I'll testify!
It’s time to see religion die!
The truth can’t lie!
It’s time to see religion die!
Who cares? Who's right?
It’s time to see religion die!
I'll crush the fight!
It’s time to see religion die!
--Brian "Head" Welch from the song "Die Religion Die"
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says:
“ When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”
(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
--St. Paul (Ephesians 4:7-16)
The expressly ecclesiological passage of Scripture quoted above and the excerpt from Brian Welch's rather angry song seem to clash violently. Brian "Head" Welch is a former member of the rock band Korn who recently converted to Christianity. Now, I certainly do not call into question the validity of his conversion, for it is not my place to judge his experience and his status in the eyes of God. I consider him a brother in Christ, as long as he maintains his profession of faith. Nevertheless, I cannot help but conclude that he is woefully immature, spiritually speaking. One may object that he is simply condemning hypocrisy, which may be true. Who would argue with that? In fact, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and admit that this is probably his intention. However, the glaringly obvious problem is "hypocrisy" and "religion" are not synonymous terms. Religion is a word that, when applied to Christianity, describes its organized nature. The Scriptures clearly and unambiguously reveal that Christ came to establish an organized religion, complete with structure, identified, official leadership, meaning, vision, and purpose. We often hear specious, pseudo-pious pronouncements in our culture such as, "I hate religion. I just love Jesus." Unfortunately for those who adhere to this confession, whatever their intentions, they just cannot have it both ways. To hate "religion" or organized Christianity is to hate the Body of Christ. It is to hate the actual fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ while claiming to love the God whose image they bear, while claiming to love some sort of invisible ideal. The same God who commands us to love Him and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40) also commands us not to forsake the assembly of the saints (Hebrews 10:25). The same Christ all Christians claim to love identifies Himself so intimately with His organized church that it is referred to as His bride. Indeed, as His body, it contains His members, His people, His children, His servants, His sheep, His friends, His beloved. To call for the death of organized Christianity is to call for the death of Christianity itself, at least the kind of Christianity founded on the apostles and prophets. It is to issue a death warrant for the bride of the King of kings, and to call for her head on a platter. There will always be pretending impostors who claim to be children of the bride, among which are hypocrisy, self righteousness, petty moralism, and downright stupidity. If we want to place them before the firing squad, so be it. But, let us set our sites carefully, lest we take aim at the mother herself.
Honor, Liberty, Truth!
Friday, May 22, 2009
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12 comments:
I do want to add that I like Brian Welch. I think he is incredibly talented. And, I appreciate his zeal. I do not mean to belittle him by my criticism of his song. I just think he is on the wrong track with this one.
Very good article, and a truth badly in need of recovery. The true doctrine of the church is under intense assault, on the one hand from those who identify it entirely with forms, rituals and sacraments to the complete neglect of the need for personal faith and virtue, and on the other hand those who deny the reality and essentiality of the visible church entirely.
Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Matt,
Yes, the whole anti-religion movement is confusing to me. It is probably most conspicuously embodied in the "emergent" church movement. They say they deplore organized religion, then they organize. I think many of them, just like Brian Welch, mean well, but they are just wrong. There is much folly in the church, but the means of exterminating that folly is not to abandon the bride of Christ. For the Christian, abandoning the church is not an option. They are part of it, whether they like it or not, for to be in union with Christ is to be in union with His body. If they leave "organized religion" they do nothing but abandon their own responsibilities and render themselves theologically irrelevant.
Peace,
Andy+
This song is saying that religions that men create keep us away from true religion and a real relationship with Christ. If religion is just something you do on Sunday's or is arbitrary man-made rules, then it is meaningless and keeps us from discovering what religion should be
Anon,
I agree with what you just said, but that is not what he said. He said "Who cares who's right?" That is like saying, "Who cares about truth?" Well, I do, for one. We should remember that the Christian religion was not made by men. It was made by God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
Peace to you,
Andy+
if you read the lyrics he has a exclamtion mark between who cares and whose right (who cares?, whose right?) your only hearing what you want and talking out ur rear and trying to say andrew m. know what he is talking about and he is just doing the same as you. when brian said who cares?, whose right? he was simply making a statement that we all have our own opinions and we all think we are right.
No reason to get all upset anon. You need to learn to carry a conversation without resorting to insults. It is not becoming a thoughtful person.
im not resorting to insults i didnt call you anything i was just simply saying that ur throwing the song way out of proportion, because all ur doing is hearing what you want to hear. Brian welch sings about nothing but christianity he's become a better person now and its people like you who jump in head first criticizing him about a bunch of stupid stuff pretending to know everything and its stupid. you know its hard for someone like him to leave the past in the past if people like you just want to sit there and try to make things up and say that he didnt change.
anon, Honestly, and with all due respect, I have no idea what you are talking about. I criticized his song. I stand by my criticism. I clearly stated numerous times that I do not criticize Welch personally or his conversion.
Further, theology and philosophy of religion are not just about equally ignorant opinions. You really should study the academic disciplines a bit before you endorse such a view.
well you were trying to say that Brian Welch was belittling Christianity in his die religion die song and im just telling you what he really means because apparently you dont know.
anon,
If that is what he meant, then he should clarify and, perhaps, write his lyrics more clearly. Unless Mr. Welch explained this to you personally, I don't see how you can deduce so much simply from the lyrics.
I am simply saying, like it or not, Christianity is a religion. Its truth claims are to be taken seriously by those who adhere to the teachings of Christ, the apostles, and the prophets. Christianity is no simply a relationship with Christ. It is that, but it is also an religious system divinely established. One cannot say, "I hate religion, I just love Jesus" without qualifying that statement clearly.
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