Rockin' with Christianity

Lyrics from Antiskeptic

2006-05-31T17:57:00.000+10:00

ANTISKEPTIC - MEMOIRS OF A COMMON MAN
As Yet Untitled - Antiskeptic 2001

sleeping restless, memories
from another time and place, too recent to disown
a dream is slowly carried
for the peace of mind to play and freedom to resolve

trying, aching, fading
for another life to play and feel not so alone
a tear evaporating
a breath released to watch another pill disolve

be free from this, be free
go on and call to Him
be free from this, be free
go on and call to Him

a given reason for peace
an open mind to taste and reason to resolve
a taste of healing's release
another time to feel and to freedom too

ANTISKEPTIC - AURORA
Breathe Into - Antiskeptic 2003

and i walk
there's many i find
believing in honesty, favours, all hopeful
and i've learned
like many alive
of miracles, parables, healings of faithful

bedtime it's stories with family
later learned and believed in

live what you learn
and all that your mind needs
you'll find it well

and i grow
the aim of my life
that my words are building, consoling with wisdom
and i speak
all matter of times
not preaching, but speaking from readings and believing

These lyrics does not mention 'God' or 'Jesus' at all. But, the content does in fact, imply certain spiritual understandings. And just as Andrew (their lead singer) says, "Over the years I've received many e-mails and have been asked many questions when at shows regarding the content and motivation of the lyrics in our songs. The idea occurred to me recently of writing up a few paragraphs on the songs that you (our audience) would like to hear more about. I make no apology for the references to my faith and all that I believe, as this is the most important part of my life, so naturally, my lyrics will reflect this. You may not hold the beliefs and convictions as I do, and I respect this. I am being honest and open with you, so I ask you please respect this."

Hmmm, very honest, and not many Christian stars would be able to do that, for fear that the youths they try to appeal to, turning away from their music, which includes them turning down the $$ from their CD sales.

Rock versus Christian Rock

2006-05-30T12:39:00.000+10:00

The media portrayals of rock bands in 1960s and 1970s are usually associated with 'rebellion', 'sexual immorality', 'perversion', 'drugs' and 'nihilism'. This brought about many who believe that Christian rock bands play satanic music under the disguise of religious composition. The music of contemporary Christian rock is basically virtually indistinguishable from rock and roll - using syncopation and slurring of notes. And the make up of both rock bands with Christian rock bands are almost identical. You have your electric guitars, keyboards, drums, bass and vocals - a lead singer, with others as back up singers.

However, what sets them apart is the lyrical content. Christian rock bands like Switchfoot and Relient K do sing about the goodness and the grace of God, although they try to omit them from their songs, preventing listeners, especially the teenagers, who are at the age of rebellion, from turning away. There are also bands like Jars of Clay, Third Day and The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek who boldly use 'Heaven', 'God', 'Lord' and 'Jesus' to allow listeners to identify exactly what they are trying to bring out - God's love and grace, how great He is, etc.

The way that the bands portray themselves greatly differs as well. SimplePlan, Silverchair, Matchbox 20 exposes themselves as rebellious, sexually immoral, perversive, etc. While, Relient K, Antiskeptic and Hillsongs will not allow for that to happen and "destroy" their image of godliness, purity, humility and of course, their faithfulness towards God.

Top left: Silverchair, top right: Antiskeptic, bottom left: Matchbox 20, bottom right: Hillsong

Silverchair - needless to say, the mark on his palm is enough to differentiate if they are rock, or Christian rock. For those of you who do not know, this is a sign of satanism - a broken cross.

Antiskeptic - the band is seen as 'close to nature' which relates to 'close to God', the CD cover gives us a calm and peaceful feeling about it.

Matchbox 20 - Seeming like any other band, but with eyes like that, they epitomise the very words some conservative Christians call, 'demonic'.

Hillsong - with Darlene Zschech on the front cover singing in an 'emotional', 'relational' and 'empathetic' manner. Most importantly, with "Shout To The Lord 2" right across the cover, well, it isn't that hard to miss.

Youth Alive: Operation Rescue!

2006-04-30T11:45:00.000+10:00

Brisbane Entertainment Centre was filled with youths - all kinds of youths. They were all dressed differently (even though it is a Christian-based event, containing religious input): from punk rock to hiphop, to simply just tee-shirts and jeans. This annual event is held by Youth Alive Queensland and performers included the 'number 1 high-school American motivational speaker' Reggie Dabbs, Antiskeptic, Kulture Break and of course the Youth Alive Band themselves.

Youth Alive started off with a loud bang, playing more upbeat songs. Their first song was "Vertigo" by U2 and already this caused many young teens to run up in front of the stage to dancing and yelling away. if you had walked in without knowing what concert it was, you would possibly be mistaken that it was a pure rock concert. Following on to that, was performances by Antiskeptic and Kulture Break. Antiskeptic gave a stunning display of quick syncopations on the electric guitar and drum beats and variations that were just breath-taking AND obviously deafening. Kulture Break went up, with more dancers than singers, and they were basically more of a hip-hop band than a rock band.

The main and most important part of the night was when Reggie Dabbs came on stage and started to give a short sermon in a humourous style and he too play the saxaphone with Youth Alive. At this point, the Youth Alive band was playing very explicit worship songs and the atmosphere became warmer, and well, more soothing. The event, as usual, ended off with 'Fix You' by Coldplay and an altar call - asking non-believers to come to accept Christ publicly. This evangelistic movement usually occurs in a church setting and many preachers use the altar call to reach out and invite others to believe in Jesus. Reggie Dabbs uses the concert stage as a platform for evangelism and this brings to mind how a live performance is important to Christian rock bands like for example, Hillsongs, they frequently use the feeling and mood of a live performance to reach out to the masses because the atmosphere can greatly affect the way people feel.

Some pictures of the night.

Welcome to Christian Rock

2006-04-30T02:19:00.000+10:00

Well I finally got this up! Haha! Hope it all works out fine.

My topic - as you can all see - is Christian Rock. Is it Godly? Or is it Satanic? Feel free to post your comments!

Cheers!