Christian Death Metal

[tomcat2012]

I was wondering what you think of them. I mean, you have bands like Impending Doom, Sleeping Giant, Living Sacrifice, etc. who openly speak their faith in their songs and spread God's love in music that people like me listen to. Again, what do you think about them?

[starfield]

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever". (I John 2:15-17)

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God". (Romans 12:2)

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon". (Matthew 6:24)

Christian death metal is of the world because:
1) It is one of the devil’s tactics to draw people away from God.
2) The musicians' lifestyle contradicts the scripture i.e. their dressing and comportment.
3) They contain subliminal and blasphemous messages which do not glorify God.

[tomcat2012]

Originally Posted by starfield

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever". (I John 2:15-17)

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God". (Romans 12:2)

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon". (Matthew 6:24)

Christian death metal is of the world because:
1) It is one of the devil’s tactics to draw people away from God.
2) The musicians' lifestyle contradicts the scripture i.e. their dressing and comportment.
3) They contain subliminal and blasphemous messages which do not glorify God.

for very few bands, i somewhat agree.
But you have bands like impending doom and them that literally shout for the Lord in their music. here, here's a lyric for one of their songs:

Silence the Oppressors by Impending Doom

To the following Christians listen closely.
We bring our light to a new realm, a realm you dare not enter,
passing judgment behind stone walls, behind your absence of understanding.
We will crush your walls that dictate where our ministry goes,
don't you ever tell me I'm using God as a gimmick.
I'm not a heretic, I'm not a hypocrite;
those insults make me sick from the ones I have fellowship with.
We aren't doing this for our own, but for one name holy and alone.
These venues are our church,
we are the gospel in the darkness, and this is our exaltation.
We are the gospel in the darkness; we bring our light to a new realm,
a realm you dare not enter, passing judgment behind stone walls,
behind your absence of understanding.
Are you listening!!!
We'll crush the walls that dictate where our ministry goes,
this is our chance to worship, GORESHIP!

Here's a video for the song also:

And the word, goreship, refers to worshiping the Lord with gore sounding music. to be honest, you'll have a metalhead that you're trying to reach, and you have the option of playing this kind of music or gospel music. Now, ask yourself, which would the metalhead be listening to? i would say the metal cd.
The whole death metal thing, it's just a name for the music with the growling vocals. it doesn't mean anything

[starfield]

Originally Posted by tomcat2012

for very few bands, i somewhat agree.
But you have bands like impending doom and them that literally shout for the Lord in their music. here, here's a lyric for one of their songs:

How can you be so sure they are shouting for the Lord? They might say “praise the Lord” but are praising the devil in their hearts.
Rock music is satanic, so why should Christianity be associated with rock?
Do Christian death metal bands point our focus to Jesus? Do they evangelize through their music and how successful are they?
Christian death metal originated from the secular rock ‘n’ roll which has no foundation in God. No matter how they want to “Christianize” rock music, it is still evil. You cannot become the world to win the world. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord.

[tomcat2012]

I don't care what you say, I'm still gonna listen to this music, I'm still gonna play this music, and I will use the music that I play to worship the Lord and tell others about him.

[MdNordlicht]

Originally Posted by starfield

How can you be so sure they are shouting for the Lord? They might say “praise the Lord” but are praising the devil in their hearts.

And they might say "praise the Lord" and mean it. I mean how can you be sure your pastor in church is no hypocrite? Thats no argument to me.

Originally Posted by starfield

Rock music is satanic, so why should Christianity be associated with rock?

How can rock music be satanic? Rock is just a music style and you can express whatever you want through any kind of music. I think God created the whole world and all that is required to make music. People then use their God given creativity and talents and skills to make music.

And only because some play music loud or soft or fast or slow or dissonant or consonant or happy or melancholic doesn't make music evil or good, I guess. Its the attitude, the hearts of people who make music, that matters. And that ultimately results in lyrics.

And then you can come and say, you don't want to listen to this or that PERSONS music or that music GROUP because their HEARTS are not right and/or you don't like the lyrics. Or you simply don't like the style of music, okay. But I am of the opinion that you can't say the MUSIC is evil. And Music is, roughly said, vibrating air. And I don't think vibrating air can be evil.

Originally Posted by starfield

Do Christian death metal bands point our focus to Jesus? Do they evangelize through their music and how successful are they?

Certain bands who call themselves "Christian death metal bands" evangelize through their music in a way. THey sing/scream/yell/growl openly about their faith in Jesus CHrist. And some just try to be a positive influence on people and sing about their way to cope with problems and such things. But that doesn't make the music more worse or evil.

The metal scene is a difficult place to talk about faith in Jesus because many secular metal bands tend to talk negatively about faith and religion in their lyrics. And many metalheads share their ideas. And I admire christians who play the music they love, sing about their lives (where Jesus plays the most important role I guess) and go to places where Jesus normaly wouldn't be welcome and they perhaps are hated. Where some people wouldn't want to touch a gospel cd or take one step into a church.

And I would say "successful" is the wrong word. It doesn't work like "okay, the average christian band leads 10 people to Christ every month, lets go for it". I think if a band sees only one person in their whole "career" who gives his life to Jesus, it would have been a success. Imagine what happened if Reinhard Bonnke, the well known german evangelist, or Billy Graham was this one person. And they have led so many people to Christ.

And even if they only change the hearts of people through their music, or rather if God changes their hearts and nobody ever gives his life to Christ during one of their concerts it would be a success.

Originally Posted by starfield

Christian death metal originated from the secular rock ‘n’ roll which has no foundation in God.

THe style "Gospel music" originated partly from some african music where spirits where worshipped and stuff.

Originally Posted by starfield

No matter how they want to “Christianize” rock music, it is still evil. You cannot become the world to win the world. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord.

But you can express yourself thorugh music, no matter what style. And I already talked about my opinion of music being neutral.

[MahogonySnail]

Php 4:8 In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.
If you can do that whilst listening to music centred around gore, death, darkness, and other such things... good luck to you.
I personally wouldn't worship the Lord of life with the music of death. But only acceptable sacrifices.

[MahogonySnail]

THey sing/scream/yell/growl openly about their faith in Jesus CHrist.

LOL, you can't even understand the words they are saying. Even heavy metal like Stryper is better than them, at least you can understand what they say.
Plus they'll ruin their voice and potentially at greater risk for throat cancer with improper singing technique. Not a good way to take care of our bodies which are temples of the Holy Spirit. The music might be neutral but it's no use if you can't undertsand anything they say. It's garbage.

I agree with starfield it is of the world, it is ungodly

statements such as these:

We'll crush the walls that dictate where our ministry goes,
this is our chance to worship, GORESHIP!

are profanities

These venues are our church,
we are the gospel in the darkness, and this is our exaltation.
We are the gospel in the darkness; we bring our light to a new realm,

No, they aren't the gospel, the gospel is written in the bible and is pure light and so unworthy to be compared to "death metal".

Originally Posted by starfield

How can you be so sure they are shouting for the Lord? They might say “praise the Lord” but are praising the devil in their hearts.
Rock music is satanic, so why should Christianity be associated with rock?
Do Christian death metal bands point our focus to Jesus? Do they evangelize through their music and how successful are they?
Christian death metal originated from the secular rock ‘n’ roll which has no foundation in God. No matter how they want to “Christianize” rock music, it is still evil. You cannot become the world to win the world. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord.

Amen, you're right on the money on all points.

Originally Posted by tomcat2012

I don't care what you say, I'm still gonna listen to this music, I'm still gonna play this music, and I will use the music that I play to worship the Lord and tell others about him.

So you don't care what God says?

Originally Posted by tomcat2012

for very few bands, i somewhat agree.
But you have bands like impending doom and them that literally shout for the Lord in their music. here, here's a lyric for one of their songs:

Silence the Oppressors by Impending Doom

To the following Christians listen closely.
We bring our light to a new realm, a realm you dare not enter,
passing judgment behind stone walls, behind your absence of understanding.
We will crush your walls that dictate where our ministry goes,
don't you ever tell me I'm using God as a gimmick.
I'm not a heretic, I'm not a hypocrite;
those insults make me sick from the ones I have fellowship with.
We aren't doing this for our own, but for one name holy and alone.
These venues are our church,
we are the gospel in the darkness, and this is our exaltation.
We are the gospel in the darkness; we bring our light to a new realm,
a realm you dare not enter, passing judgment behind stone walls,
behind your absence of understanding.
Are you listening!!!
We'll crush the walls that dictate where our ministry goes,
this is our chance to worship, GORESHIP!

Here's a video for the song also:

And the word, goreship, refers to worshiping the Lord with gore sounding music. to be honest, you'll have a metalhead that you're trying to reach, and you have the option of playing this kind of music or gospel music. Now, ask yourself, which would the metalhead be listening to? i would say the metal cd.
The whole death metal thing, it's just a name for the music with the growling vocals. it doesn't mean anything

That to me looks more like blasphemy than worship.

[MdNordlicht]

Originally Posted by MahogonySnail

Php 4:8 In conclusion, my friends, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable.
If you can do that whilst listening to music centred around gore, death, darkness, and other such things... good luck to you.
I personally wouldn't worship the Lord of life with the music of death. But only acceptable sacrifices.

The lyrics of christians who plays this style of music isn't always centered around gore, death and darkness. And different than most of the secular metal bands they offer hope and light. If you ever felt miserable in a certain way, then you can talk about it, the darkness or inner death you felt, and how you overcame it, maybe how Jesus healed you. And if you write about that in your lyrics and someone who has this problems reads/hears them, he might feel understood and is touched. And all that in the music he loves and listens to. Its like in the psalms. David felt quite miserable more than one time. ANd he didn't hide his sadness. But he also praises God for His caring.

Originally Posted by MahogonySnail

LOL, you can't even understand the words they are saying. Even heavy metal like Stryper is better than them, at least you can understand what they say.

What concerns "Impending Doom", yes, you can't really understand what they sing. But thats not the case with every metal band. If you are used to this way of singing then you get quite a bit of what these bands are saying. And if one is interested in the music, one will also deal with the groups and the lyrics, will look up the lyrics or talk to the bands at a concert.

Recently the american metalcore band "August Burns Red" played a concert here in my city. I was there and with me approximately 50 (don't know the exact number) other heavy music loving people. And it seemed they knew the lyrics pretty well and could sing/scream/whatever to the songs. And I dont think the majority of the crowd were christians. And english is not their mothertounge.

Originally Posted by MahogonySnail

Plus they'll ruin their voice and potentially at greater risk for throat cancer with improper singing technique. Not a good way to take care of our bodies which are temples of the Holy Spirit.

I have never before heard that you enhance the risk of getting throat cancer when you use an improper singing technique. And while some of the heavy singers may use not the healthiest singing technique, some do sing with a good technique.

Originally Posted by MahogonySnail

The music might be neutral but it's no use if you can't undertsand anything they say. It's garbage.

Do you mean the music is garbage or the fact that you can't understand anything they say?

Originally Posted by MahogonySnail

I agree with starfield it is of the world, it is ungodly

As I mentioned before, I think music cannot be of the world or not. Its people who are of the world as well as people who are saved by Jesus Christ who play music and convey the message and meaning they want.

Originally Posted by MahogonySnail

statements such as these:

are profanities

No, they aren't the gospel, the gospel is written in the bible and is pure light and so unworthy to be compared to "death metal".

So, my english is not perfect but as far as I understand these lyrics they are talking quite a bit about what I mentioned before: bringing light, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to new realms, concerts where people are who could hardly be reached in by other ways. And they crush the walls that dictate where their ministry goes, they are not limiting themselves to christian audiences or music styles which seem to be "acceptable for christians". And by the way, these groups of christians play for everyone, not especially for other christians. Its not mainly a "worship music". The people who are ill need the doctor, not the healthy ones.

[MdNordlicht]

Originally Posted by Baptistrw

Amen, you're right on the money on all points.

Have you already read my response to that post?

[MdNordlicht]

Originally Posted by Baptistrw

So you don't care what God says?

I think he does care what God says. And I don't see how his intentions contradict what God says.

Originally Posted by MdNordlicht

Have you already read my response to that post?

Yeah I did. And you're wrong. She's right.

[tomcat2012]

Originally Posted by Baptistrw

So you don't care what God says?

God knows my heart and apparently, you don't. Congratulations.
I never said I didn't care what God says, I said I don't care what YOU say.

The Christian death metal that I listen to is as much worship as the hymns you hear at church on Sunday mornings.

[xBLINDSIDEx]

I FULLY APPROVE!!!!!!!!!!!
Almost all my music is christian metal.

Most christian metal lyrics are more straight forward and spiritually powerful than a lot of contemporary christian artists, but they get swept under the carpet for not having a typical "christian" sound.
It's so sad that people refuse to give it a chance.

[tomcat2012]

Originally Posted by xBLINDSIDEx

I FULLY APPROVE!!!!!!!!!!!
Almost all my music is christian metal.

Most christian metal lyrics are more straight forward and spiritually powerful than a lot of contemporary christian artists, but they get swept under the carpet for not having a typical "christian" sound.
It's so sad that people refuse to give it a chance.

it is sad.

[MahogonySnail]

Heavy metal is one thing. I don't mind it myself.
But screamo, "death metal", is very unpleasant to listen to, not to mention unintelligable.

[MahogonySnail]

They don't even have decent guitar solos. I don't know what's with the taste in music these days.