Wednesday
Nov242004
A blessing on the band
Wednesday, November 24, 2004 at 9:36AM
Lots of news on U2 this week. Good review found here, along with this comment:
On All That You Can't Leave Behind and during the subsequent tour, U2 expressed Christian faith with excerpts from the Psalms, hallelujahs to the Almighty, and urgent activism on behalf of "the least of these." During the tour Bono had told one reporter, "It feels like there's a blessing on the band right now. People say they're feeling shivers -
Reader Comments (13)
Traditional Christianity hears all this stuff, sees bono on a stage and hears him swear and can't gather all that information as representative of a Christian. But then again, many traditional evangelicals couldn't handle Mother Theresa as a Christian...oh well...how small our boxes are. Thank God our boxes and his boxes are quite different.
Ed, I would be careful when when assuming God's box is quite big. The Bible uses terms such as the few vs. many, and narrow path vs. wide path. Remember that God did not call Christians to social causes alone - Christians have a deeper mission. I am not a U2 fan, primarily because I don't like their music (I like heavier, harder stuff). I also get frustrated with their lyrics - I much prefer clear Christian lyrics rather than their mysterious, nebulas Faith, get close but don't pin me down type of lyrics. Jacob.
Jacob: Can't resist. God's box is huge. In fact, there's no box. The reason (I believe) there are "few" is because of us, not Him.
I agree, however, I think in this context the "box" was referring to the bounds of authentic saving faith. Jacob.
Jacob: A lot of their lyrics seem pretty clear to me. I like what they do. It's like what we were talking about with Pinball Clemons last night: they are clear about faith, but they don't restrict themselves to the Christian subculture.
Jacob: I'm trying not to get all wound up like I normally do, so don't even get me started on "authentic saving faith." : ) Personally, I'm not qualified to make a determination on what that is, and isn't. Perhaps a "narrow" interpretation of that is yet another box of our own creation?
Mike: I didn't create it - the Bible quantifies the volume of those truly saved in "narrow" terms. Tough terms to handle in today's I'm OK, you're OK culture. Darryl: Admittedly I don't watch U2 very closely but I've never heard a clear testimony of salvation through Christ (I may have missed this) but I have heard mixed messages. Not a big deal - I'm just not a fan. Jacob.
Jesus says there's going to be some surprises. People we thought were in the narrow way actually aren't. I guess some of the normal ways we talk about the Gospel (your own personal Savior, your ticket to heaven) really aren't Biblical. Jesus never talked to people in these terms. This is part of the bigger question about "What is the Gospel?" - quite an important question to answer. Don't think I'm going all loopy in asking this question. I want to make sure I'm talking about the same Gospel Jesus did.
Right on, Darryl. "What is the Gospel?" is definitely the question we need to look at.
A guy like Bono just doesn't impress me when he gets all preachy about the issues he's concerned about, then goes on an awards show, accepts his award and yells out, "this is f...ing cool" The title of the song "Sometimes you can't make it on your own" is also confusing coming from someone who professes to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Are there times when we can make it on our own?
1 Col: 21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[6] your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. I am confused that Christians wouldn't have the answer to the fundamental question of what our gospel is. Jacob.
Jacob: That is a great passage to describe the Gospel. I'm just beginning to discover rich facets of the Gospel that I have never seen before: the way that the word Gospel was stolen from the politics of the day; its relation to the Judaism of the day; the fact that it is not so much about heaven and hell as it is about the Kingdom of God; what the Kingdom even means. N.T. Wright says, "It is important to stress, as Paul would do himself were he not so muzzled by his interpreters, that when he referred to 'the gospel' he was not talking about a scheme of soteriology (big theological word that means
Thanks for the response. I too agree that the Gospel and salvation is very rich and not usually summarized completely. However in my reading of the Biblical concept, I have concluded that it may include much more but includes redemption and salvation from sin & Hell and eternal life in Heaven with the Lord as its very core. Remove that and you may have something left but not its core. Jacob.