ezra said “separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.”
“Think on these things” (Philippians 4:8 ) We should keep our mind on God. He’ll lead us to others and open the door to help them and bring them to Him. We don’t have to be like them.
So we should not be discouraged when we do not take part in the worlds degrading parties and drunken atmosphere.
Luke 6
“22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. 23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.”
The answer is simple. What desires does it bring out in you? Does listening to this music make you want to party and drink and dance (unto the world and not the Lord) ? Then for you it’s a stumbling block and you shouldn’t. Is Pop Music depress to you? Then for you it’s best not to listen to it. If you feel conviction, or tugging on your heart about something, you shouldn’t do those things because you have to live with that and for you it’s a sin.
13.
Nathan's BFF | July 29, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Nathan you sound like the coolest dude EVAH!!! NO Seriously!!!
14.
Anonymous | October 8, 2009 at 6:01 am
I had been a Christian for a long time. In the past year I’ve turned my back on that organized religion (for many reasons), but I find myself still trying to seek God/truth/answers.
Or maybe it is He who is seeking me…
I’ve been a huge fan of the Foo Fighters since they became a band. Absolutely one of my favorite bands.
I had been listening to the Foo Fighters more frequently the past few days. I cycle through various band cd’s every few weeks and I hadn’t listened to the FF in a while.
Well, tonight I found myself listening to “Come Alive” and I had always thought that it was an awesome song…but without fully hearing the lyrics. Tonight I heard the lyrics in away I never heard them before. It led me to put these 3 words into google: “Foo Fighters Christian” and website was the first thing returned on the search list. And here I am.
I am not one to post comments on websites, but I had to use this opportunity to share this. (It’s midnight and I was getting ready to go to bed, so you must know that I feel it’s important if I’m missing precious sleep!
)
So, what does this mean? Well, it doesn’t mean the Foo Fighters are “Christian”, but it does mean that their lyrics led me to feeling closer to God than I have in a really long time.
Evidence. The brave Fighters of Foo may not be a “Christian” band… But that doesn’t make them evil.
When God wants to, He will speak to you –through whichever way He so chooses. And it appears He is smart enough (duh people) to choose the ways in which He knows we will listen best. And this may not be through the ways that our society deems as “Christian”.
Just my opinion based on my experiences.
Thanks for reading.
^_^
15.
Tomy (From Before) | October 9, 2009 at 1:22 am
Thankyou Nathan!
I didn’t agree with what the dude up the top said one bit: what’s wrong with just listening to christian music and reading christian books? You don’t have to associate with people of the world to talk with them and that. (Don’t get me wrong i don’t hold any judgments against Lectio though) Nothing; if anything it should build your spirit up so you can deal with people in the world.
Sure I may listen to Foo Fighters but that doesn’t necessarily mean I can listen to them none stop. Sometimes they depress me and I start to feel sorry for myself. When it gets to a stage like that, I need to turn it off.
By the way Nathan, would you happen to be Nathan Cook from church? The way you wrote all of that sounds identical to what he’d write; wrote like a true preacher of the word!
16.
bob | October 14, 2009 at 6:26 am
good thoughts. but i already worked those out in my mind 10 years ago, and i’m just trying to get some background on ‘in your honor’…like the motivation behind the lyrics. thx for the reminders though.