From the Christian News Network.
Excerpt:
A so-called Christian heavy metal band whose frontman was convicted of attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged wife has admitted that it duped fans into believing that they were Christian in order to sell their music.
“Truthfully, I was an atheist,” Tim Lambesis, the lead singer and founder of As I Lay Dying told theAlternative Press in a recent interview. “I actually wasn’t the first guy in As I Lay Dying to stop being a Christian. In fact, I think I was the third. The two who remained kind of stopped talking about it, and then I’m pretty sure they dropped it, too.”
The publication noted that his wife, Meggan, had likewise divulged in divorce papers that Lambesis had become an atheist. Lambesis, in admitting his atheism, outlined that he turned away from Christianity as he majored in religious studies while attending college through a long distance program.
[…]And one sin led to another, turning his renunciation of Christ into justification for his actions.
“The first time I cheated on my wife, my interpretation of morality was now convenient for me,” Lambesis explained. “I felt less guilty if I decided, “Well, marriage isn’t a real thing, because Christianity isn’t real. God isn’t real. Therefore, marriage is just a stupid piece of paper with the government.”
But he continued to profess to be a Christian, as did others in the band, in order to sell records to Christian music fans.
[…]He said that during his tenure with As I Lay Dying, he realized that a number of bands that professed to be Christians were faking their faith just as he was.
“We toured with more ‘Christian bands’ who actually aren’t Christians than bands that are,” Lambesis stated. “In 12 years of touring with As I Lay Dying, I would say maybe one in 10 Christian bands we toured with were actually Christian bands.”
This is why my heroes in the faith are not athletes and artists. It’s possible for athletes and artists to be as solid in their faith as a J. Warner Wallace or a Tim McGrew, but scoring points on a sports field or singing songs on a stage is no guarantee of that. Biblical faith is about knowledge – justified true belief. Nothing about sports or music helps you to know whether your beliefs are true. Period.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
The way that evangelical Christians care about what this or that Christian celebrity believes, is just like how the world at large treats Hollywood celebrities, professional athletes, popstars, etc.
IOW, they have theirs, and the ‘Christian world’ has its own.
If people were smarter, they’d not put so much stock in what famous people think.
But independent thought is rare in any circle…
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Wow. I think this was plastered all over the news as something like “Christian Death Metal Star Hires Hitman”.
RE: Athletes and Artists as Evangelists / Apologists
Well, in fairness, it’s more difficult to layout elaborate, rational reasons for the truth claims of Christianity if you’re an athlete or an artist. The medium that they (we) operate isn’t conducive to it. For example, athletes are on a field or court playing. Obviously there’s no preaching being done then. And even when they are interviewed, the reporter is probably more interested in the game they just played than anything else. Artists just have pages or canvases. We’re limited by how much fits on one.
As an artist (and a Christian one), I try hard to put thought-provoking, covert and overt Christian-or-Bible-related themes in my art. And I can tell you that the art world doesn’t welcome such overtly Christian art and themes these days. Heck, they don’t even like anything remotely positive. If the art isn’t self-indulgent and doesn’t contribute to self-pity, they don’t want it. I had to set up and hold my own exhibit (happening over the next two weeks) in order to get my art to some audience!
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Realizing one has been gazing at a facade for years is never a pleasant experience. Is it any wonder so many people end up leaving the “on trend” church? They’ve been taught it’s nothing *but* a facade, slick marketing—another attempt at money-grubbing made all the more sordid because it’s supposedly in the name of Christ.
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The implication is that he hired the hitman because he was an atheist, and a Christian would never do that. After all, atheists are sinners, right? Christians don’t sin …
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I sense an overly sensitive atheist. Why? Anyone reading the article honestly wouldn’t come to your conclusion. I won’t speak for WK, but I’ll say: The news report I remember seeing about this in the past wanted to highlight the fact that the guy was a Christian. Turns out he wasn’t. He was a fraud, liar, and, apparently, an adulterer.
Your last sentence is telling. Anyone who read the New Testament (which Christians should be doing) wouldn’t make such a ridiculous statement. As a Christian and an avid reader of the New Testament, the events and teachings recorded in its pages remind me that I’m a sinner and imperfect, just like everyone else on Earth including you. I was much more comfortable and easy on myself before becoming a Christian. My conscience was much less troubled then because I could find plenty of excuses for doing things which I knew in my heart that I shouldn’t be doing.
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The implication is that you are more likely to hire a hitman if you are an atheist, simply because the atheist operates according to the moveable goal posts of moral relativism. As Lambesis himself explains in the article:
“The first time I cheated on my wife, my interpretation of morality was now convenient for me,”
Christians sin, and sometimes they even sin in the mistaken belief that God wants them to, but they cannot rationally justify their behavior. Atheists can and do because the only higher authority they have to answer to is the law of the land, which follows the moral standards of society, which follows the law, which follows society.
A perfect example is abortion. The Bible is clear: thou shalt not kill. Society and therefore law, however, are less clear. According to the law: thou shalt not kill, unless the victim is still inside his or her mother’s womb and is not wanted by the mother. One day this may change, but it depends on the whims of society. There may come a day when it is perfectly legal, and therefore morally acceptable to the atheist, to “abort” a three-year-old child because someone has argued convincingly enough that a child below a certain age is not yet human according to some arbitrary scientific yardstick.
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Trying to Christianize secular music is quite difficult.
I’ll have my dosage of Gregorian chant thank you.
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“Biblical faith is about knowledge – justified true belief. Nothing about sports or music helps you to know whether your beliefs are true. Period.”
While I agree with this, I would certainly say that some of my heroes of the faith are hymn writers or musicians. For example, Ryan Clark, lead singer of “Demon Hunter” speaks about his faith and a recent song they wrote about the challenges of living out a faith in the culture of musicians- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zRJfASNFeo
Other heroes of the faith who might be mentioned would be Handel (whose “Messiah” continues to be one of the most beautiful expressions of Scripture set to music ever, and aids in the memorization of Scripture as well); Luther (wrote hymns); David (wrote Psalms and played the Harp!?); etc.
I don’t know if it was intentional, but the comments you made made it sound a bit disparaging of Christian musicians, when we have in fact benefited greatly from the Christian hymnody through its expression of Biblical truth. Songs like “Holy, Holy, Holy” or “A Mighty Fortress” or compositions like “The Messiah” teach and instruct, while also worshiping God. Surely these contributions should not be downplayed.
I’m less familiar with Christian athletes, but I feel confident that their contributions are extremely valuable as well. We are one body with many different parts. Should the head (apologists?) downplay the feet (athletes?) simply because they are not the head? I don’t think so.
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All I am saying is that we cannot infer any authenticity of belief from point-scoring or song-singing. The sportsing and musicking itself is not the same thing as knowing.
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I follow you on that, but I also wonder whether we could say the same about even apologists. How many ex-apologists make their living banking on that? Ex-pastors? Ex-theologians? Ehrman immediately comes to mind, but Loftus and others could just as easily be named.
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Ehrman is a naturalist, and he has no arguments for his naturalism. It’s assumed, never proven.
Loftus… well, I don’t consider him an apologist.
I have many FB friends who are musicians and artists and apologists, they are solid.
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I’m saying they were formerly in those areas of research. But I see where you’re coming from.
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And don’t forget Bach! ;)
I like your last paragraph, too. Athletes, musicians, and artists can sometimes have more sway than an out-right apologist, since many people are moved more by emotion or curiosity than reason. (That has its dangers, I know.) They can often be more influential in pointing people in some direction, as Bach did in his famous quote: “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” Another example: Now that I have an exhibit, I’ve been given the platform to have people look at my art and then be able to explain my inspiration (and break out the apologetics) — and they’re actually willing to listen since I didn’t come right out speaking with my mouth. :)
Personally speaking, it was a song by the band Delirious? (“Did you feel the mountains tremble?”) that shook me out of my agnosticism about 15 years or so ago.
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“Knowledge” wouldn’t be my first or primary descriptor concerning faith. Isn’t the heart of faith more like the tension of mystery/lack of ability to fully grasp the infinite God, knowing the truth that is accessible to us, and obedience?
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Well, no human can know God exhaustively, but the Christian faith is based on knowing things, assenting to the truth of those things, and trusting in those things as you live.
http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/faith-defined/
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Young folk know authenticity when they see it. Weak, cowardly, spineless churches and youth leaders that want to be cool are entirely irrelevant and counterproductive.
I agree with the commenter about Gregorian Chant or Bach as examples of music that can move us closer to God by working through our whole being: mind, soul, and heart. ‘Demon Hunter’, I’m not so sure. I’ve heard some “Christian” groups that scream and screech; they really sound Satanic.
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