Is TobyMac Really a Child of the Devil?
I got a comment the other day this morning with a link to a blog post called “tobyMac Exposed.” The page is a lengthy look at/criticism of TobyMac. So I thought – since I just posted one of his songs as a Song You Should Listen To – that I would address a few of the things mentioned on this other blog.
I’ll address four of the main points made on that site, those being:
1. TobyMac’s music doesn’t have the Christian message.
2. Associating with unbelievers/sinners makes you a promoter of the devil.
3. Certain music genres are inherently evil.
4. God is about separation and division from sinners, not unification.
1. TobyMac’s music doesn’t have the Christian message. For this one, let’s go through each of TobyMac’s albums and see if he has music about Christ on them. I’m just going to pick a song or two out of each one – there are probably other tracks on each album that promote Christ, or His teachings, but for the sake of time, I’m just picking one or two of my favorites from each one.
Momentum: J Train (also: In The Air)
This song is all about how Jesus is the only way to Heaven, how He is the one who saves us, and how when you are saved, your desire is to praise Him above all else (John 14:6).
Lyrics Excerpt:
“Now I missed the train more than once in my life
Til’ the good conductor heard my momma’s cry
Hades to Glory in the blink of an eye
Hear me now, hear me now, while I testify
Hear the whistle blow I felt a chill to the bone
“All aboard” is what I heard it I was headed for home
Had a reclinable seat, but I just had to stand
Up on the “J” all the way to the promise land”
Diverse City: Diverse City
In this song, TobyMac points out that the kingdom of God will be one of Diversity. You won’t get to Heaven and see a bunch of White, Lutheran, middle class americans singing hymns. There will be people from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation. (Rev. 7:9-12) It also talks about how Christians collectively make up the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12).
Lyrics Excerpt:
“Now come to the city where you can praise
If you’re black, if you’re white, if you’re yellow or grey
In the morning, in the night, anytime of day
What’s that place?’ Diverse City!
With curls in your hair and braids on the side
Straight shake ’em loose, just come on and ride
We’re a body with parts, like you and me
Together we make diversity “
“You bring the heart, I’ll bring the soul
I’ll bring the flag, you bring the pole
We’ll fly it high so the whole world knows
The dream of a king ’bout to unfold “
Portable Sound: Made To Love
This song is about how we are made to love God and be loved by Him.
Lyrics Excerpt:
“That I was made to love You
I was made to find You
I was made just for You
Made to adore You
I was made to love and be loved by You
You were here before me
You were waiting on me
And you said You’d keep me never would You leave me
I was made to love
And be loved by You”
Tonight: Changed Forever
This song is the story of a man who was doing everything his own way. In the worlds eyes, he had success, but then he meets Jesus and his whole world changes. He realizes that the things he had before were worthless (Phil. 3:8).
Lyrics Excerpt:
“I heard Your name but never seen Your face
Been touched before but never Your embrace
Had a soul to lose and the world to gain
But then You whispered my name
And I heard the truth but never from Your lips
Bought the lies of many counterfeits
Dreamed my dreams but they were never in color
And I searched for You in many others
I was down for the count
Then I saw Your face
Just a glimpse of Your face
And my whole world changed
Then I saw Your face
And I was changed forever
Changed forever now”
Again, these are just my favorites from each CD. There are many other songs on each of TobyMac’s albums that glorify Christ. Of course there are a few songs which are about basically nothing – e.g. Toby’s Mac and Triple Skinny – both of which are under 1min (i.e. they aren’t that important to the album). But a lot of Christian artists have songs that forget to mention the Gospel. For Example, Steven Curtis Chapman, who is a very widely respected Christian artist has a song called Cinderella. And while you might say, “Oh Teegan, that song is about his daughter who got run over by a car, how can you possible hate on that.” I’d respond, that it is a good song. However, it has nothing to do with Christ – in fact it doesn’t even mention anything about seeing his daughter again in Heaven. According to David Stewart (the author of the blog who criticizes TobyMac), Steven Curtis Chapman’s song about his tragically deceased daughter is Devil music – why? Because it doesn’t talk about Jesus or the Gospel. And since Steven Curtis Chapman has songs that are not about God, he must be a child of the Devil who sings evil songs. What have we learned from this? TobyMac does have music that has a Christian message (I’d argue that most of it does), and that just because an artist has a song that doesn’t proclaim the Gospel doesn’t mean they are the spawn of Satan.
2. Associating with unbelievers/sinners makes you a promoter of the Devil.
What ever happened to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Matt. 28:19. I would like to suggest that rather that sunning unbelievers and avoiding them at all costs, that we should instead reach out to them. One of the verses David Steward brings up in his post is 2 Corinthians 6:14 – “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (He uses KJV exclusively on his blog so I used it here, other quotations from Scripture are taken from ESV unless otherwise noted) But he forgets that in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Paul talks about how “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.” We can’t run away from the culture and avoid all contact with other people. We must interact with unbelievers, in order that the Gospel may be preached to them. Just cause I have friends who don’t go to church, or who are gay, or who sleep with girls outside of marriage, doesn’t mean that I am promoting the Devil. We are all sinners. Being gay and being lazy are both sins. We are not saved by committing less sins, we are saved by Christ. And Christ saves who HE chooses, not who WE deem worthy by their life style.
3. Certain music genres are inherently evil.
This one is interesting, because it’s precisely what this blog is all about – looking seriously and carefully at music to determine whether a song is “OK” or not to listen to. I don’t believe that certain music genres are evil. I don’t think music itself can be evil (although I sometimes still question Heavy Metal and Screamo stuff), it is words that have meaning, not the melody they are played to. Lyrics determine if a song is good or bad. For more information on this, read the rest of my posts.
4. God is about separation and division from sinners, not unification.
David Steward talks a lot about how he have to separate ourselves from the world, and how God and the Bible are all about separation from the world, drawing lines, and putting up barriers. He references Babel, and Matthew 10:34-38 which talks about how Jesus came to bring a sword and to cause devision among people, etc…etc… However, Jesus also came to bring people unto Himself. And as far as God being about causing devision/separation, let’s remember that the first thing God does after making all of Creation is to perform a marriage between Adam and Eve, which is one of the most unifying things possible to mankind (at least, it should be). Furthermore, when man sins by eating the fruit from the tree, one of the first things God does after cursing the serpent (Satan) is to promise a savior who will reunite mankind with Himself. Contrary to what David Steward says, God is not about shunning people and division, He is about the salvation of His children. So while the Gospel will cause people to avoid us, we must remember that it should be the Gospel causing division, not the people delivering the Gospel. As humans, we cannot see who God will save and who he wont – our job is to present the Gospel to those who don’t believe and then leave it in God’s hands. Christians DO NOT save unbelievers, Jesus saves unbelievers.
David Stewart is and extremist. And while we do need to be extreme about Jesus being the only way, and the whole way to salvation, we also need to remember that there are many different ‘ways’ to present that fact. People are not robots, so we have to remember that they will come to Jesus in different ways. Just because I grew up in a Christian home does not mean that my faith is more real or better than someone who did drugs from the age of 12 to 25 and then heard the Gospel from a street evangelist. If Jesus has claimed you, there is no one who can’t snatch you from His hands.
“A Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor. Otherwise, he is not a Christian. He lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbor through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbor.”
-Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian
“The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he ‘likes’ them: The Christian, trying to treat everyone kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on–including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.”
-C.S. Lewis
“Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed and is calling us to His great campaign of sabotage”
-C.S. Lewis
Thanks to Trisha Sebastian for the tip!
P.S. As far as DC Talk goes…I’m Into Jesus and I wanna be In The Light So Help Me God.
A Jesus Freak,
Teegan
The Meaning of Music 