Jesus Loves Tom Petty (For the Bible Tells Me So)

Guest feature by Seth “tower” Hurd

One of the common misconceptions about my chosen career is that I got into Christian media in order to give Christians an alternative, or perhaps a shelter from, the “scary outside world.”

I currently work full-time for 89.7 Shine.FM, as well as host The Merge Out Loud a music interview show airing on Direct TV.

The joy of this career is not giving Christians a place to hide from mainstream pop music, but in taking the Gospel out through music and artists that I believe in with my whole heart.

Fifteen years ago, groundbreaking author and church leader Bob Briner published Roaring Lambs, a call to Christians to start changing Hollywood, the music industry and publishing from the inside out — to get into the trenches and help create the media.

But even as Christians have embraced the work of Christians in mainstream media, the Church still holds on to strong tendencies of distrusting media in general.

We’ve seen the purchasing power (and therefore, influence) of Christians at the box office — pushing The Passion of the Christ over the $300 million mark, and propelling films like Fireproof and To Save a Life to “hit” status.

However, other books, films and albums which contain both affirming and true spiritual messages are completely ignored by the Church.

A great example of this is The Book of Eli, released in February of this year. The story, which contains no sexual situations and virtually no profanity (though there are two James-Bond style shoot-em-up scenes), follows leading man Denzel Washington across a post-nuclear landscape. In his backpack, he carries the final copy of the Bible (the Book was outlawed in a war, and all copies, save one, were burned). Each day, he walks westward, following what he believes is a call from God to bring the Holy Scriptures to a place where hope can finally be preached to a hopeless world.

A brilliant, beautiful, true story. And the Church ignored it. I believe that is because The Book of Eli, unlike the aforementioned movies, didn’t have any “Christian star power” attached to it.

Not what, but where, is truth?

The Book of Eli is just one example of how Christians easily miss truth in mainstream society.

Scripture tells us that since God is Creator, all truth is His truth. God is the author of love. And if we were to first hear of sacrificial love in a play by Shakespeare, that doesn’t make Shakespeare the author or love — only the person who communicated a truth.

Consider the following lyrics, and judge for yourself which is directly more spiritual:

“I won’t back down. No, I won’t back down/You can stand me up at the gates of hell/but I won’t back down.”

Contrasted with…

“Draw me close to you/Never let me go/I lay it all down again/to hear me say that I’m your friend.”

The first song clearly deals with spiritual conflict and courage. The second could very well be penned by a junior high girl, addressing a crush on a classmate.

The first song is by American rock icon Tom Petty, the second is a modern worship song. I wouldn’t disagree that many have genuinely worshiped God through the song Draw Me Close. However, I believe it’s the Tom Petty song that more clearly communicates a spiritual truth, while the lyrics of the worship song only describe a vague affection.

In my life, I’ve often discovered beautiful descriptions about God, and truth about life, outside of Christian music. In fact, there are some “mainstream” albums that I believe every Christian should hear.

The Apostle Paul echoes this sentiment in the book of Titus, when he quotes a local pagan prophet and then follows with the words “what he said is true.” (Titus 1:12-13) In this reference we see that Paul wasn’t afraid to read pagan poetry (as we also read in Romans), and he wouldn’t shy away from God’s truth, even if a pagan prophet had said the same thing.

Not a license to sin

Clearly, there are some things that Christians should never watch, listen to or consume.

Media certainly has an effect on the soul, and often preaches a worldview that stands in opposition to the Gospel. This blog is not an endorsement for you to allow the teens at your church to blast explicit rap music and watch the Saw horror movies at church.

But aren’t there more categories than just “officially Christian” and “evil”?

If we operate on those two categories alone, where does Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album fit? It’s considered the standalone greatest jazz album of the 20th century, but certainly can’t be categorized as “Christian,” since there are no lyrics whatsoever.

To me, Miles Davis records fall into the same category as sunsets and steak dinners — just one more way to enjoy the life and freedom we’ve been given through the blood of Christ.

An opening to share faith

In addition to bringing beauty into our lives, there’s another reason to be current on quality mainstream media: witnessing.

In my life, when I’ve had the opportunity to share my faith, it’s often not through a single conversation, but through a series of conversations that play out over several weeks or months. Those conversations have often been brought on because of mainstream books and music.

For example, I’ve had faith conversations over the music of punk band The Gaslight Anthem (both of the band’s albums deal heavily with searching for redemption) and The Life of Pi (an acclaimed novel about a boy who’s stuck in a lifeboat with a Bengal Tiger).

In both of these situations, I couldn’t sit around waiting for the non-Christian person to read Christian author Francis Chan’s Crazy Love or listen to CCM artist BarlowGirl. I had to go to where they were to share my faith in Christ.

An opportunity to elevate art

Finally, Christians need mainstream media to see how “our” media is often lacking.

While the Church made the explicitly preachy Fireproof a hit movie at the box office (it debuted at #6 its opening weekend), it’s simply a horrendous movie. Any second-year film student could point out a plethora of flaws, from acting to significant issues in the storytelling.

Sure, the film had a great theme, but we don’t buy albums if the singer can’t carry a tune just because his heart is in the right place. Imagine if the Church had hired a second-rate painter to complete the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, spending money to support “Christian art” rather than the best quality art. Imagine just how many people (in an illiterate society) might have missed out on the power of the Creation Story, because the images of God and Adam had been sloppily applied.

In the end, this world is God’s creation, not our idea. He is the point, the center, of the whole story of creation and human history.

When film, music and books point to the truth of Christ and the good things Scripture commands us to fix our minds upon, then it’s to our detriment if we overlook them because of the lack of an explicit “Christian” label.

Seth "tower" Hurd can be heard on 89.7 Shine.FM, and seen hosting The Merge Out Loud, a music interview show, airing Friday nights at 8:30pm on Direct TV. He's written about music for multiple national publications, including Relevant Magazine.